Sublimate Those Suckers

Honey bees have lots of foes.  One of the worst is the varroa destructor mite.  Varroa are to bees like ticks are to humans.  They feed off the bees while transmitting deadly viruses.  Imagine having ticks living in your house, reproducing in your bed and feeding off your young.  Ugh.  Disgusting.

Unless you live in Australia, mites are a reality for every beekeeper in every hive.  We treat honey bees to reduce the mite loads in their hives in many different ways and this weekend was the first of our winter oxalic acid treatments.  Oxalic acid vapour is more toxic to mites than to bees so it is a good option for keeping varroa mites under control during cold months when we cannot open up the hives.  Using a heated tray, we cause oxalic acid crystals to sublimate into vapour inside the hive.  The vapour is not good for humans to breathe, hence the PPE.  The bees did not seem to mind it at all, they got a bit buzzy inside the hives right after the treatment but it seemed like no big deal to them.  Hopefully it was a big deal to the mites and they all died - not likely but here's to hoping.  Jerks.