BBC bees tonight-Someone save me from these loonies, please!!!!!

[Swarm]

I can see your point, Derek. The potential for outbreak and spread being more likely in larger populations. All beekeeping is unnatural anyway, with colonies much larger than they would naturally be, so that is already one consideration, regarding its affect on the colony, before we begin to consider huge, multiple box colonies.
Would it be kinder to the bees to keep smaller colonies? I'd guess it probably would. At least they would be closer to their natural state and with far less stress on the colony.

 

[fatshark]

That works for me every time

Are you thinking of this Seeley paper 2016. How honey bee colonies survive in the wild: testing the importance of small nests and frequent swarming?
These were all non varroa treated colonies and perhaps not surprisingly frequent swarming (and associated brood breaks) in the smaller colonies gave lower varroa levels, compared to larger colonies that had swarm prevention implemented. Perhaps not surprisingly they had higher varroa and higher virus levels.
How that would relate to large colonies that are varroa treated is not clear, at least from this paper. He should have treated some of the larger colonies to see how effective varroa control was at lowering the prevalence of varroa and its associated disease.

And one of the major points in that Seeley paper was the separation of the small colonies. When he stuck them into the same apiary they succumbed. In many regards it was the distance apart that influenced things, not the size per se. While the brood break and the loss of ~35% of the mites with the swarm undoubtedly help ... it wasn't enough to save them if kept under 'typical' apiary conditions.

 

[Beefriendly]

And one of the major points in that Seeley paper was the separation of the small colonies. When he stuck them into the same apiary they succumbed. In many regards it was the distance apart that influenced things, not the size per se. While the brood break and the loss of ~35% of the mites with the swarm undoubtedly help ... it wasn't enough to save them if kept under 'typical' apiary conditions.

I missed that bit, thanks for highlighting it. But no surprise really, crowded conditions breed and spread disease. Bit like colds and flu on the London Underground.
I wonder where Seeley is going with all of this....I see a trend in his work and books that is heading back to feral bees, prehistoric times and honey hunting

 

[user 6228]

And one of the major points in that Seeley paper was the separation of the small colonies. When he stuck them into the same apiary they succumbed. In many regards it was the distance apart that influenced things, not the size per se. While the brood break and the loss of ~35% of the mites with the swarm undoubtedly help ... it wasn't enough to save them if kept under 'typical' apiary conditions.

Are you mixing up these two papers?

Nolan, M.P. & Delaplane, K.S., 2016. Distance between honey bee Apis mellifera colonies regulates populations of Varroa destructor at a landscape scale. Apidologie, (June). Available at: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13592-016-0443-9.

Loftus JC, Smith ML, Seeley TD (2016) How Honey Bee Colonies Survive in the Wild: Testing the Importance of Small Nests and Frequent Swarming. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0150362. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0150362

 

[fatshark]

No, but I might be mixing it up with another recent Seeley paper ... he moved "wild" (they were livid) colonies to an apiary and they perished. This was definitely in a ABJ article last year ... and, after a little Googling, is here:
Seeley TD, Smith ML. (2015) Crowding honeybee colonies in apiaries can increase their vulnerability to the deadly ectoparasite Varroa destructor. Apidologie 46: 1–12. doi: 10.1007/s13592-015-0361-2.

 

[Beefriendly]

Mushrooms!
It appears the answer to varroa may lie in a soil fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae where they are currently grinding it up and adding extracts to bee hives where the spores germinate and then take between three to ten days to infect and kill Varroa mites.
Or even longevity with the red-belted polypore mushroom (Fomitopsis pinicola)....now that is something potentially interesting.
No peer reviewed papers, but info at Bee Friendly....and no the name is coincidental, I have no financial (or other) affiliation with them
http://www.fungi.net/blog/bee-friendly-research-update