Bee Care

As this is my first year with Bee's I have what might be to some a stupid question, but then again I am known for those so here it goes.
I am aware that Veroa Mites are a common pest of the bee's.
I also know that chicken, turkeys, and guinea fowl are great gleemers of tick sized critters. So would anyone know if having these type of bird help or make any difference with these mites? Or none at all?
Would it help to keep them close to each other? just wondering as most of what I read is on treating them and not on how they get to the bees in the first place.

CBS,

Not that I have bees, mind you, but I do know from living in a tick infested environment
(upper NY) that yes Guinea fowl are great for attacking the tick problems!  Also,  because
I want to bee(get it) a bee herder someday I have done some reading and if you want
to cut back on your population of the V. mites you might consider using a top bar
hive.  The L. box's use a slightly bigger comb than what a bee would naturally build.
This slightly bigger comb is exactly the right size for the V. mite to propagate!!!  If you
use a top bar hive it gives the bees a chance to use their own personal measurements
for comb which is a tiny bit smaller, cutting down on the ability of the v. mite to inhabit
their space.

If you would like to read the article yourself it is in the magazine Bee Culture for Aug 2010.

Happy Buzzing!

Weeza

CBS, i have bee's , i think weeza is right about Guineas and TBH's
but i think i would put my bees up higher .bee's seam up like being up in the air anyway.
in africa they hung hive way up in the tree's
But i could see some old Guinea setting right under the hive, and eating up all my workers.

i water my bee's out of a 5 gallon bucket with a old pillow case in side , tied to the lip.
helps keep them from drowning , and feed them coidle silver from time to time .
  im going to try peroxcide in the water , an old timer said that it helped when they had mites? 

I read something once about sprinkling your bees with powdered sugar as a deterant to mites. I don't know if it works or not but from what I understand the theory goes that they clean the powder off and take out the mites with it.

Teramiacan, antibootic ? I get small bags at farmand ranch and mix with 1 bag of powdered suger to medicate them ?
if there weak or sick , early in the season and in the fall ?
just dont sprinkle on the larva .

Bull wrote:
Teramiacan, antibootic ? I get small bags at farmand ranch and mix with 1 bag of powdered suger to medicate them ?
if there weak or sick , early in the season and in the fall ?
just dont sprinkle on the larva .

Not to disagree with this method, but thats what I was hoping to get away from was traditional medicating. I am trying to think organic in raising them. I have found a couple of organic site since this post, just haven't had time to digest them yet. I just have a hard time putting something in their hive that I couldn't eat myself or feed to my children.

then try crisco and powdered suger. mix it up and make pattys just place on top of frames.
mites get so greased up they cant hold on ?
but if you have a problem you just have to deal with it the best you can .
id ruther medicate than loss them.  coidal silver  in there warter?

Coloidal silver is not very effective for anything other than a topical microbicide. It could also make them blind, which would severely decrease their ability to forage efficiently.