Vids about Varroa.

[drstitson]

invisible mites

I don't think anyone on here has treated and had NO mites drop.

Most of us don't have the luxury of a hive where we can examine our bees close up but we can look at our varroa boards and see mites.

Until the UK catch up with other european countries and ban neonicotinoids then anything that helps strengthen bee colonies must surely be a good thing.

and in response to other posts - i'm not going to get drawn into an argument about anybody's religious views, even by PM, no matter how stupid they might seem to others (this is NOT directed to paganism alone but any organised religion too) BUT beekeeping is NOT natural and no matter how you do it it involves exploiting bees.

 

[Skyhook]

Well, because I cant see them I would like to think that I am varroa free...

Yes, I liked to think I was varroa free as all my bees looked healthy, I never saw a bee with a mite on, and although I checked drone brood I never saw any. First mites I saw (on a varroa floor) I started treating immediately. Since then I've started seeing bees with problems and have had about 4,000 mites on the board. Interesting to note they are smaller than they look in the photos (I use a magnifying glass to count them on a white board, they're just a speck) and nearly black- they could easily be hidden by the hairs on a bee. I'm now hoping my bees will survive, looks about 50:50, I'm very sad I didn't get on to the problem earlier.

 

[chycarne]

Fascinating!, having read all this I now feel justified in our "treat them to help but leave them alone as much as possible approach". The bees have been infected with a beastie not native to this part of the world, therefore a help them approach is good. As with humans the things we use to treat also cause the treated some harm we have to accept this as we accept this with ourselves. Asprin causing stomach bleeding but also helps headaches and hearts. I have the views of an old celtic christian (semi pagen some would say) and my wife is more pragmatic. We adopt a if they need it we will do it approach semi scientific semi common sense. The view is, as with the bees, what needs doing for the whole to survive we will do (the Bees kick the drones out in winter) We grow a lot of our own food and so dont like chemicals there either- but where we have to, we do but only as harsh as needed. The same applies for the bees, we have found great success with a product BeeVital hive clean/chalkbrood which we used as a spray in a misting thingy (glasses cleaner spray bottle 5ml I think) - though THEY say dribble it on, we reinterpreted this and did it our way. It worked Brilliantly- it is a semi natural product and seems to have been much less harmful than anything else used. We will be using it again the same way but as sparingly as we can. we use a hand lens and mircroscope to check on whats going on on the drop boards (regularly used to see what is going on in the hive). We research, ask questions, think and make our decisions accordingly. Organic is great if you can!!! if you cant then do the next best that you can to achieve the best result ie healthy happy bees, also you get stung less if they aren't stressed - incentive surely???
perhaps Bridge Over Troubled Water may be a good one now???

 

[drstitson]

varroa

"Interesting to note they are smaller than they look in the photos (I use a magnifying glass to count them on a white board, they're just a speck) and nearly black- they could easily be hidden by the hairs on a bee"

I wouldn't describe them as a spec - yes they vary from mid-dark brown and vary in size - ok they aren't the size of your average pin head but they aren't really tiny. Unless your board is absolutely covered in debris most should be visible from a foot or two away unaided.

are you sure it's varroa you're counting??? you may have been clear all along!!!!

 

[Stiffy]

Stiify, have you considered that the reason he doesnt treat his bees is because....... his bees dont have varroa........

How many beeks just bung all the chemicals in the hive because they have been led to believe that that is what one is supposed to do......

like I asked in another thread, where do these mites hide so well that I havent seen any on visual inspections........... but I still dont know because nobody answered.....

To be honest I really dont care if the neighbouring hives have varroa or not all I was trying to point out is the fact that I have an increased count at an apiary where the owner does bxxxer all about treating and that I am having to change my approach to keeping bees on this site. Maybe I should have coached my answer in a different way?

As usual the 'natural' lobby think they are being attacked and have come with their usual crxp about dusting with sugar, talcolm powder petula oil or whatever the latest hippy craze is and cannot produce evidence on why it seems to work for them.

My bees have varroa and as far as I am concerned wiill have for the future. I treat with whatever method has been proven to the incvestation and if someone claims that dusting with cocaine will eliminate them from my hives I would be the first one to invest in the poppy fields of Afganistan! Until this wonderful day arrives I will not stand by and listen to new beeks being told they need to spend their hard earned money on bees and equipment and dust them with sugar from Tinker Bells wand and the nasty varroa will just disappear, it wont.


Sorry if this sounds like a rant, it just gets me cross to listen to the drivvle that some people expound

 

[Dishmop]

latest hippy craze is and cannot produce evidence on why it seems to work for them.

but if it does indeed work, does it matter why or how?

I bet that varroa would die if you sprayed them with greenfly killer, or headlice spray, but is it harmful to bees?

 

[Stiffy]

but if it does indeed work, does it matter why or how?

I bet that varroa would die if you sprayed them with greenfly killer, or headlice spray, but is it harmful to bees?

No it doesnt matter just prove that it does... not just come on a forum saying I dosed my bees in whatever and it cleared the varroa. Show the ill informed why it worked and how we can be welcomed into the dark art

 

[madasafish]

Well as a year 1 newbie, I've seen a drone with varroa on its back.. and although long sighted and wearing vari focals saw it easily. Indeed I could have seen it without glasses as the colour difference - brown versus black - made it obvious.

As for sugar dusting .. in a tbh full of bees it is not easy.. I prefer to disturb the bees as little as possible so used Apiguard..

As far as doing what is needed, it's like gardening. Chemical fertilisers work. So does home made compost and cow muck or bird ****.. I try to use the "natural" ways: IF they achieve the desired results.. preferably with as little effort on my part and as little disturbance to the garden and its environs as possible.. So digging is kept to a minimum... but I use a LOT of compost...home made of course..

 

[Skyhook]

No it doesnt matter just prove that it does... not just come on a forum saying I dosed my bees in whatever and it cleared the varroa. Show the ill informed why it worked and how we can be welcomed into the dark art

For decades people have been putting barley straw in ponds to clear blanket weed. Nobody knew why, so it was called an old wives tale. Turns out that one of the breakdown products reacts in UV to form a new substance which is harmful to blanketweed. Just took a while for the research to catch up.

I don't believe in magic, neither do I believe that scientists know everything- they're only human.. Just consider how much is known to science now that wasn't 10 years ago- or 50, or 200...

 

[Mike a]

Stiffy it strikes me from reading this thread with interest almost every post you say you dont care the other beek to start with then contradict yourself and launch off with some ridiculous and quite honestly laughable drivel. Seriously I think you are just trying to wind up other people up to get a reaction and no doubt you think yourself funny.

You have yet to state anything about your IPM that even remotely suggests you are trying to deal with the problem, instead you want to blame some else instead of looking for the real answer.

Occam's razor - Your bees don't groom themselves and far more likely your IPM is not good enough.

My latest IPM
Its time to stop feeding the Stiffy troll

 

[Stiffy]

Stiffy it strikes me from reading this thread with interest almost every post you say you dont care the other beek to start with then contradict yourself and launch off with some ridiculous and quite honestly laughable drivel. Seriously I think you are just trying to wind up other people up to get a reaction and no doubt you think yourself funny.

You have yet to state anything about your IPM that even remotely suggests you are trying to deal with the problem, instead you want to blame some else instead of looking for the real answer.

Occam's razor - Your bees don't groom themselves and far more likely your IPM is not good enough.

My latest IPM
Its time to stop feeding the Stiffy troll

Sorry you think my posts are drivel and think I am trying to blame someone else.

In very plain English I don’t give a flying fig what the other beek does and I would imagine that he feels the same about me. I am trying to say that I have had to change my way of keeping hives at this site as the varroa count is HIGH. If this is because he doesn’t treat then this is MY problem, not his and if I get to the point where I feel strongly I will move them.

What I do care about is unproven methods being sold as a 'high and mighty' way to treat as expressed by the delightful person on the video.

FWIW.my IPM consists off: Drone culling through the summer, treat with Thymol in autumn and oxalic acid mid winter. Maybe not to your taste but proven and well tried methods of reducing varroa I am sure you will agree?

As most of my bees all stem from a single source I would have thought that their genetic make would dictate the IPM I should use, which has been successful on two of the three sites?

I am sure my bees groom themselves to a degree but as I keep bees and not monkeys I do not expect them to deal with an introduced pest by grooming, combing their hair or brushing bloody icing sugar off themselves !

As for personal attacks, I deal with far worse every day and although I find it slightly annoying, please see second sentence, if you can stretch your mind back that far?

 

[chycarne]

I still say this is interesting though I am concerned that someone doesnt know where 50% of their colonies are. We treat and use "organic" methods as well.
our experience is -Thymol works well it has a good knock down rate. We also used a drone trap very succesfully (er well it reduced the mumber of Varoa in the hive but did it really help the hive? well it removed the Varoa and reduced their breeding stock) I remain to be convinced. Grooming Bees, well this does work and frankly as far as I am concerned even if the bees, by their own efforts remove 10% to 20% and there are strains that seem to do this naturally well that can only help our efforts. And by spraying, (or sugaring which personally I dont like as I would worry about robbing / sugar mess etc) it encourages the bees to do some more removal perhaps another 20% then the treatments Thymol knock out another high percentage 90% of the remainder) then its a win all round. Depending on one course of treatment only leads to resistance, combining everything we do as Beeks can only be a good thing. Look at what we all do, see what works and apply as much of that as you can. We apply 3 different approaches, it works. By the end of a treatment programme we have a drop rate of 5 or under from rates up in the 50s and 60s takes a bit longer but the bees are less irritable, still able to do some gloveless inspections, and reduced Varoa... that does for us.

 

[Hombre]

Blood in the water?