Bussy Bee

Tiny red mite

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Bussy Bee
, 03-10-2014 at 12:51 PM (11105 Views)
I am a newbee this year. Started with 2 nucs in April and now have 9 hives, all on at least a brood box, 3 on 2 brood boxes and supers. but did not touch brood boxes which are heavy. I removed 25 lbs of honey 10 days ago. Have been looking for varroa during the season examining drone brood but only saw one. Did icing sugar 2 weeks ago and got a few hundred tiny bright red mites in some hives (about the size of a pin head). they did not look like the varroa I saw in other bee keepers hives. Have treated with tea tree oil in 2 to one syrup and got a further drop. Bees were working the heather heavily up to yesterday when the weather changed. Are these varroa?

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  1. The Drone Ranger's Avatar
    could you photograph and post the image please
  2. Bussy Bee's Avatar
    Thank you for your reply Drone Ranger. Went to the Apiary this morning took 10 photos but they move too fast and are really small to get a clear photo They are in most of the hives there was also dead varroa on the shee, les than 10. Another bee keeper turned up and reckoned they were red spiders, we used a much bigger magnifying glass to examine them. I will be reducing the hives down in about 10 days time and will look to see if they are affecting the hive in any way.
  3. gavin's Avatar
    Sounds like you are seeing some kind of scavenging mite. However if they happen to be like the one on the right, do let us know! Varroa is on the left, Tropilaelaps on the right. Highly unlikely though.



    Varroa does need care, and when you do have an infestation to worry about I'm not sure that either powdered sugar or tea tree oil will do the job. Just read this on tea tree oil on Randy Oliver's site:

    'Experiment if you will, but don’t bet your whole operation on an unproven recipe! Do your homework—start with the two Canadian Honey Council pages in References. Some oils are toxic to bees or humans (and can be absorbed through the skin). Some have unexpected side effects: Henley, et al. (2007) found that “Lavender and tea tree oils found in some shampoos … can temporarily leave boys with enlarged breasts in rare cases, apparently by disrupting their hormonal balance…” '

    I've heard of people using HiveClean to good effect. You have to keep at it though. Most of us use more effective treatments such as those based on thymol, Apivar, formic acid, or when broodless in mid winter oxalic acid.
    Updated 05-10-2014 at 01:04 PM by gavin
  4. Bussy Bee's Avatar
    Thanks Gavin,The mite (or spider) is nothing like the 2 shown, it is much smaller and moves quite quickly and bright red. There was some varroa on the sheets, but some hives were clear . I have ordered an evaporator and oxalic acid so that I can treat all the hives at end of December. I am trying to keep the amount of chemicals to a minimum, but if I thought the infestation was getting bad, I would not hesitate to use Maqs strips straight away.
  5. Jon's Avatar
    I would not use MAQS at this time of year because of the risk of queen loss.