Mighty Mite

"Are we going under? I don’t think so," says State of Michigan Apiarist Mike Hansen. "But we are going to go through some very challenging times." Mike goes on to say that shortly after the introduction of the tracheal mite into the U.S., we saw large overwinter declines in beekeeping operations in Michigan. This was complicated by the Varroa mite. "Many of America’s beekeepers tossed in their hive tool."

I had Varroa mites in my hive last year. I used a screened bottom board, which allows pollen and other detritus from the hive to fall through onto a piece of white plastic sheet (resembling a blank election sign). You pull out the sheet to inspect what's in the hive. One of the horticulturalists here at the Gardens helped me see the tiny movement on the board, and showed me how to look through a microscope to identify it. Using Google images, we were able to identify the speck as a Varroa mite.

Meghan (my bee mentor) was not alarmed. She said that the population in my hive was still small and manageable. After more on-line research, I elected to sprinkle the hive with powdered sugar. When they clean off the sugar, the bees also clean off the mites, causing them to fall through the screened bottom board and out of the hive. The mites are not able to clean the sugar and die of overheating, but the sugar does not harm the bees. Still, I wonder if the Varroa mites had anything to do with my deadout last winter.

The nasty Varroa mite attacking drone larvae.
It's disgusting.

Mike Hansen talked about the new generation of beekeepers: people who look carefully at beekeeping as a business and investment, and have accepted the changes in life needed to follow the migratory patterns necessary to overwinter and manage large numbers of bee colonies and have them ready for pollination when they return to states like Michigan in the spring.  That's beyond my level of effort, but I am prepared to devote time and attention to understanding the health of the hive, pests and diseases, and working to keep the hive strong.

Those simpler days when Sherlock Holmes could leave the hive unattended year upon year, only opening it to harvest honey, are gone.