Insects and Mice

Insect pests range from spiders, earwigs, cockroaches to ants. None of these do any serious damage to your hive and don’t seem to bother the bees.

Mice, however, are a different story. Mice tend to invade hives as the weather cools down, they look for a warm place for the winter and hives are air tight and the bees help a bit with heating. Mice will damage comb and frames to accommodate their nest. They urinate in the hive causing irreversible damage to the drawn comb as the bees will no longer use it once contaminated by the mice.

Wildlife

Wildlife can cause serious damage. Skunks come around at night, scratch on the hive entrance and then eat the guard bees to come to entrance to see what is going on. The nighttime attacks on the hive will also tend to make the bees more defensive and aggressive when you open the hive during the day. The best way to prevent skunks is to put your hives and a stand 18 inches off the ground.
Bears like to break into bee yards at night too, going after the brood and honey. They are known to cause destruction to equipment and drag away boxes. Once they strike gold at your hives they will return. Electric fencing can deter them. If you even suspect there are bears in your area you should consider putting up an electric fence before the bears learn your hives have honey. One of our club members had a bear attack which can be seen here.

Wax Moths

Wax Moths are not harmful to bees and a strong, healthy hive can defend itself from wax moths. However, once they infest a hive they do a number on comb whether the comb is in storage or in a weak hive. The moths burrow through the comb and enjoy consuming the old dark comb. If you do not spot the larvae, you can easily identify the invasion by the silky web they spin for protection as they eat their way through the drawn comb. The best way to prevent them altogether is to maintain a healthy hive and monitoring unused equipment frequently. You can treat the equipment but only when not in use with the chemical Paradichlorobenzene or use cold treatment placing equipment or frames in subzero temperatures x 24 hours to kill larvae and adults.

Small Hive Beetles (SHB)

Small Hive Beetles (SHB) are more predominate in the SE United States where the weather is warm and humid but have been found in NE Wisconsin spreading through infested packages and migratory operations. They are not likely to cause the colony to die, rather they slow the growth and size of a hive by weakening it. They are vectors for viruses: Sacbrood virus (SBV), American Foulbrood (AFB) spores and European Foulbrood (EFB). The larvae are similar to that of the wax moth, only smaller. SHB prefer to reproduce in loose sandy soil, but are not picky if the conditions are right. They are attracted to pollen sub patties where they breed. There are traps you can use to catch and kill the SHB and chemical treatments that are applied to the soil interfering with reproduction.

Why Should I Care About Mites?

The Varroa Destructor Mite is considered to be the honey bees worst enemy. They are well known to contribute to colony death and collapse worldwide and were first discovered in the US in 1987. A review of the Brown County Beekeeper Association meeting minutes from that time period indicates that members were hearing about them, but did not appear to be overly concerned. Fast forward 36 years and mites impact each and every beekeeper and bee colony.

Mites themselves don’t kill the bees, rather, it is the many viruses they transmit to the bees that weaken them, including deformed wing virus and acute paralytic virus. In June 2022 Varroa reached Australia, one of the last known places in the world to be invaded by the Varroa Mite Destructor.

OK, Tell Me More!

A responsible beekeeper must perform regular, routine hive inspections, understand and anticipate the bees needs AND have a mite management strategy and plan. To start, let’s talk a bit about mite reproduction and lifecycle. Mites spread via movement of a carrier; a bee, a swarm of bees, a hive, even apiary equipment. They reproduce under capped brood cells and weaken bees by feeding on fat bodies of larvae and bees. Mites are also carriers of a number of viruses harmful to bees and when the mites pierce the bees exterior to feed, the virus’ are transmitted to the bee.

Can I Prevent Mites From Getting Into my Hive?

The short answer is no. There are a number things you can do to minimize the number of mites and to eliminate them when they do show up.

• Maintain a regular monitoring schedule – start monthly mite testing using a sugar roll or alcohol wash in early spring and maintain until late fall. Whenever you receive new bees, test for mites. Don’t get complacent if you get a zero mite count. Do your testing on schedule the next month. Be sure to write down the date and mite load so you can compare month to month.
• Utilize Integrated Pest Management (IPM) interventions – an overview of IPM is shown in the graphic. More in depth info is found here.

How Do I Find Out if I Have Mites?

Two of the most common methods to monitor for mites are the alcohol wash and the powdered sugar roll.

Alcohol Wash – The alcohol wash is considered to be the most accurate method to monitor mite load. Advantages: accurate mite count each time and is quick and easy. Disadvantages: 300 bees are killed in the process of testing and alcohol is flammable – keep away from smoker.

Powdered Sugar Roll – The powdered sugar roll is preferred by many beekeepers because it does not kill any bees, intentionally. Advantages: Bees are kept alive and can be returned for clean-up back in the hive. Disadvantages: method is more time intensive than the alcohol wash and not as accurate. Excessive nectar on the frame which can leave the sample wet and high humidity both can cause the powdered sugar to clump, causing it not to knock the mites off the bees.

I’ve Got Mites, Now What?

Once you know how many mites you have it’s time to decide if action needs to be taken to reduce the number of mites. Divide your mite count by 3 which results in the number of mites per 100 bees (also known as the mite percentage). How many mites is too many and requires an intervention.

Most beekeepers follow this rule of thumb: If the mite load is 9 mites or 3 percent or greater – TREAT. Considering the destruction caused by the mites, many beekeepers are now treating at six mites or 2% threshold. Any early spring count of 3 mites or 1% should be treated due to the exponential growth rate of mites if they are not treated.

The State of Wisconsin produced this guide to mite treatments including treatments not recommended in Wisconsin.

A very well laid out guide for the best treatment options based upon your situation and desires can be found at Honey Bee Health Coalition. Look for the Varroa Management Guide and Varroa Management Decision Tool. Both of these interactive tools are among the best available.

Experienced beekeepers know next year’s beekeeping season starts in August.  After honey has been harvested in the first or second week of August, work begins to prepare the bees for the upcoming winter months. 

There are literally thousands of materials that you can find on the internet to learn about beekeeping. The amount of information can be daunting. For the beginning beekeeper the Brown County Beekeepers Association recommends four major avenues for learning.