Varroa life cycle

[flemage]

just pondering this beast and wondering if there is part of this i have missed.

To my understaning it cant live out side the hive, or at lest it only breeds in the hive.

So most hives would become infected when perhaps a bee which is carrying one drifts to the wrong hive. The mite will then get off its host and has a party in the new hive.

But what if you have a hive completly free of Varroa and kept it in a field with no other hives (to stop drifting / robbing), didnt transfer any brood and made sure you kept all kit clean. How could this hive become infected?

Is there a part of the life cycle where varroa gets off its host say on a flower and waits for its next victim?

 

[Black Comb]

Bees fly up to 3 miles. They have been known to fly more.
Go on Beesbase and see how many apiaries there with a 10km radius.
When varroa first arrived in 1992 it didn't take long to colonise the whole country.

An island is what you need - and varroa free bees to start.

 

[Silly Bee]

Well, we have an island.

But with import/export we have varroa too.

 

[Russel]

Bees fly up to 3 miles. They have been known to fly more.
Go on Beesbase and see how many apiaries there with a 10km radius.
When varroa first arrived in 1992 it didn't take long to colonise the whole country.

An island is what you need - and varroa free bees to start.

Isn't the UK an island?

 

[jackbee]

Isn't the UK an island?

i would guess he meant an island 6-8 miles in diameter roughly

 

[flemage]

Ok, the bees can fly for miles but they would be unlikely to confuse a hive miles away from there own for the home hive? (In the case of drifting).

Or would they check it out for potential robbing purposes?

Or do hives ‘share’ workers much more than we (I) think?

 

[Russel]

I think drones move around too, well they do according to a BK some several miles from our old apiary. " Some silly beggar has been marking drones ?"
At one of last years beginners practicals they practiced on drones!
Now that's not to say they managed to hop, skip and jump almost 10 miles but.............

 

[mignon]

It's the drones flying between hives/apiaries who will probably be transferring the most mites between colonies and as we know varroa loves the drones. You would have to be pretty damed isolated to avoid this kind of contact.

 

[flemage]

Poor old drones they seem to have a very bad press in terms of varroa!

Not only do they have to share a bedroom with them but they are responsible for inter-hive transmition

 

[itma]

...
But what if you have a hive completly free of Varroa and kept it in a field with no other hives (to stop drifting / robbing), didnt transfer any brood and made sure you kept all kit clean. How could this hive become infected?
...

They will rob from further than the next field.
And they will rob from weakened colonies. Often weakened by varroa.
There are still some feral colonies - not every swarm gets caught - and they can amass stores to rob when they (being untreated) decline, often due to varroa.

Flemage, have you had a read through the FERA booklet "Managing Varroa"? Its a free download. Its a pretty comprehensive overview - especially the description of the mite and its lifecycle, reproduction, etc.