Bee lice

[Neonach]

Previous fears about acarine mite seem to have been mistaken after all, so as yet I've not unsealed my pack of mentol crystals. However I do definitely have bee lice: in fact I first spotted these when I obtained the bees 2 years ago, but I was told that they were not a significant problem, and indeed all references I've checked have said the same. That said, I thought they'd actually died out last year, but at last inspection I didn't need to look too hard to find a few bees with the little brown dots on their thoraxes. Does anyone know if they transfer from other species of bee - eg Bumbles or whatever? And since it has been such a good year - no reason to doubt good bee nutrition levels and health - I'm wondering why they've made a resurgence, and if there's anything I need to do about it.

[Neils]

I'll take Braula Coeca for 500!

http://www.edinburghbeekeepers.org.uk/diseases/Braula1.pdf

Relatively rare where you get Varroa as the Varroa treatment tends to kill the Braula too but that'd be my first guess.

[Neonach]

Thanks Neillie. The document you linked to explains a possible reason for the increase: I've never yet taken off any honey, allowing the bees to keep their own handiwork (I don't yet have an extractor). This will mean the eggs pass on to the next year. I'm intending to buy an extractor next year, so hopefully that will keep the little blighters in check.

[lindsay s]

I’ve had Braula in my hives ever since I started beekeeping, they don’t do any harm and I wouldn’t swap them for Varroa. At this time of year when my son and his friends are happily chewing the cappings I smile and think to myself Braula isn’t doing them any harm either.

[Trog]

An open mesh floor seems to keep the braula numbers down. You'll find a lot of them running around on the insert. Folk from varroa areas can be quite nostalgic about braula!

[gavin]

Like me! Haven't seen one in years. Yet another endangered creature now restricted to the N and W fringes (is it OK to talk about N and W fringes?!

[lindsay s]

I’ve had Braula in my hives ever since I started beekeeping, they don’t do any harm and I wouldn’t swap them for Varroa. At this time of year when my son and his friends are happily chewing the cappings I smile and think to myself Braula isn’t doing them any harm either.

Nostalgic about Braula then think again.
A friend of mine took these photos at my apiary few weeks ago and as you can see Braula are not endangered here yet. I feel sorry for Her Majesty, as she seems to be having a tough time of it. So I think I’ll better retract the above quote.