New varroa levels in hive

[pargyle]

Welcome to the DARK SIDE , always welcome to join us down here in France .

I've been there since I got my bees last year ... working for me at present. Mind you, I have an inspection board permanently beneath the mesh foor, I did several Sugar rolls and alohol washes plus drone cell uncapping last season to check the mite levels....never found one ! Had a drop of one mite on one day last week and another single mite seen today on the board.

 

[Dishmop]

I've been there since I got my bees last year ... working for me at present. Mind you, I have an inspection board permanently beneath the mesh foor, I did several Sugar rolls and alohol washes plus drone cell uncapping last season to check the mite levels....never found one ! Had a drop of one mite on one day last week and another single mite seen today on the board.

Time for the pressure washer then..

 

[Chris Luck]

I've been there since I got my bees last year ... working for me at present. Mind you, I have an inspection board permanently beneath the mesh foor, I did several Sugar rolls and alohol washes plus drone cell uncapping last season to check the mite levels....never found one ! Had a drop of one mite on one day last week and another single mite seen today on the board.

It's not that my bees don't have varroa mites it's just that I have found the claims to be made about them exaggerated to say the least and I prefer to work with nature rather than against it.

It's bad enough being surrounded by these greedy morons..

Chris

 

[beeno]

Hi Pargyle,
You obviously have non-hygienic bees. Joking aside what's your take on it? How many varroa do you think you have in the hive altogether? For all the jokers on the forum the answer is not at least 2. Have you got a clean OMF?

 

[Dishmop]

It's not that my bees don't have varroa mites it's just that I have found the claims to be made about them exaggerated to say the least and I prefer to work with nature rather than against it.

Far too much "treat or they will die"

 

[starflex]

Had a talk tonight from the Bee inspector about things to be done this time of year and one thing he mentioned was that after extensive research it looks like the recommended levels for varroa in the hive is to be reduced to 500 from 1000 / 1500. Not sure how this will impact on recommendations for treatment during the year.

Had a chat with our RBI today. This was definitely not on his radar.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

What about breeding friendlier varroa? That's the other half of the equation. Potentially faster progress possible as varroa generations are much shorter than queen bee generations. We already know varroa adapt quickly due to selection pressure.

BUMP ALERT

I wonder if we are seeing this; we should certainly expect it. I seem to be on the way to dropping 8-10,000 mites out of one colony that is showing no obvious sign of distress. I may just be too inexperienced to see it, but they are filling frames with ivy hand over fist.