🔵Can you save a Mite infested Hive??

94 mites in a Alcohol wash!!!!

If you find our content helpful and would like to greatly help us provide better content without spending a dime, consider trying a free trial with Audible. The free trial includes any free audiobook for you to download and listen to whenever & wherever you want! AND you get to keep it even if you cancel! Laurel and I chose Dr. Thomas Seeleys “The Honeybee Democracy” but there are several other beekeeping and gardening books that are great. Please use our link below to help us be able to focus more of our time on honeybee education, and set up a research yard in the future.

FTC Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored video. All opinions are genuinely my own. This description contains Amazon and Audible affiliate links and I earn a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. It doesn't cost you any extra. Thank you for your continued support to keep Tennessee's Bees going!

#Beekeeping #Beekeeper #Honeybee

[richardnoel]

Completely agree with all you said . All beekeepers who say “I know I have mites, so no need to test, ” should still make time to test and confirm their levels. Anything else is just winging it, not proper husbandry
We use Oxyalic acid here a lot in the fall and I think also I will be using the Oxyalic Acid and glycerin soaked towels as per Randy Oliver’s web pages! Amitraze is becoming hugely resistant in many areas, lots in the Uk this year! Others who haven’t noticed probably have not mite washed. Letting that hive get like that is one great move. You’ve shown the process and how things can be turned around.
I also agree that mites give the colony more stress than any other problem., (with the associated virus’s)
Thanks for sharing.

[russellkoopman]

A lot of people like me would have treated the hive two or three times and assumed that we had done our job. Middle of winter they would have died and I would have chalked it up to winter loss. Retesting for mites was such a right thing to do. Great lesson Kamon.

[charlesthomas]

I had a hive last year that I treating with Formic Pro which did not work, it washed a 30 plus mite load I did three OAV treatments a week for three weeks in October and that did the trick and the hive made it thru the winter with no problem. You can treat your hives with OAV with brood in them, but you have to treat 2 times a week for six weeks to get good results. This is labor intensive but it works it is using the same treatment format as Apivar. This treatment program is not for the commercial beekeeper but doable for the back yard beekeeper and the sideliner up to 50 hives.

[PhillipHall]

Good job. I have been paying special attention to this hive and its progress through your videos. This has been a great series. I agree with each point you made in this video; Including queens can contract viruses and requeening is a wise decision in my view also. Keep up the good work! Thanks for the videos. Phillip Hall

[bunhelsingslegacy]

I took a beekeeping course this summer and apparently OA isn't so prevalent up here yet but one of the methods they use to reduce mite loads is to stick in a frame of drone comb, all the mites will go to the brood, then as long as you get the comb out of there before they hatch, well, apparently the chickens LOVE them some good drone brood...

[sunsetheritage]

When you said that people were saying you should never let your mites get to 94, my first thought was, “you didn’t, someone else did, since you acquired the hive as a swarm”. Just my opinion.

[kevinwright]

That series opened my eyes. I learned a lot last year and my bees did fantastic!! Thanks for the videos!!

[carrollrhodes]

Kamon,
One of your finest assets is talking and beekeeping! Both at the same time.
Carroll

[paulcilluffo]

Kamon why are those bees so dark i have never seen bees that black and the do seem much more active i did see your video on this hive man what a turn around love it can you identify the bee

[paulawaldrep]

Great example of correcting a hive! Thanks 😁🇺🇸🐝

[jasonjohnson]

Glad to see the hive overcame the mites good job Kamon

[paulchristu]

Saw this when it first came out last year. Been thinking about it. Wonder if in a heavily infested hive like that, if temp is excessive for use of formic acid, perhaps an option would be to pull out (and freeze) ALL the capped brood, shake all those bees into a new box with drawn comb plus frames of stores. Hit them with OAV or OA dribble one time, and add a frame of open brood. Basically get the benefit of a brood break, without the prolonged broodless interval.

[dougphillips]

Well said Kamon - you can’t kill them fast or long enough. The mites are always there, my neighbor is raising tick resistant dogs and flea resistant cats. That’s right the thought of a mite free bee is about 99:9% improbable. I wish it would happen, logic tells me Nah.

[RunningWithSauce]

I have Russian Primorksy Bees which are known to be very aggressive against mites (they chew them) and they are also dark and often solid black bees. Not all are solid black but many are and the rest are just darker. I wonder if you have a hybrid version (or had now that you intro'd a new queen hahah)

[thehadster]

Have you heard of the heat treatment method of mite control? It is being used in Europe more and more. I'd be interested in your thoughts. Below are some links I found. From what I've read, this is my understanding. Varroa mites, their eggs and larva, die at 104 to 106 degrees Fahrenheit, while bees can tolerate much higher temperatures. Using a heating board and a thermo-coupler to monitor the heat generated, the hive is heated to 104 and kept there for a period of time - about 2.5 hours. This kills all the mites, their eggs AND larva in any capped brood. All bees in the hive at the time of treatment loose their adult mites. Foragers out doing their work, obviously, still have mites, but the vast majority of the mites die. No harm comes to the bees, any larva, capped brood, eggs or the queen (see the first link). A follow up treatment the following week will further reduce the mite population. One manufacture actually makes foundation for brood comb with a heating coil inside and the treatment is automatically run every week and can be hooked up to solar panels if necessary. (I'm sure this is really expensive)

Anyway, I'd be interested in your thoughts. IF this is a valid method of controlling mites, then my understanding is that this hive could have been brought back to health in a month or so - because the mites on the brood are killed, but not the brood. Some bee keeping clubs rent out the heating element.

[micksbeesstephens]

Great example of Keeping bees and not just Having bees, thanks Kamon

[richardreid]

Talking and working bees at the same time! I like that. 😄

[CanadianTropica]

Here's one for ya, Sure mite resistant bees are a cool idea or even possible now days with selective breeding, but as a beekeeper you need to make money to run your operation using the bees you have. As soon as a proven bee that can produce honey and fend off mites 100% without treatment comes into the market I'm sure everyone will be ordering them. We have to make due, and we have to take care of our bees.

[Armuehling]

This is my first year as a BeeKeeper. (Loving it!) I'm in the Pacific North West - lots of mites in our area, believer in OAV (vapor) - Oct round 2 treatment got my mites down to 27 from 67 on the first OAV treatment (I'll continue with OAV until no mites). Question, would you suggest I feed Ultra Bee / supplement / pollen + sugar patties Oct through Jan? In addition to straight sugar? I have 2 colonies (fortunately caught my 1st week July swarm) - both only have 9 full frames of bees + 6 to 7 frames of honey. Is their any harm in feeding pollen / Ultra bee supplement patties Oct through Jan? I'm a little concerned that both of my colonies might not have enough honey - feel it will be a close call via 1st week July swarm (waited for colony to create new queen - she seems to be laying solidly). Any suggestions? Thank you!

[attesmatte]

The best lessons come from making mistakes. 😜 The second best lessons are learned from other people's mistakes! 😁
Great video!! 👍