ok,, after a few months with the new mite ttrap in place,, still now mites,, hope thats good, not to see any in the traps. BUT,,,, yesterday I found some,,,,white crystal things. Wasnt beeswax,, didnt smell (or taste) like crystalized honey. It almost looks like a fertilizer a broadcasted over the garden,, wasnt anywahere near the hive. Anyone have any ideas what this stuff could be? I also found a lot of pollen in the trap,, I didnt think bees dropped so much,, without the trap,, they could go and pick it up,, but not with the trap in place. If I was home more,, I would collect it from there, and feed it back to them next year. If I wait to collect it,, and dry it out, would it still be ok to use? Skip,,Im betting you have the answer to this.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), July 04, 2001

Answers

Stan- No idea about the white crystal things, but here in Florida when I use pollen traps I find that I have to empty them at least once a day, around midday before it gets too humid, or the pollen spoils.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), July 04, 2001.

Is the white stuff small like granulated sugar? or small chunks? If it is small stuff it mostlikely is just wax that they are cleaning out. if it is small chunks it is probably chalk brood that the bees are cleaning out. Open up your hive and clean off the bottom board.

If your bees have mites you will be able to see them on the bees. smoke them down and pull out a frame and look close at the bees. you are looking for small red dots on the bees backs. you may also see malformed wings on some of the bees if they have mites. also open up some of the drone brood and check in there. the mites like to live in there. if you don't have any mites and can't clean out the trap often i would take it out. let the bees have their pollen. if you want to feed pollen back to the bees get a pollen substitute.

-- Mary (cntryfolk@ime.net), July 05, 2001.

Stan, when we are looking for mites, we use the powdered sugar method. Take a small (peanut butter) jar that a ring used on canning jars will fit-put wire(we use #8-64 squares pre inch)in the ring and glue it so it will not fall out. After the glue is completely dry, scoop about 2 inches of bees into the jar and close the lid. Put approx. 1 1/2 Tablespoons of white powdered sugar through the wire on top of the bees and gently shake the bees to cover all of them with the sugar. Now turn the jar upside down and shake the sugar through the wire mesh onto a white pc. of tacky board or just a white sheet of paper. Look for the dark brown or almost black spots that are crawling. These are mites. They say that if you have more than 100 mites per jar that it is TOO high you need to treat again or treat with a different product. I hope this helps. Gl Deb

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), July 05, 2001.

Stan

I suspect what you are seeing are larva mummies resulting from chalk brood. This is a fungal disease that attacks the larvae. Infected larvae shrivel up and become dry and hard. It usually results from high humidity. As the bees clean out the old comb they remove these mummies and let them drop to the bottom board. In very bad infestations, you will get black spores spreading on the comb, but under normal conditions, chalk brood is not fatal to the colony and they can clean it up as the summer hot season wears on. To prevent, use telescoping lids and shelter your colonies from the rain as best you can. Keep them up off the ground and keep the grass and weeds trimmed short around the hives. When you inspect your hives, look for cells with hard, white "deposits" on the bottom side of the cell in amongst capped brood. Pollen is normally stored on the outer edges of the frames and in the outer frames. Chalkbrood will be seen in the center of the center frames where the brood normally is found. You can also control the spread of chalkbrood by destroying any frames that contain a large number of infected larvae. A strong healthy colony with a young queen will be more resistant to chalkbrood. I have observed it in most of my hives in the spring, but it is virtually gone by the end of summer.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), July 05, 2001.