jd101k2000
Field Bee
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2013
- Messages
- 654
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Caerbryn, near Llandybie
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 7
Chewed carapaces is an interesting fact, and may point to hygienic traits. A local queen rearer looks for that in his rearing.
On the other hand your view of 'hard' and (presumably) 'soft' chemicals is interesting.
For instance, Apistan is much kinder to the bees than Oxalic acid. Apistan is far safer to use as its lethal dose for bees is at 1000 times its therapeutic dose. Whereas Oxalic acid has a ratio closer to 10. If you come into contact with Apistan it is unlikely to harm you. Oxalic acid causes severe burns to skin and is dangerous to inhale (e.g. during vaporisation). Similarly formic acid, acetic acid and thymol. Apistan works on a very specific feature of the mites, which is not essential to their life, and so resistance is possible. The 'natural' chemicals have a more wide-ranging attack, so resistance is less likely. Just because the 'natural' chemicals occur in nature does not make them safe and do not imagine that the 'natural' chemicals you put in your hive are obtained from natural sources. (For instance, they don't obtain formic acid by boiling up ants.) They will be just as manufactured as the others.
'Only contains natural minerals and plant extracts' may make a nice advertising slogan, but arsenic is a natural mineral and strychnine is a plant extract. These 'natural' chemicals deserve our respect and care just as much as the artificial ones.
You may come back and say that you were hoping for an entirely chemical-free existence with your bees and the mites. That may well be possible in the future and I hope that your bees are part of that evolution. There appears to be some evidence that rather than producing bees with VSH, that where bees survive a long time with varroa we may be seeing the development of 'bee-friendlier varroa'. It may be that the use of chemicals is wiping out 'bee-friendlier varroa' and allowing for re-invasion with mites that are less able to live in harmony with the bees.
On the other hand your view of 'hard' and (presumably) 'soft' chemicals is interesting.
For instance, Apistan is much kinder to the bees than Oxalic acid. Apistan is far safer to use as its lethal dose for bees is at 1000 times its therapeutic dose. Whereas Oxalic acid has a ratio closer to 10. If you come into contact with Apistan it is unlikely to harm you. Oxalic acid causes severe burns to skin and is dangerous to inhale (e.g. during vaporisation). Similarly formic acid, acetic acid and thymol. Apistan works on a very specific feature of the mites, which is not essential to their life, and so resistance is possible. The 'natural' chemicals have a more wide-ranging attack, so resistance is less likely. Just because the 'natural' chemicals occur in nature does not make them safe and do not imagine that the 'natural' chemicals you put in your hive are obtained from natural sources. (For instance, they don't obtain formic acid by boiling up ants.) They will be just as manufactured as the others.
'Only contains natural minerals and plant extracts' may make a nice advertising slogan, but arsenic is a natural mineral and strychnine is a plant extract. These 'natural' chemicals deserve our respect and care just as much as the artificial ones.
You may come back and say that you were hoping for an entirely chemical-free existence with your bees and the mites. That may well be possible in the future and I hope that your bees are part of that evolution. There appears to be some evidence that rather than producing bees with VSH, that where bees survive a long time with varroa we may be seeing the development of 'bee-friendlier varroa'. It may be that the use of chemicals is wiping out 'bee-friendlier varroa' and allowing for re-invasion with mites that are less able to live in harmony with the bees.