varroa treatments

[Hawklord]

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?

Have you tried sprinkling icing sugar or apistan, that usually makes mites drop through the floor if you have any.

 

[hedgerow pete]

dear the dead diplomat,
his is where i s start a masive thread that ends up with people trying to burn the shed down with me in it. are we ready, i simple belive that not every single hive in the uk is populated with bugs other than the bees in the same way i belive that isle of white disease did not kill all the old uk blacks off

these words are of course herasy and i will now be burnt at the steak again for saying these things[/COLOR], i realy belive that varroa is a very nasty bug but one that can be controlled and eradicated and if just one single beek can kill the lot off then its sorted we all can, ok so it wont happen over night and will proberly be discounted by all the big chemical companys and the bbka lap dogs wont like it either but there is a way to kill them, law of thumb and numbers of proberbility say so. if it lives it must by rights die, i just want it to die at my convieniance thats all. just because everone has varror does not mean that you have them

 

[hedgerow pete]

heres a doc thats worth reading


View attachment 929


this brings me to a couple of questions if a mite can live for say three month baybe more for over wintering, would this mean as per the bees they are very suspectable to problems, and where a hard push at the mites in spring would help to knock them on the head as well or if not better than durring the winter feed down ???
and heres another idea if the mite takes 14 days from egg to hatch if i was to remove all brood for a set period say every 5 days for 3 months would this not in theary one stop all eggs hatching and with no eggs comming through to replace the older mites would they not die off with out having any replacements??
yes i know there is other problems with no eggs of bees hatching aswell but these can be suplimented from other hive, yes?

 

[Rosti]

Hadn't seen that doc Pete, useful but does not save you!

Since you've not gone for the traditional wooden stake, I'll give you a choice of steak (sirloin or fillet - in deference to your past forum contributions) to be strapped to and it'll have to be a gas BBQ I'm afraid. I've seen your vids so I think you'll be semi-self basting and should feed a good gathering. We like our meat marintated so have a few glasses of wine before the deed please. R

 

[hedgerow pete]

all this pain a nd suffering and i dont have to pay for , yippie, whist i marinate, does anyone have any susgestions or comments its becoming a little one sided

 

[JCBrum]

I still think breaking the varroa breeding cycle is the best shot if your infestation is not heavy.

How about regularly using two frames of drone foundation and changing them every week for fresh ones. I understand you can freeze-kill the brood and then wash them out for re-use of the comb.

Do queens lay in drone cells at this time of year ?

 

[David P]

Strikes me that looking for a kill all solution is a bit of a red herring. Seems to me that even if you get rid of all the varroa in your hives, then the next day a drifting bee or a drone from another hive will just reintroduce the dam things again. Best we can do really is to try and keep on top of the mite by whatever way we can, (icing sugar, drone culling , oxalic acid et al ). Over a long period of time I believe that two things will happen 1. Bees will become more resistant and 2. Varroa will become less destructive. Remeber that in terms of evolutionary time varroa is a very new parasite to Apis Melifera.
Since by definition a parasite has a vested interest in the survival of its hosts. Sadly this aint gonna happen in a few years, but maybe in a few decades beekeepers of the day will look in wonder and what we put the bees through to control what they will see as a mere nuisance rather than a threat.
Lets just hope that while we chase our tails over varroa a more sinister threat doesnt catch us unawares.

 

[Rosti]

Beecraft published a sacraficial brood procedure, which involved moving the queen and selected (pre-determined brood). I'll see if I can look it out

 

[RoofTops]

HP, what you describe in post 23# is achieved by the technique called queen trapping. It will reduce the varroa level significantly but not eliminate it. Whilst not wishing to burn down your shed the best advice to beekeepers in anywhere other than the more outlandish locations where I suspect the midges eat the varroa, is to monitor and treat for varroa. It is quite possible for a new colony to have a low varroa load, probably due to the broodless period it went though before the queen started laying, but the varroa will return, wish though we might it was otherwise.

 

[Finman]

.
I think that many beekeepers keep bees that they can nurse mites.

I am going to use laser canon next time. On the entrance "mite identifierer" and it will sterilize the balls of mites. A German invention. They are burning experts.

 

[JCBrum]

Strikes me that looking for a kill all solution is a bit of a red herring. Seems to me that even if you get rid of all the varroa in your hives, then the next day a drifting bee or a drone from another hive will just reintroduce the dam things again. Best we can do really is to try and keep on top of the mite by whatever way we can, (icing sugar, drone culling , oxalic acid et al ). Over a long period of time I believe that two things will happen 1. Bees will become more resistant and 2. Varroa will become less destructive. Remeber that in terms of evolutionary time varroa is a very new parasite to Apis Melifera.
Since by definition a parasite has a vested interest in the survival of its hosts. Sadly this aint gonna happen in a few years, but maybe in a few decades beekeepers of the day will look in wonder and what we put the bees through to control what they will see as a mere nuisance rather than a threat.
Lets just hope that while we chase our tails over varroa a more sinister threat doesnt catch us unawares.

Hmmm, doesn't move us forward much does it ? Something more radical is required.