IBRA Varroa Conference, 29th January

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DanBee

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I've seen some adverts for this conference in the beekeeping press, but as there seems to have been no mention of it here then some may have missed it; that would be a shame as it's slap bang in the middle of the country and has an impressive list of speakers. There are only two weeks left for booking tickets, mind!

IBRA have organised a one day conference in Worcester on Saturday 29th January, entitled Varroa - still a problem in the 21st century? Here's some of the information given on the IBRA site:

"Varroa is, however, not a new problem. It was first identified as a serious pest more than half a century ago, and chemical and other control methods have been available for decades. Why therefore is it still a problem? This major conference will bring together international authorities, who will outline our current knowledge about the biology of the mite and its interaction with other diseases, discuss the problems of chemical resistance, and suggest control methods, whether chemical, biological, biotechnical or by bee breeding, and suggest practical solutions for the practical beekeeper to enable us to live with the mite in the 21st century."

You can read full details and book tickets here.

Tickets are £20 for IBRA members, or £25 for non-members.
 
Love to but the NDB short course is on that weekend - choices, choices. The module exams are on the same day as one of the NDB courses too- so that's that out....

Right hand doesn't know what the left is doing, comes to mind!
Eb
 
so what did everyone who did get there (and I think I got to at least say hello to everyone I knew was there) make of it?

I felt a learned a huge amount but definitely got the impression that there isn't a silver bullet on the immediate horizon when it comes to dealing with varroa.

I don't think I've seen as many blank and confused faces as after the talk on Viruses and have to admit to spending a good deal of that googling some of the terminology being used trying to keep pace. :D
 
i agree that overall it was interesting and confirmed that breeding tolerant bees is probably the way to go (along with appropriate IPM of course).

shame john harding made a fool of himself promoting his dowsing book in questions to each speaker.

re viruses talk - i agree it was probably over the heads of many beeks - difficult to pitch things right as many amateurs attended but also IBRA includes serious academic researchers so they need catering for. However the speaker did go on a bit much and present endless confusing bar charts (and mix up terms a few times which didnt help).

looking forward to the sussex hygiene course though as now appreciate better what Carreck et al. are trying to do.
 
Better really to wait for the digest of these seminars, as you say they cater for some very heavy hitters, and not really material for the normal beekeeper.

PH
 
I'd disagree on that point. One talk around a fairly complex subject Out of the whole day wouldn't put me off going to something similar again I found it very, very useful. Not necessarily in a "now I'll go out and do x,y,z that i wasn't before and all my varroa will be gone" kind of way, but I feel I've a much more rounded knowledge of vorroa
 

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