In article <v02140b13b0acc884fcf2@[128.84.181.200]>, Todd Flanders
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>Manley described regular use of oil of wintergreen for treating acarine --
>I think that was in the 40's.
>He used a small bottle set at a rear corner of the hive (on the floor),
>with some sort of wick to draw the oil up.  Apparently this treatment was
>part of the regular wintering preparations.
>
>Perhaps someone in the UK could explain what ever became of this practice
>... or, has anyone seen it described or used in other areas?
 
I cannot vouch for other parts of Britain, but here in our area of
Eastern Scotland we do not treat for acarine mites at all. They are
endemic and, although we do not do any routine checking, we presume that
all our colonies carry some kind of population of these mites.
 
From reading and talking to old beekeepers who were active at that time,
it would appear that oil of wintergreen, either on its own or in a
preparation called Frow's mixture, was a standard treatment for this
mite. It seems that, for a number of reasons, during the 50's and 60's,
the use of such treatments died away. I believe that principal amongst
these reasons was that the bees had adapted, probably by inadvertant
(survivor) selection by beekeepers, and resistance, or tolerance, to the
mites became widespread. I remember seeing colonies very ill with this
infestation (they called it a disease then) in the 60's when I was a
boy, but by then we had stopped treating as not cost effective and only
a few colonies succumbed at that time.
 
Odd colonies seemed to be affected up to the early 70's, but since then
we have only really seen it in hives headed by imported queens of
certain strains, especially caucasians. We cannot say that this
'resistance' is a feature of our native strains because, like most UK
bees, ours are a genetic patchwork arising from wave after wave of
importations into this country after the near wipe-outs of the early
years of this century. We have not seen a single case of classic acarine
symptoms for a few years now.
 
Thus it would appear that the demise of the treatments was linked
entirely to it no longer being necessary. For the first couple of
decades after the wave of infestation the treatments were essential,
then the need for them gradually diminished, and today we do not need
them at all.
 
Hope this is of use.
 
 
--
Murray McGregor
Denrosa Ltd
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