Emergency Entry 1

Normally I just write once a week when we check the hives, you know, no use in cluttering up the blogosphere right? But there is something wrong going on at Matt's hive. When he came home today there were clusters of bees on the ground outside his hive. They aren't moving and they look like they may be dying. When I came home from work I saw them too. We think it may be tracheal mites. But it could be a gut disease called nosema, there are signs of that too. Both issues have similar symptoms. I don't know!

Ugghhh! I hate tracheal mites. As I mentioned a couple of entries ago, tracheal mites live in the breathing tubes of the bees, the trachea. Having an inhaler myself, and having had breathing problems of my own before, I can't bear the idea of the bees having a hard time breathing, let alone suffocating to death from mites living in their trachea. It breaks my heart. As I shake my fist in the air, CURSE YOU TRACHEAL MITES! I know all beings have intrinsic value, but come on, don't kill our innocent bees.

We began treating for tracheal mites this weekend with grease patties, thinking that we were ahead of the game. Maybe we weren't. We will see what happens tomorrow I guess. Sigh.