Varroa mite info

jezd · Sep 11, 2009

anyone know how long Varroa mites can live outside the hive?

asking because I want to reuse some frames that would/could have had mites on but not sure how long best to leave them for.

cheers

jez

Hombre · Sep 11, 2009

Adult females can only survive a short time away from a bee host and males do not live outside the cell.
The recommended procedure is 24 hours in the freezer and, when defrosted, the frames can be returned to the bees. Uncapping may speed up the housekeeping process, but be aware that drone comb will not be used for breeding worker bees, so you might choose to scrape portions back to the mid rib so that it gets repaired as worker comb.

The short time is not specified, but I believe it to be in hours rather than days.

Regards,

Rosti · Sep 11, 2009

Well that's a bit more into my data bank as well, thanks Hombre

Hombre · Sep 11, 2009

Thank you Rosti. That was a very cool picture of the sting a while back. The others were equally outstanding, but that one stood out for me. :grouphug:

Hombre · Sep 11, 2009

Mite life away from hive - update

Biosecurity New Zealand say that a mite can survive up to five and a half day away from the hive, but usually much less.

Third question down.

That's where the freezer comes in useful.

East Yorks New Bee · Sep 11, 2009

just to add to info, I did some drone comb culling on the 7th and the little darling varroa are still walking around in the carrier bag I stored the comb in.