Tracheal mites?

[sebee]

About 2 weeks ago I went out and looked at one of my hives, and there was probably about 30 bees (that I saw, probably more that I didn't see) crawling around on the ground about 5 or so feet in front of the hive, some would crawl up grass and attempt to fly only to go a foot or two then fall back down to the ground. At first I thought this might have been tracheal mites, but none of their wings seemed to be deformed at all, and I haven't seen any bees crawling around like that since. Any ideas? Should I be worried?

[brooksbeefarm]

Could be insecticides. Jack

[Axtmann]

Sebee you’re mixing up two different kinds of mites. Bees with deformed wings are the victims of the Varroa mite and bees with K-wings are victims from Tracheal mites.

One of the effective’s treatments against both kinds of mites is the use of a Thymol product...
The Thymol fumes kill mites in closed cells (it penetrates wax) and it kills mites in the tracheal from the honeybee (bees inhale the fumes when breathing).

If you are not sure what to do, put some Thymol (paste or strip) in the hive. IMO the fumes kill Tracheal mites by almost 100% and Varroa mites close to 90% or more depends on the temperatures.

Good thing, Thymol is and essential oil – natural product like OA and formic.

[sebee]

Thanks for the responses and advice. Im not sure what it was, but it only lasted a few days and I havent seen it since. So at the moment Im just going to let them be.

[Michael Bush]

Did they have "K" wings? In other words two wings sticking out on each side instead of it looking like one wing on each side.

[sebee]

No, they didnt appear to have the "K" wings. And its strange how its stopped as quickly as it started, just a few days later. Recently though I have noticed a few drones with deformed wings (not K), Im wondering if this is the beginning of a different problem.

[Beeslave]

Do varroa mites sample using ether roll or alcohol wash.

[Dave W]

>ether roll or alcohol wash . . .

If you dont like killing bees, use Screened Bottom Board and a pull-out sticky board to do a mite count.

[Axtmann]

<<<<<<<<<<<I have noticed a few drones with deformed wings (not K), Im wondering if this is the beginning of a different problem.>>>>>>>>

Sebee your bees (drones) have an infection from the deformed wing virus. The carrier of the virus is the Varroa mite.

There are several ways of treatments;

1) You can destroy the sealed brood including combs and let bees start new on foundation. After you removed the brood treats one time with an OA evaporator and your hive is 99.99% Varroa free.
When the new brood hatched the bees are healthy and mite free.

2) You can treat with an OA evaporator 4-5 times a week apart, this time of the year you will reach approx up to 75% of the mites. The crippled bees are hatching and bees take care of them.

3) You can treat with a Thymol strip (put one in now and a second in two weeks) and this will kill the mite’s approx more than 90%, depends on the temperatures. (That what I use against mites)

4) You can treat with formic acid, I never used it, but you will find instructions every ware.

5) Some (or a lot of) beekeepers using all kind of chemicals to solve the problem. If you go this way, make sure mites in your area are not resistant.

No treatment is 100%, if you have a “bee friend” in your area who don’t like to treat his bees, and has a high mite infection in the bee yard, your bees will have mite again very soon.

[Michael Bush]

If it stopped as quickly as it started I'd lean towards pesticides being the cause.

[frysl]

If it stopped as quickly as it started I'd lean towards pesticides being the cause.

Concur.
Same problem here last week (along with the panic:eek:).
Turns out that it was the mosquito control folks and no one home to cover the hives.
Lost a few hundred bees.
Don't know if it is fact or not, but a friend told me that a bunch of dead bees with the tounge sticking out is a sure sign of a pesticide issue.