Beekeepers practices encourage the spread of varroa

[rogerlouis]

I wonder what you guys think about this article !
Do beekeepers cause CC'D and encourage the spread of varroa ?

https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/how-beekeepers-help-deadly-parasites-thrive

 

[Canary Honey]

The mites know that there are other hives nearby and think that is okay to overrun the colony?

Doubt it, more like over crowding of hives and treating them like a machine rather than living livestock.

 

[fatshark]

Other than the reference to CCD which appears to have disappeared there's a lot that's correct in the article. There's loads of data out there from Seeley, Mangum and others about the impact of drifting and mite infestation.

How many bees in your colony were reared in that hive? All those that weren't have brought their own payload of parasites and pathogens with them.

 

[Anduril]

Some were treated in spring, some in the autumn. The beekeeper would be better treating 100% in spring and 100% in autumn to keep the numbers down. But even then the winter bees need to be healthy. Info on hive mortality is lacking and looking at one operation is not enough. The study needed to be wider to determine, best practice.

 

[For want of a better word]

Evidence is emerging that Varroa can live alongside a honey bee population without killing off its host... OK not an ideal situation.. as we would all prefer not to have this imported exotic pest.

In a comparison with sheep infested with sheep worm... organic practice is to allow the worm to live in the sheep, culling those that become poorly... eventually the farmer ends up with a flock that can live with the worm with little problem... parasites ( no mention of the Tory party) do not want to kill their hosts. However as soon as new stock is introduced the problem starts over in the new population.

It seems that the virus ( lots of different kinds) that infect honey bees are the death causing agents... Varroa like the rat flea carry the virus ( and the rats are the importers that bring in the exotics with the virus)

Yeghes da

 

[Finman]

.
Drifting is one reason to spread to next door hive. Drones are efficient in that.

IT means, that if you treat hives in apiary, do it in all hives.

My professional friend told that when he bought package bees from NZ, he saw how quickly the clean colonies got mites.

But nearby hives is not a solution in varroa control. It is over all carefull control.

Second way is moving emerging brood frames, what I do all the time.
Or make nucs with brood frames.

Clean a swarm with trickling... It is good, but they get the mites soon.
.
.

 

[Finman]

Evidence is emerging that Varroa can live alongside a honey bee population without killing off its host.da

Emerging, where?

Like Russian bee in USA, its winter clusters are so small that it cannot over winter in Finland. And Britain that colony, 2-3 frames, cannot forage rape yield in soring.
.

 

[B+.]

looking at one operation is not enough. The study needed to be wider to determine, best practice.

Indeed.
It seems to be quite a small operation by US standards too. Although, perhaps we only hear of the larger operations. How representative of the average is this?

 

[Finman]

.
Study needed....... Nothing is more studied than varroa....

 

[domino]

I've seen this elsewhere used to support the idea of treatment free beekeeping.

Whilst I think it is up to you if you treat or not (I honestly don't care how other people keep bees) I do think there is a distinction between how animals behave in the wild and how they are managed in a domesticated environment.

Hive densities is a good example if you tried to replace the wild behaviour you'd have one hive.

 

[Vortex]

The article misses one fundamental fact that explains why Asian honey bees happily co-exist and Apis Melifera doesn't (which is also why its not an issue for the Cape Honey Bee).. the worker and drone life cycles are shorter by 1 and 2.5 days which reduces (significantly) the number of breeding cycles that can be executed during gestation.
The article is also significantly biased on the practices of one American Commercial outfit which likely does not apply to either hobby bee keepers or all commercial operations.
Given the size of the sample the conclusions are unsupportable.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Reading the Cosmos article got me thinking about the practice of drone-culling as a Varroa control measure.

Is it possible the drones, with their attendant mites, can gain easy entry into "non-home" hives if that colony has a lower population of drones than it would otherwise have had except for the drone culling? Bees know best how many drones should be in a colony. Just a thought.

CVB

 

[For want of a better word]

Rhubarb leaves may yet be the panacea?

Nos da

 

[psafloyd]

Other than the reference to CCD which appears to have disappeared there's a lot that's correct in the article. There's loads of data out there from Seeley, Mangum and others about the impact of drifting and mite infestation.

How many bees in your colony were reared in that hive? All those that weren't have brought their own payload of parasites and pathogens with them.

I thought the same when I saw this piece.