I have mites in my flow hive how can I get rid of them?
Click on the magnifying glass at the top right of the screen and type ‘varroa mite’ and you will find heaps from previous posts with options.
Cheers
OK, I am going to try to answer your plea for help by asking some questions. But first of all, take a deep breath. Colorado has good air, so get a lungful. Now relax a bit. Most beekeepers in the US have mites. Many more have them and don’t know it. If you know it, you are one of the better beekeepers.
Now to my questions:
- How do you know that you have mites?
- What kind of mites? There are varroa mites and pollen mites and various others. Which type do you think that you have?
- What is your varroa mite count, and how did you obtain it? Sticky board counts are very unreliable - you need a sugar roll or alcohol wash count.
- Is your hive supered? If you have a super on the hive, your treatment options for varroa are limited
You can do this. Don’t worry too much, just tell us what you know and we will try to help.
Thank You Dawn
I noticed the little black bugs are crawling all over the roof of my hive.
I put some DE powder on the ground around hive also.
I have a picture I took of the bugs.Maybe it would help you in determining what the bugs are.image|375x500
I’m often wrong but those don’t look like mites.
Too out of focus, but they are not varroa.
Hey Bill, I can’t tell what kind of insect those are either but they’re def not mites. Hives tend to become homes or areas of interest for lots of different insects & bugs, but most aren’t capable of harm to a strong colony. It would be good to familiarize yourself with the various types so you know what to brush away and forget about and what to set up more lethal plans for. Varroa mites are tiny, tinier than a pinhead, and are deep in the brood nest and attached to bees’ bodies.
Let us know how you do with reading up and then we can get more specific about strategy
You have mites but they aren’t what you have pictured.
From where you are finding them in the hive and that they are black in color maybe they are just SHB. A photo in focus would be a help Bill.
Cheers