life of a varroa mite?

[beekeepershens]

I am new to dealing with varroa. I wonder does anyone know how long a varroa mite can survive away from bees but still in contact with wax and honey. eg if the bees are removed from a super and a mite gets left behind in the super how long will it live for before it dies naturally. (assume super stored with unsealed honey in it )

 

[Boston Bees]

A google search suggests 3-5 days. Honey is no use to them, just to be clear.

 

[beekeepershens]

yes appreciate that, just thinking along the lines that all life needs water some how or other so if the normal source (bee) is denied could access to other fluid keep them alive a tad longer....

 

[Erichalfbee]

Varroa don’t leave bees except to jump into a brood cell.

 

[beekeepershens]

ok ... so you would never find a varroa mite on a frame? or the sides of a box? or on the floor ? so if all the bees had left the super I can be certain that there will not be a mite left behind

 

[Erichalfbee]

You might find a dead one.
I sometimes find live ones on the inspection tray. They can move pretty fast.
Occasionally they jump off a bee and can be found on flowers waiting for another.
Why are you worried about the odd varroa?

 

[blackcloud]

Exactly- you need to be killing them by the thousand and even that will always be a blunt instrument.

 

[beekeepershens]

because wishing to prevent spread out of the area

 

[Boston Bees]

because someone has imported varroa into a varroa free area, and I need to return equipment into an area that is still isolated and beyond bee flying distance without taking a single live mite back with me. to have to deal with varroa is devastating for all the affected beekeepers

Just leave it a week without any bees in the hive, and there won't be any living varroa.

Freezing is, of course, another way of being sure, though this would require a large chest freezer if you are talking about boxes.

 

[Erichalfbee]

because someone has imported varroa into a varroa free area

Ah...something along those lines did occur to me.

So somebody has taken bees with varroa to Mull?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Freezing is, of course, another way of being sure, though this would require a large chest freezer if you are talking about boxes.

just flame the boxes

 

[beekeepershens]

Ah...something along those lines did occur to me.

we are keeping the outbreak isolated .... high mountains and big gaps in areas of habitation may protect the spread......

 

[beekeepershens]

just flame the boxes
nice idea ... but they are not my boxes and poly hives are not too keen on flames!

 

[Erichalfbee]

we are keeping the outbreak isolated .... high mountains and big gaps in areas of habitation may protect the spread......

I’d be destroying the whole colony.

 

[Boston Bees]

I’d be destroying the whole colony.

It sounds like that's already been done, or at least the colony has been moved back out of the protected area, hence the question re the equipment being returned once there will definitely be no mites in it.

 

[Murox]

we are keeping the outbreak isolated .... high mountains and big gaps in areas of habitation may protect the spread......

*******expletive deleted..........are you getting support and kelp from the SBA?

 

[Nige.Coll]

Cleaning the whole lot in oxalic acid will kill all the varroa.
Won't harm the poly boxes.
Cheap enough to make a dip tank full too.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

are you getting support and kelp from the SBA

I should think they have Kelp in profusion up there It used to be a real problem in anchorages around Jura

 

[Murox]

I should think they have Kelp in profusion up there It used to be a real problem in anchorages around Jura

Don't you just love auto spellcheckers - will it muck up the word assistance - or did my fingers slip, plenty of kelp around up here.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Don't you just love auto spellcheckers - will it muck up the word assistance - or did my fingers slip, plenty of kelp around up here.

I remember anchoring in Lowlandman's bay on Jura years ago and being woken by one of the two junior deckies on watch in the early hours of the morning as they thought we were moving - we were! there was so much kelp there that once the tide turned the anchor was just sliding through it all and we were drifting towards the shore; quickly got the engines running and roused the rest of the crew but I had a heck of a job getting the anchor up as it was enveloped in about half a ton of kelp, it is also one of the few occasions that I have been on deck weighing anchor at two in the morning wearing nothing but my underpants, a fleece and a pair of deck shoes.
Had to sail all the way to Oban with this massive clod of kelp hanging over the side and it took us hours the next day hacking it off the anchor.