varroa treatments

[hedgerow pete]

completly off the head idaes about varroa pests.

i have several nucs that are varroa infested , we want to remove it and whilst chemicals are good they are not perfect so lets try thinking outside the hive/box and see what you lot think please make lots of lovely ideas, you never know if we hit a good one we could be the forum that cured the world of varroa so lets start it here .

we were thinking of breaking the life cycle for one idea this seams to be the general ideas with most animals and pests so what about a pair of tweasers and connecting two nucs together by a clear plastic tube as the bees crawl from one box to another you could remove the infected bees in to a thrid box, or a pair of tweasers to squish the mites , physicaly removing the mites is a thought yes it would take time but when the hive is in winter mode there is only several thousand to deal with, i have tried it and it took two of us two hours to do a nuc of around 3,000, not very practical but if you only own a few hives it is posible??

freezing??

a honey bee can survive a reasonable low temp so is it posible that the mites would not . being smaller than a bee they could be chilled or frozen whilst still on the bee, we were thinking of putting a hive in a fridge and turning the temp down,

whilst on this topic i was reading a book about vietnam and the war and one of the so called weapons invented by the yaks was a bee bomb/gun, the idea is simple enoungh blast freeze a hive of very aggresive bees and then chuck them at the bad guys, apparently they did perfect a way of freezing honey bees and they were able to defrost and go on to attact anyone near by, it was never used because they could not keep them at a certain temp whilst they were being loaded on to a plane and the dropped, could a varroa mite stand blast freezing so is it posible to stick your hive in a box freeze it and then warm them up again???

shook swarm meathod, the idea behind this one is that the bees are removed from all of the wax foundations so only the mites are moved with the bees. most people only do this once but why dont we do it several times the life cycle is 10 days so be removing the new eggs and grubs by swapping the foundation several time say 4 once every other day for 8 days would not the mites on the bees die and there would be no new mites starting again,
this something we are going to try soon so will let you know how we get on

what about chemicals that are home made, i use fair liquid as an insecticide on the black fly on my broad beans would not this work on mites i kow the bees can survive because i have sprayed them by accident say 1 table spoon of fairy to 10 litres of water?

theres more to come but lets see what your ideas and thought are ??????

 

[Hawklord]

I used to keep reptiles and they used to suffer with a certain type of mite. Usually mites would appear on any new animal being brought in to my house, it didn't matter if the animal was quarantined in another room, the mites always found their way into my existing collection. Also any bedding and sometimes food stuffs carried them. I found that using 'Frontline' cat/dog flea spray cleared them in no time. I wouldn't think that would be successful with bees however, some keepers used a predatory mite called 'Hypoapsis' which worked through the whole collection and ate every mite in sight and proceede to die itself due to lack of food. Would this work? has it been tested?

 

[hedgerow pete]

i dont know but surely there must be a varroa mite feeder bug somewhere has anyone seen any thing on the web

 

[jimbeekeeper]

That kind of approch has been used many time sin the past for other problems.

But the preditor then eats all the pests, and a lot of the tome the preditor then becomes the pest.

A good example is the cane toad comes from Central America and was introduced to Australia and several Pacific islands to control a beetle pest of sugar cane.

But now the beetle has gone but they are over run with cane toads.

 

[JCBrum]

But now the beetle has gone but they are over run with cane toads.

Maybe they taste like pigeons if you cook 'em right ?

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Dunno about that but if you boil up a cane toad you can apparently get a high from the resulting liquid...

 

[hedgerow pete]

ok so lets forget about the preditor bit what about the other ideas and more importantly your ideas

 

[RoofTops]

Heat teatment has been tried and apparently worked but the difficulties of exactly controlling the temperature were I believe too much for the method to be used outside the laboratory. The principle was to heat the colony to the temperature which killed the mites but which the bees could survive. Only problem was that temp was only a few degrees below the melting point of wax.

My preferred non-chemical treatment is a shook swarm with a bait frame (unsealed brood) left in until mostly sealed and then removed. This really knocks the mites back but the bees come bouncing back from the treatment - which can be carried out mid to late March around here.

The alternative might be queen trapping, which is a bit like a rolling shook swarm. Less disturbance perhaps but it needs extra kit and time to do it. However, I understand it is very effective but have not tried it myself.

 

[hedgerow pete]

is it posible fo ryou to expand on that description rooftops

 

[SJH]

Great idea's op, not sure on freezing though, mites (arachnids) are extremely hardy.

In glasshouses Phytoseius spp (Predator mites) are commonly used to control Tetranycus spp (Pest mites). It would seem reasonable that there is a Predator mite of Varroa in it's native region (SE Asia), it just needs to be found. Everything gets eaten by something in nature.

 

[David P]

BEE DISEASES
NEW VARROA TRAP
We all know about varroa mites and their effects on our colonies and we all know that
the research into fighting this beast has been intense and fast moving for many years.
Much good advice and help has come from good scientific research and now a new
varroa trap has been developed in the USA using the varroa mites’ major weakness -
their reliance on semiochemicals to locate the hemolymph of adult bees and brood. Bee
At the ARS Chemistry Research Unit in Gainesville, research leader Peter Teal and
colleagues are testing a bait-and-kill approach using sticky boards and natural chemical
attractants called semiochemicals. In nature, Varroa mites rely on these
semiochemicals to locate—and then feed on—the bloodlike hemolymph of both adult
honey bees and their brood. Severe infestations can decimate an affected hive within
several months—and rob the beekeeper of profits from honey or pollinating services. But
in this case, the mites encounter a more heady bouquet of honey bee odours that lure
the parasites away from their intended hosts and onto the sticky boards, where they
starve. In preliminary tests, 35 to 50 percent of mites dropped off the bees when
exposed to the attractants. Free-roving mites found the semiochemicals even more
attractive, according to Teal.
Moreover, the extra dose of semiochemicals wafting through hives didn’t appear to
significantly interfere with the honey bees’ normal behaviour or activity. The team hopes
ARS’ patenting of the Varroa mite attractants will encourage an industrial partner to
develop the technology further.
Adapted from materials provided by USDA/Agricultural Research Service



Taken from the apis uk newsletter http://www.beedata.com/apis-uk/newsletters09/apis-uk0809.pdf

 

[rich]

Here's the kiddy, IF they every put enough work into getting it sorted ........
Metarrhizium anisopliae, its a great little fungi.

Rich

 

[rich]

some keepers used a predatory mite called 'Hypoapsis' which worked through the whole collection and ate every mite in sight and proceede to die itself due to lack of food. Would this work? has it been tested?

Sorry, but Hypoapsis is a soil living insect, and therefore wouldn’t be able to live in a hive for very long. They are very good at controling their intend targets, and do a fantastic job.

Rich

 

[JCBrum]

It seems to me, we should consider why mickthebee (not to be confused with MiketheBee (EasyBees)), hasn't got any varroa ??????

Possibly it's because he hasn't brought any bees or swarms into his apiary since varroa became widespread ? Do you think that is the reason, H Pete ?

Or is it because he has a very effective treatment plan .... if so, what is it ????

I reckon it's probably both.

It also seems to me the simplest, most reliable eradication method is to develop a reasonably strong bee colony using varroa ipm methods, and then go for certain complete eradication, by killing all the brood in the colony (AS or freezing), say two or three times in succession, so as to completely break the breeding cycle of the varroa.

Wouldn't they then be all dead with no chance of return ? i.e. the same circumstance as mickthebee's colonies, and yours, H Pete ?

Then keep them at bay with ipm/thymol etc.

Is it really that simple ?

 

[hedgerow pete]

when i worked with certain people years ago we were always told to break to breeding cycle for the length of the life cycle ie remove all offspring until the live generation is dead, qed no more life,

i know mick the bee as i do does not bring swarms to his breeding site at kiddy and the nuc site in halesowen, bio security they call it and its some thing i belive in. this is why i hate swarms and when collected i do not bring them to the shed site except for collection, you do not know what you are collecting and importing, so yes i know every one else seems to rave about them at times but i cant stand the things. and before you ask NO i dont get them, would not allow it

as for the breeding cycle i said earlier about taking the bees off the frames 4 times every other day for a week this would do it i belive,

how about home grown chemicals ,
permetharine is a insecticide and very good poison and it comes from marigolds so why cant i boil a bucket of marigold to strick guide lines of course and either spray the ladies or how about making them walk through a marigold foot bathor has anyone tried there own home brew from thyme??

 

[Hawklord]

Sorry, but Hypoapsis is a soil living insect, and therefore wouldn’t be able to live in a hive for very long. They are very good at controling their intend targets, and do a fantastic job.

Rich

Which is why they are so successfully used in a vivarium that has newspaper for substrate. They eat the mites and die. I'm not saying this would happen in a hive, they may in fact eat bee larvae, but I think I'm gonna give it a whirl at some point. It's no good simply saying something is not suitable when it hasn't been tested.

 

[hedgerow pete]

on the subject of the heating why cant i remove the bees from a hive and stick them in the oven thingy and cook the mites and then put them back into a cleaned hive ? does any one know what gas mark i need to cook the bees for and for how long??

 

[JCBrum]

Here you go Pete ...........

http://esa.confex.com/esa/2004/techprogram/paper_15809.htm

[edit]

Oh bugg*r, it's password protected. I'll try and find another way in.

 

[thedeaddiplomat]

Advice for a newbie

Forgive me for breaking a fascinating thread. But as a newbie new bee, I am having a bit of a problem finding varroa on my colony. I have a varroa floor, and a piece of something a few inches below it to catch anything that falls through. Lots of really interesting stuff there - but I hae not seen any varroa.

Is it really possible that I should be that lucky in my first year? Or do I need to changes my glasses?

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Are you talking about Huang's heat treatment of honey bee brood:

http://www.cyberbee.net/huangpub/2001ABJ.pdf
http://www.cyberbee.net/news/futures_winter2006-zapper.pdf