Advice please: Sugar dusting for mite control

[Liz]

I've been reading about the use of sugar dusting for mite control on another thread. I have a single hive that I have had less than a year. I am a new beekeeper. I know I have mites because I have seen about 4-5 bees with deformed wings and I cleaned some drone brood out yesterday and I saw a mite in one of the brood.

I do not have a screen bottom board. It is a simple one.

Is there any reason I need to do a mite count before I treat?
Do I sprinkle the top of each frame with powdered sugar?
If I do not have a sticky board at the bottom will the mites simply move back up onto the bees?
How do I make a sticky board? Someone mentioned wire mesh on sticky shelf
paper. Would that work? What gauge wire?
Is there another way to do this?
IS now an ok time to treat? I live in the Portland Oregon metro area.


Thanks for you help.

Liz

[2rubes]

Hi Liz;
Deformed wings are a sure sign of a serious mite infestation.
Doing a mite count before you treat gives you a point to judge how well the treatments are working. But according to Randy Oliver, dusting with powdered sugar is also equivalent to seeing your mite situation. I just quoted him in another link. You can do a quick dusting by putting your hive on blocks without the bottom board and putting a board or sheet underneath and use two cups of powdered sugar, sifted over the frames and then brushed in-between. You want to see powdered sugar coming out of the bottom. Remove the sugar in an hour and replace with a cookie sheet with white paper coated oil. It will continue to trap for a while.
We have instructions with pictures on using powdered sugar here http://www.countryrubes.com/instructionspage4.html
You should have some type of screened bottom board for the sugar and mites to drop through. The powdered sugar doesn't kill all the mites, and the ones that survive will just reattach. The sugar will harden after a day and as the bees continue to groom themselves, and those mites will just land on the harden sugar and they are alive.
Ruhl’s Beekeeping Supplies in Gladstone, right outside of Portland carries an assortment of Screened bottom boards, including ours. What ever you pick, or make yourself, SBB’s are a great investment in the health of your hive. You can monitor your mite situation, trap mites that naturally fall and control ventilation.
You can knock down those mites and save your hive with multiple dustings (3 times) of powdered sugar every 4 to 6 weeks. We did our first year. Some beekeepers dusted every time they opened their hives. Powdered sugar is so different then the alternatives. It's the only treatment that you can not use too much of.
Janet

[Dave W]

Greeting Liz and welcome to BeeSource!

>I do not have a screen bottom board . . .
With all due respect, GET a SBB, They are helpful in a lot a ways.

>mite count before I treat . . .
No, but don’t treat just because you "think" they need it.

>sprinkle the top of each frame . . .
The sugar MUST get onto the bees and you need more than a "sprinkle".

>will the mites simply move back . . .
Powdered sugar does NOT kill Varroa mites. It just removes them from the bees. Live mites can crawl several inches and/or feet. A sticky surface will help prevent them from crawling.

>make a sticky board . . .
You can make an "insert" to insert into hive entrance (on top of standard, solid BB) but cutting a hole in your solid BB is easier (and better).

>shelf paper . . .
I have used clear contact paper, but you need something that is VERY sticky to retain the mites, especially if it’s on a std BB.

>What gauge wire . . .
A mesh that has 8 wires per inch works well.

>time to treat . . .
"Time to treat" is when you "need to treat", and you won’t know when that time comes without doing mite counts. That why we count mites. :)

Yes, powdered sugar can be used anytime (season) your bees are able to fly. You can use powdered sugar without fear of contamination of your honey. Other chemicals can NOT be used during a flow.

[Joel]

I can't add much to what Dave has to say, he is the mite miester here on the source. Check out this months issue of ABJ. Randy Oliver is at the point in his series of artcles that talks about his 15 second mite treatment (Didn't it used to bve 8 or 10 seconds? Lots of good pictures!

I would say if you are dealing with deformed wing virus I would likely take a slightly more aggressive approach such as Formic Acic or Apistan for knock down and then get on an Integrated Pest Managment program using other methods.

[hummingberd]

Hi Liz, and welcome! I too started out with a hive that had no screened bottom board. You need to get one. I was told otherwise, but now I have one made by 2rubes. (They're really great!!!) Varroa mites are an ongoing problem for both the bees and the beekeepers, and a screened bottom board helps with keeping the mite at a "tolerable" level, when used with other methods.

Is there any reason I need to do a mite count before I treat?

It's helpful to know what your natural drop is. Natural drop is the number of mites that fall off of bees with out any treatments. You don't have to. I just did 2 sugar dustings, and I didn't get a natural count first.

Do I sprinkle the top of each frame with powdered sugar?

I take a cup of sugar for each box of bees. For example, if your hive consists of 2 deep hive bodies, you would use 2 cups of sugar. One cup for each box. I sift my sugar in the house before I go out. I have read that the sugar particles need to be 5 microns small in order to "plug" up the suction cups on the mites. I put the sugar in a plastic container or plastic bag, and I bring my sifter outside with me. Sift sugar on top of the frames, evenly over where the bees are. There will be sugar left ontop of the frames. Brush it off with a bee brush, unused paint brush or some other brush device.

If I do not have a sticky board at the bottom will the mites simply move back up onto the bees?

Yes. Unfortunately.

How do I make a sticky board? Someone mentioned wire mesh on sticky shelf
paper. Would that work? What gauge wire?

Sorry can't help you there, I bought mine.

IS now an ok time to treat? I live in the Portland Oregon metro area.
[/LIST]

There's no time like the present. Like others have mentioned, you may need a more "intense" treatment. If your mite load is high, you may need something stronger. The important thing is, you start with the softest methods, and work your way up. I started a thread about sugar dusting in this part of the forum. You should read that, and start writing about your story too! I wish you luck in the fight against varroa. Remember it will be ongoing, so be vigilant. And get yourself a screened bottom board of some sort!!!

[stangardener]

" I sift my sugar in the house before I go out. I have read that the sugar particles need to be 5 microns small in order to "plug" up the suction cups on the mites. I put the sugar in a plastic container or plastic bag, and I bring my sifter outside with me. Sift sugar on top of the frames, evenly over where the bees are. There will be sugar left ontop of the frames. Brush it off with a bee brush, unused paint brush or some other brush device."

for a sifter i use another sbb or moving screen. remove the cover and put the screen on top. apply sugar and brush sugar through screen. remove screen and brush sugar from tops of screen. replace cover.

[Dave W]

"Window" screen (finer the better) will break up sugar lumps better than 8 x 8 mesh.

[Robert Brenchley]

If you're seeing DVW, treat at once. I had this situation last autumn, put Apiguard straight on, and lost bees anyway. The colony which died had more DVW than the others, and was probably more susceptible. the situation arose from a sudden influx of mites; resistance has recently arrived in the area, and people just putting Apistan on 'by the book' lost hives. I got the resulting flood of mites.

[Brent Bean]

Liz:
Welcome to Beekeeping, I would also recommend SBB they provide other benefits besides mite control, like added ventilation during hot weather for one. Subscribe to American Bee Journal or Bee Culture magazine, they provide for tons of good information as well as much reading pleasure. American Bee Journal has been running a series of articles for mite control authored by Randy Oliver, great reading. He is a very intelligent beekeeper. He also has a new web page that it very educational. www.randyoliver.com