Doug Corbin coming out last week was the confidence boost I needed.  I jumped into beekeeping with both feet and wasn’t afraid of the bees at all… until I started getting stung.  The last few months of just trying to fill their jars with sugar water has come with several stings resulting in a deflation of my confidence.  My bees seemed to be more aggressive than I remember and I started keeping my distance.

In talking with Doug over the phone he diagnosed the problem without even seeing the hive: mites.  Varroa mites to be exact.  They attach themselves to the bees and crawl into the cells where the queen has laid eggs.  It can be very damaging to a hive if not controlled.  There are two basic ways to take care of varroa mites: chemicals or powered sugar.  Powered sugar is the organic way to treat bees and this is the path we’ve chosen to take at the farm.  You’re probably wondering how powdered sugar could take care of the mites, after all, it is just sugar!  Once a bee is covered in powered sugar they will groom themselves and the mites will become dislodged from the bee.  For this to be effective the bees must be sugared over a period of time.  Doug recommended  every 3-5 days for a period of 35 days.

There was a lot of activity at the hives today.  It was a very warm day and some plants are beginning to bloom.  I saw lots of bees with big yellow balls of pollen attached to their legs.  Here is a time lapse video I did today of me sugaring the bees.   – Michael

 Doug Corbin is the state bee inspector for our area and he came out to the farm to take a look at our bees.  It was amazing to watch a master beekeeper work bees in such an efficient and comfortable way.  As you can see below my bees took a liking to Doug and wanted to tag along on his jacket.  Doug is an amazing teacher and I learned a lot.  A big thank you to Doug Corbin for your time and expertise!