V.S.H varroa sensitive hygiene.

[user 819]

Not treating hmmm !!!

I did try it one year (2012) but not again I lost 5 out of 6 colonies and no honey the following year as I built up again.

 

[Finman]

Not treating hmmm !!!

I did try it one year (2012) but not again I lost 5 out of 6 colonies and no honey the following year as I built up again.

So, you put all your efforts into " not to treat system".

 

[B+.]

Not treating hmmm !!!

I did try it one year (2012) but not again I lost 5 out of 6 colonies and no honey the following year as I built up again.

I agree. If you start from scratch with "local" bees, you will lose a lot of colonies. I did too. However, there is a better way. I've been talking about it since I joined this forum

 

[Eyeman]

You may well be right. However, I don't think that is any reason for us all to blindly follow the ways of the mass producer (particularly not hobby beekeepers who produce honey for their own needs and those of their immediate family). It's a personal choice, and I'm not blaming those who do treat. I just think we should be making a conscious decision on whether it is necessary and/or desirable.

Need to first get folks to start monitoring mite levels- the occasional insert board poked under the OMF seems to the be the norm!

 

[B+.]

Need to first get folks to start monitoring mite levels- the occasional insert board poked under the OMF seems to the be the norm!

I'm reminded of the old saying: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink".
There's another saying: "There are three type's of people in the world; those that make things happen, those that watch things happening and those that wonder what happened!
I've been talking about testing colonies on here for the last 3 years. If the message hasn't sunk in yet, it probably never will.

 

[mbc]

I thought it was three types of people, those who can count and those that can't.

 

[B+.]

I thought it was three types of people, those who can count and those that can't.

There are lots of versions. A grain of truth in all of them.

 

[Swarm]

I thought it was three types of people, those who can count and those that can't.

Priceless!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I thought it was three types of people, those who can count and those that can't.

....and those that have got nothing better to do all day but count mites

 

[Finman]

. I did too. However, there is a better way. I've been talking about it since I joined this forum

IT is not better way. You can are it how few use you way.

3-4 years ago I bought buckfast queens. Now I see that it is impossible to keep buckfast gang in the middle of Italian district. Too much work.

Then I would have another 10 bee hives. IT it not possible either, because 10 Italians is too small apiary to get mother queens.

The fact is that Italian hives are very good, and they clean as well the pastures as Buckfasts. To keep Buckfasts this way makes only extra work.

To treat hives against varroa is food way to keep bees. Normal procedure.
To buy couple of varroa resistant queens does not save your beekeeping.
Hybrids resist varroa practically as well as normal bees.

To expencive varroa treatment method that VSH queens. And all those mating island ideas are very expencive.
.

 

[Finman]

I'm reminded of the old saying: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink".
.

Like Jesus said to the rich man:" Give everything away and follow me"... But that rich man was not so stupid.

 

[domino]

Need to first get folks to start monitoring mite levels- the occasional insert board poked under the OMF seems to the be the norm!

Since doing an alcohol wash and treating all the hives if I find one that's above the threshold I've seen a marked improvement in my bees than just treating to a calendar and vague mite drop.

 

[For want of a better word]

I'm reminded of the old saying: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink"

Or was it... You can lead a " horticulture ", but you can't make the think ?


Just being my factitious self!!!

Chons da

 

[Finman]

I'm reminded of the old saying: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink"

Chons da

My quite a new saying is that even if you are a beekeeper, you may use your own brain.


.

 

[Eyeman]

Since doing an alcohol wash and treating all the hives if I find one that's above the threshold I've seen a marked improvement in my bees than just treating to a calendar and vague mite drop.

My alcohol wash data is still work in progress. Only using it on my main colonies at the moment. During the season the plan is to only treat colonies when they are above threshold in an attempt at keeping mite levels below threshold for most of the season. Taking note of those colonies which show low levels and deciding why the levels are low- is it the bees or something I've done? Then introducing this 'varroa control data' into my queen rearing programme.

 

[Fusion_power]

That advice is the biggest reason in USA to colony losses.

You still have the idea that the U.S. is losing half of colonies each year. I have not lost a single colony since last spring when I had one that was overwhelmed by hive beetles. My bees are going into winter in very good condition. We will see what they look like next spring.

As previously stated, I have not treated for mites since the winter of 2004/2005. I have a decent yearly honey harvest so don't go off on that tangent.

Perhaps of more interest, I am helping a logger who lives nearby get set up with bees. He routinely finds bee trees which he is cutting and bringing home the section with a live colony. He has found 3 colonies in the last 2 months. The bees in these trees have very few varroa. You tell me how this is possible. The combs are old and black in two of the colonies and relatively new in the third. This suggests colonies are surviving 2 or more years sans treatments.

1. Varroa Selective Hygiene - disrupts the reproductive cycle of the varroa mite
2. Allogrooming - bees grooming each other to remove mites
3. Breaks in brood rearing - during brood breaks, varroa cannot reproduce.
4. Reduced days to worker maturity - fewer days gives mites less time to reproduce
5. Reduced brood attractiveness to varroa
6. Mite entombment where the developing larvae preferentially trap the mite with the shed cocoon

There are probably a few more traits that have not yet been described.

 

[Finman]

You still have the idea that the U.S. is losing half of colonies each year. I have not lost a single colony since last spring when I had one that was overwhelmed by hive beetles. My bees are going into winter i.

1) I have read USA's annual researches about colony losses. Special are summer losses 20%.

2) Fusion, you are not USA

3) you do not have much Winter in Atlanta. Those hive losses are half winter losses and half summer losses.

 

[JWF]

I thought it was three types of people, those who can count and those that can't.

I thought there were 10 types of people, those who understand binary, and those who don't

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The combs are old and black in two of the colonies and relatively new in the third. This suggests colonies are surviving 2 or more years sans treatments.

suggests nothing of the sort.
The black comb suggests deadout colonies that have been recolonised by fresh swarms, the clean comb suggests - new colony.

 

[Finman]

He has found 3 colonies in the last 2 months. The bees in these trees have very few varroa. You tell me how this is possible. The combs are old and black in two of the colonies and relatively new in the third. This suggests colonies are surviving 2 or more years sans treatments.

.

They are new swarms with fewer mites. IT does not takes many months when colony is full of mites.
.