Chemical Free Treatments For Honey Bees
Heat Treating For Varroa Mites And Small Hive Beetles
Producing local honey from St. Augustine starts with protecting honey bee hives. Honey bees have many pests, but Varroa Mites and Small Hive Beetles are two of the biggest threats to our honey bees. There are plenty of products and theories on how to treat for these pests, but treat you must. Varroa and small hive beetles are decimating honey bee colonies annually. Most beekeepers in St. Johns County treat their honey bee colonies for varroa and small hive beetles with formic and oxalic acids. Bee Augustine Honey Co. is constantly researching treatments for these pests and one of the solutions that we found is organic and eliminates the need for pesticides; Bee Hive Thermal Industries Mighty Mite Killer.
This method is more time consuming than most other treatments for varroa and small hive beetles. However, the ability to protect our St. Augustine honey bees from these pests without using chemicals captured our attention and we made the decision to include it in our scheduled maintenance. The manufacturer has been extremely helpful and cooperative in helping us to understand and implement the new technology. In addition to killing varroa mites and small hive beetles, they boast that using Bee Hive Thermal Industries Mighty Mite Killer increases a production in brood and honey by improving the overall health of honey bee colonies.
We have applied the heat treatment several times and two things are for certain; the honey bees don’t seem to be bothered by the process and the mite count has been reduced with each application. The images above show our beekeepers during the actual heat treatments. As you can see the honey bees don’t seem to mind. The amount of honey bee colonies that we have allows us the opportunity to try different products and techniques in regards to best beekeeping practices. This helps ensure that our local honey from St. Augustine is both safe and delicious.
Want Some Local Honey?
Bee Augustine Honey Co. is proud to provide our friends, family, local residents and visitors to the Nation’s oldest City with 100% pure local honey from St. Augustine. If you are interested in reserving some of our local honey, please enter your information below and we will let you know when the Fall 2019 Harvest is ready for you.