whether I was, as he suspected, neglecting to spray an insecticide that's harmful to bees into hives to fight a problem they don't have. Well, yes. I think he's missing the first part of that equation, somehow! Let us not spray the hives with things harmful to bees, please!
I'm sorry your time in Australia is coming to an end, though it sure seems as if you've made the most if it while you were there! I hope this all settles out soon, so you're not so stressed. "Up in the air future" is one of the most stressful things of all. :(
Oh it drives me crazy, it seems to be the only thing he cares about "are you spraying the trays? are you spraying the trays?" He claims since I'm not spraying it directly on the bees (and they can't come in contact with these trays because there's a mesh over them, it won't have any effect ... but all these chemcials dissipate, esp off a metal tray which doesn't absorb chemicals and into the wax which absorbs everytihng like a sponge .........
Especially in the Australian heat! The fumes will be ongoing to start with, and then yes-- they'll permeate the wax.
Assuming they didn't kill the bees already. :(
Why not try oil of thyme instead? It's supposed to kill off bee mites, without harming the bees... IF they were afflicted with whatever he's worried about in the first place. :O
Hmmm I haven't heard of this oil of thyme thing. Do you know how it is applied?
Another simple thing that works for mites is powdered sugar! Sprinkling it into the hive, it doesn't effect hte bees, but the mites choke on it. Yay organic and non-poisonous!
Fortunately we do not have mites here ... yet. What we do have though is hive beetles.
Yesterday while I was putting hives down that had foulbrood, by sloshing a bit of gasoline into hives and letting the fumes kill them, I noted that it doesn't seem to effect the hive beetles, unfortunately.
One kind of crazy idea I think would be interesting is that the Australian native bees, Trigona carbonaria can "mummify" hive beetles with resin quite easily, and the hive beetles usually go to the top or the bottom of a hive, so what if one were to attache a T carbonaria hive directly below or above a beehive???
Re: the hive beetles (ick), might there be any danger if the Australian bees crossbreed with the other bees? I'm thinking of that African killer bee scare a few decades back. ;)
Nah they couldn't possibly crossbreed, honeybees are like ten times bigger, and they're not even in the same genus. The European / African crossbreed was between two types of bee that were the same species -- Apis mellifera ligustica (and other Europeans ssps) and Apis mellifera scutellata.
Well, yes. I think he's missing the first part of that equation, somehow! Let us not spray the hives with things harmful to bees, please!
I'm sorry your time in Australia is coming to an end, though it sure seems as if you've made the most if it while you were there! I hope this all settles out soon, so you're not so stressed. "Up in the air future" is one of the most stressful things of all. :(
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Assuming they didn't kill the bees already. :(
Why not try oil of thyme instead? It's supposed to kill off bee mites, without harming the bees... IF they were afflicted with whatever he's worried about in the first place. :O
Reply
Another simple thing that works for mites is powdered sugar! Sprinkling it into the hive, it doesn't effect hte bees, but the mites choke on it. Yay organic and non-poisonous!
Fortunately we do not have mites here ... yet. What we do have though is hive beetles.
Yesterday while I was putting hives down that had foulbrood, by sloshing a bit of gasoline into hives and letting the fumes kill them, I noted that it doesn't seem to effect the hive beetles, unfortunately.
One kind of crazy idea I think would be interesting is that the Australian native bees, Trigona carbonaria can "mummify" hive beetles with resin quite easily, and the hive beetles usually go to the top or the bottom of a hive, so what if one were to attache a T carbonaria hive directly below or above a beehive???
Reply
Re: the hive beetles (ick), might there be any danger if the Australian bees crossbreed with the other bees? I'm thinking of that African killer bee scare a few decades back. ;)
Reply
Nah they couldn't possibly crossbreed, honeybees are like ten times bigger, and they're not even in the same genus. The European / African crossbreed was between two types of bee that were the same species -- Apis mellifera ligustica (and other Europeans ssps) and Apis mellifera scutellata.
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