How to clean a bee of mites.

[xylaria]

I found this tutorial yesterday.
http://www.uksafari.com/bumblebees3.htm

I have found quite a few bumblebees that have appeared to be really suffering with heavy infestions of mites. It wont change the world, but it might work to change the world of one bee.

 

[Toddy]

If that works it's pretty neat

Our front door is white as are the window sills, we get loads of bees resting there trying to soak up the sunshine, and I've seen a few with those horrible mites and wondered if I could remove them.
I was thinking of a wee make-up brush tbh, never thought of dunking them.

Thanks for the link
M

 

[British Red]

One of the "non" chemical treatments for honey bees is to lightly dust them with icing sugar. They groom it off taking the mites with it.

Mites are living creatures too of course. So I guess cleaning bees is roughly the same as shooting corvids so that song birds live. Nothing wrong with it - we all meddle with nature to suit our preferences

 

[Huon]

I found this tutorial yesterday.
http://www.uksafari.com/bumblebees3.htm

I have found quite a few bumblebees that have appeared to be really suffering with heavy infestions of mites. It wont change the world, but it might work to change the world of one bee.

Imagine how much time she spen developing that method? No matter how bad people are en-mass you have to love us as individuals

 

[Bigfoot]

You live and learn, especially in this forum.

 

[cbr6fs]

The patience this woman must have is crazy, there must be thousands of bees in a hive, if it takes say 1 min to clean each bee then if there's 6000 bees that's 100 hours

 

[British Red]

Tens of thousands of honey bees in a hive....but bumblebee colonies are much smaller - typically 50 or so adults ...oh gods I'm becoming a bee nerd

 

[Toddy]

Tens of thousands of honey bees in a hive....but bumblebee colonies are much smaller - typically 50 or so adults ...oh gods I'm becoming a bee nerd

.......that's not a bad thing

M

 

[sandbender]

Fantastic! Thanks for posting.

 

[xylaria]

One of the "non" chemical treatments for honey bees is to lightly dust them with icing sugar. They groom it off taking the mites with it.

Mites are living creatures too of course. So I guess cleaning bees is roughly the same as shooting corvids so that song birds live. Nothing wrong with it - we all meddle with nature to suit our preferences

The bee i had the other day the mites were under where the wings attach to the body, it couldnt reach to groom them. They look just like tic nymphs with their head ends buried into the host. I do wonder if the increase in tic numbers and bee mites might be because there something is out of kitler, like a predator microscopic or otherwise has disappeared. Cleaning mites off a insect that so benifical is not much differant from pest control shooting.

I used let bumble bees crawl over my hands when I was a toddler, even stroking them like a little pet, and talking to them. The fields full of bee then, but I have hardly seen any bees of any type this year.

 

[Harvestman]

I can remember cleaning mites off a giant cockroach by picking them of with a very fine painting brush. The cockroach liked it some much it stretched out all its legs so I could get in the joints as well.

 

[sandsnakes]

Question, if you do clean the mites away, what would the bee like for lunch while it is resting? I assume the bee equivalent of a scoff and brew would aid recovery?

Sandsnakes

 

[British Red]

There is a type of fondant candy made especially for bees (I kid you not)...they go nuts for it

 

[sandsnakes]

Red,
as I don’t usually run a Michelin star restaurant for bumble bees, any other suggestions? Honey, sugar, rib-eye steak?

 

[British Red]

Sugar syrup - 1 kilo of sugar in 500ml of water ...mine love it

ETA, you can feed bees their own honey, but should never feed honey from other colonies - its a disease vector

 

[EdS]

BR - Bee nerd, happens about six months after you start keeping them.

Have you got a microscope yet. That's the next investment. Luckily I all ready had an old Carl Zeiss brass and enamel one from a lab clear out.

 

[British Red]

BR - Bee nerd, happens about six months after you start keeping them.

Have you got a microscope yet. That's the next investment. Luckily I all ready had an old Carl Zeiss brass and enamel one from a lab clear out.

I'm not even quite there yet

Got use of a microscope....but not got my own yet! Totally skint and saving up for a shotgun reloading press at the moment

 

[EdS]

Some bargains on eBay the other day. 1960 / 70 Zeiss etc going cheap.

The older ones work just as well but look better. Only down side is you need external light.

 

[Opal]

Behive yerselves!

 

[IanM]

If you lightly smoke a hive with tobacco smoke the mites tend to be affected and fall off the bees, you can then collect them from the floor of the hive (best place a sheet of paper down first). It does not remove all of the mites though and the smell lingers on the honey so it really is only useful for heavy infestations as an alternative to culling the colony.

I have never heard of using tobacco smoke on solitary bees though, perhaps a smoker would try and let us know?