· By Angela Seto
Getting Rid of Mites
What's new on the farm:
Happy October, everyone!
It's been a month since I wrote our last newsletter. A lot has happened in that time; we're only just keeping up!
We've had our first frost, and winter preparation has been on our minds.
The most important things for the bees going into winter are:
- Are they healthy?
- Do they have enough food?
Today I'll talk about #1. The most pressing concern for us is the Varroa mite.
They are awful parasites that attack honeybees. They feed on fat cells and weaken their immune systems so that they get sick and die.
Last year, we had a heckuva time with the Varroa mite, and they devastated about half of our population in the fall.
We did everything we could to salvage the rest for winter, but come springtime, 90% of the remaining hives died.
This season, Andrew has been crazy diligent in making sure these mites don't get a chance to repeat this.
There are two angles he is taking:
First, treat the hives regularly to keep the mites as low as possible. We have been using several organic acid treatments throughout the year.
Research is showing that mites are already becoming resistant to the conventional chemical treatments. Whereas the organic acid treatments have been used for decades without showing any resistance yet.
Different treatments are appropriate for different times of the year. Right now, in the late fall, with honey harvest over, we are using oxalic acid.
It's naturally occuring in many leafy greens (especially kale and spinach), fruits, and nuts.
We vaporize it into a gas that gets blown into the hive. It's lethal to mites but it doesn't harm the honeybees.
Treatments have been going well so far but you can't be relaxed about it. For most of the year, our mites have been close to zero. The fall is when mites naturally increase in population.
Our mite numbers are well below our threshold right now. But if you take your foot off the gas for a moment, the mites can easily jump back up. This is because oxalic acid can only kill the mites that are out in the open in the hive, on the adult bees.
However, mites will hide, multiply, and feed off the brood (the developing baby bees), which live in beeswax combs that are sealed shut. This beeswax seal blocks the oxalic acid gas.
When the brood turns into an adult bee and then hatches out of the beeswax comb, then the mites will come spilling out alongside them.
The hives will stop producing brood in a few more weeks, so there will be nowhere else to hide after then. But until then, we have to stay on top of treatments until all the mites are taken care of.
For the second angle, we purchased some queen bees this year from a well-known beekeeper in California who is running an impressive breeding program. He is breeding bees that are resistant to mites. The hives that he keeps have no mites, without needing treatment.
He's spent years and years curating his bee population until he achieved that goal. We would love to get to that point so we are trying to incorporate those genetics.
This year we made some daughter queen bees from the original queens that we purchased. We won't see results until next season, but we're excited to see how they fare. It's an important experiment that's part of our own breeding program to move towards mite-resistant bees.
In the Kitchen
We are starting to get ready for the holidays. Fall is a great time for honey caramels, since it's such a warming and cozy treat.
Unfortunately, our 1920s wrapping machine was broken for 2 weeks, so we had run out of stock for about a week! I used to wrap every candy by hand, but we are past that point now and it would have been impossible to keep up that way.
We had to enlist some help from our specialist candy machine maker in Ohio, who was also responsible for rebuilding the machine when we first bought it. Finally, it's back up in running in time for the fall rush, and we are now churning out our candies as fast as we can!
Honey Apple Sauce
Andrew loves applesauce. I had never made it before, and was surprised at how easy it is. I had memories of making it in elementary school and it seemed really hard. Turns out that some memories from a 7 year old aren't that reliable.
I found a popular recipe and replaced the sugar with honey. Since you're heating the honey, it's not really there for nutritional benefit, but you do get a richer sweetness.
It occurred to me after stirring it in, that I could also add the honey after the apples are cooked and the sauce has cooled to retain some of the nutrients.
I used this recipe:
- 1500 g Apples
- 60 mL Water
- 30–60 mL Honey
- ½ tsp Cinnamon (optional)
- ½ tsp Lemon juice (optional)
1. Peel, core, and slice the apples.
2. Put the apples in a pot with the water and cook on medium heat until soft, about 15–20 minutes.
3. Mash the apples using a potato masher, or blend if you prefer a smooth sauce.
4. Add the honey and optional cinnamon or lemon juice to taste. Stir well.
5. Cool the sauce and store in jars in the fridge.
This is a really simple recipe that makes a nice snack or addition to breakfast dishes. You get the natural sweetness from the apples and a richer flavor from the honey!