Grease and Extender Patties

Feeding grease patties to the bees is useful to control tracheal mites, and you can feed them all year round.  These are burger-sized (1/3 lb) patties, made from solid shortening (like Crisco) and white granulated sugar.  Feed your bees by placing a patty on the top frame bars, at the center of the brood nest.  Only one patty should be used per hive.  If the hive has two brood boxes, place the patty between the two brood chambers, on the top bars of the bottom brood box.  The recipe for grease patties is as follows:

Some research indicates that grease patties encourage the presence of wax moths, but taking other measures to ensure the strength of the colony will take care of the wax moth problem.  On the other hand, tracheal mites are far more worrisome, and could destroy your colony.  Don't let a wax moth problem keep you from administering this effective, natural tracheal mite preventative.  You may also use Buckfast queens, which have been shown to be tracheal mite resistant.  (However, Buckfast have not been shown to be Varroa-resistant, and they are more aggressive than other domestic honeybee strains.  Use Buckfast if you are more experienced and don't mind a rather nasty little bee that likes to sting.)  Regardless, it is usually a good idea to constantly feed grease patties to your colonies, except during an SHB infestation, as noted below.

Grease patties that contain terramycin are known as extender patties, and are used to prevent American and European foulbrood.  You should feed each colony an extender patty in early spring, before the first honeyflow starts, and in late fall, after the last honeyflow and honey harvest.  You may purchase extender patties, which is the easiest, recommended route, or you may make them yourself by adding 4 teaspoons of terramycin soluble powder for each grease patty, and mix per the recipe given above.

Note: If your hives are infested with Small Hive Beetles (SHB), you should immediately remove and discontinue using all supplemental food inside the hives, including sugar syrup, grease patties, extender patties and pollen patties.  The syrup and patties are a rich food source for the beetles, encouraging their rapid spread throughout the honeybee colony.  The presence of supplemental food within the hive makes SHB control very difficult and endangers both honey production and the colony's survival.  A better alternative is to use an external bucket feeder for dry feeding, in or near the apiary, which may be used to administer dry sugar, pollen substitutes and terramycin soluble powder.

American foulbrood
European foulbrood
Feeding and Watering
Honeybee Medications
Package Honeybee & Queen Suppliers
Preparing to Visit the Apiary
Opening and Inspecting the Hive
Opening and Feeding the Hive
Small Hive Beetles (SHB)

^{Copyright © 2002-2008 All Rights Reserved.}