Interesting and very informative read on winter losses.

[Plenty of honey]

https://beeinformed.org/2016/03/08/why-did-my-honey-bees-die/
I found this a very interesting and nicely written article. Helpful and not condescending to beekeepers.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It is.
Especially the picture of the frame with varroa poo on it.

 

[Fatbee]

Thanks - sounds familiar description to many recent posts on here.

 

[Finman]

.
Very typical death out by varroa. I have descriped that many times here.

Varroa load violates winter brood and when summer bees/feeder bees have died, hive is empty and clean. Unemerged brood are typical.

Half dead and 3/4 dead clusters are more usual harms.

I have now one this kind of hive. Fed in double brood and now it has handfull of dead bees.

 

[For want of a better word]

No records that varroa was under control. Notice that this says ‘varroa was under control’, and not that ‘the colony was treated’. You may have applied a treatment, but it may have been too little, or (more likely) too late

Very interesting... and is something I will emphasise to my beekeeping group before the "fall" this year.

How does the inspection board Varroa mite monitoring system most of us use compare to sugar rolling ???...
.... I can monitor most of my colonies with a board.. but would not have the time to sugar roll.
Perhaps this thread should be stickied??


Yeghes da

 

[Plenty of honey]

Must add it was originally Mike Waite ( The Bee Man,Scotland) who shared this on my FB page. Glad he did.

 

[Finman]

How does the inspection board Varroa mite monitoring system most of us use compare to sugar rolling ???...
.... I can monitor most of my colonies with a board.. but would not have the time to sugar roll.
Perhaps this thread should be stickied??


Yeghes da

Our specialist says, that when varroa load goes too high, normal treatment is not enough any more.

Michigan should be easy place to treat varroa, because it has same winter climate as Finland.

But as we have cases that very experienced beekeepers may loose every hive. Biggest amount was 100 hives what I have met. And the beek had 30 y experience.

But the most dangerous are the guys in this forum who advice to do nothing and trust on evolution.
.

 

[Finman]

.
And now we are making mistakes when we believe that it was not varroa. It is virus, we say.
But the truth is that it is varroa.

We should notice the high varroa load in time.

But treatments are not always succesfull and varroa amount can jump too high, even if we believe that treatment is OK.