Grease Patties

 Tonight at bee club we talked about Integrated Pest Management. This a way of managing pests while minimizing chemical inputs into the hive. I will give an example: Tracheal mites are a pest that affect bees by living and breeding in their trachea. This makes it hard for the bees to breathe and work and eventually kills them. Booo! You could put a chemical in the hive that kills tracheal mites, but it also might leave chemical residue, the mites might become resistant to it, etc.

Through integrated pest management, one way of managing tracheal mites without using synthetic chemicals is to combine sugar with vegetable shortening and a few drops of peppermint oil. The bees eat the sugar and the grease gets into their trachea, making it impossible for the mites to hang on. Beekeepers have successfully using grease patties as a tracheal mite control for decades. We made some up and put them in our hives. 3:1 sugar to vegetable shortening with a few drops of peppermint or spearmint oil. You just put it on top of the frames like this. You can make a big batch and freeze it in log form, cutting off a patty when you need it.