Ticks…

[Do224]

Bit of a strange one but I was at my out apiary today and found the hives covered in ticks. Never seen this before. Don’t know if they’re attracted to the warmth or what but it was a bit disconcerting…the insulated hive cosies were crawling with them on top. I was planning to check fondant levels but in the end decided to try again another day as they started hopping all over as soon as I came close!

View attachment IMG_6322.MOV

 

[Sutty]

Seems very odd! I can't see them well in the video, are you sure they are ticks? Are you in a known tick area?
It would be interesting to leave a piece of the insulation away from a hive and see if they are still attracted to it. You may have discovered the basis for a tick trap!

 

[Wilco]

Bit of a strange one but I was at my out apiary today and found the hives covered in ticks. Never seen this before. Don’t know if they’re attracted to the warmth or what but it was a bit disconcerting…the insulated hive cosies were crawling with them on top. I was planning to check fondant levels but in the end decided to try again another day as they started hopping all over as soon as I came close!

View attachment 38419

If they were jumpy when you approached, were they nervous?

 

[Erichalfbee]

found the hives covered in ticks

Not ticks. Whatever these are they have antennae or very long first legs
Could they be pseudoscorpions eating the varroa ?

 

[Do224]

Not ticks. Whatever these are they have antennae or very long first legs
Could they be pseudoscorpions eating the varroa ?

Are you sure? Now I zoom in I see what you mean about the antenna. To the naked eye they looked and behaved very much like ticks…they even jump like ticks.

I’m cautious about ticks as we do have quite a lot in Cumbria and I know a handful of people who have contracted lymes disease

 

[Antipodes]

Are you sure? Now I zoom in I see what you mean about the antenna. To the naked eye they looked and behaved very much like ticks…they even jump like ticks.

I’m cautious about ticks as we do have quite a lot in Cumbria and I know a handful of people who have contracted lymes disease

They are not pseudoscorpions. Not a tick either.
https://www.delta-intkey.com/britin/hem/www/microphy.htm I'd say almost certainly hemiptera (a bug) of some sort...heteroptera. Perhaps cimicidae?

 

[Do224]

Ok, you’ve both convinced me I’m safe!

 

[Erichalfbee]

were they nervous

A nervous tick.....like it

 

[0bee-1]

def not ticks ... flea beetles? but they look like a type of collembola to me Springtails they have a device for 'jumping' away from danger .... can be found in damp places and compost heaps etc . there are long and round bodied species the ones in the video look like the round ones with prominent antennae....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springtail
hope this helps. get a magnifying glass on them and have a closer look

 

[ceolsen]

I would say the springtail looks to be the animal. Need a bit more magnification to tell for sure.