BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > DISEASE & PEST CONTROL

Interrupting the mite cycle

(1/4) > >>

beepro:
Hi, All!

 
I've completely break down a production hive to transfer all the cap brood frames into a queen less hives to interrupt the varroa mite
cycle.   Our main flow is not on yet.   On the last mite count, I found 12 free running mites on that particular new bees hatch cycle.  For the queen less hives they are allow to make new QCs as I'm trying to make some more new queens around the time of the flow. 

This will give them a temporarily brood break so that the mite cycle can be interrupted.  To be effective at this process, all the cap broods must emerged from the
cells in order for the new mites to be exposed.  The longer you leave the mites without new broods the more effective it is.   A final clean up when there are no more cap broods is to put in a frame of larvae about to be cap from the production hive into each queen less hive.   This way the remaining free running mites will go inside these cap broods.   You might not have 100 hives to tend to but running 4 hives should not be an issue to interrupt the mite cycle this way.  Repeat this process by removing the cap broods from the other remaining queen less hives.   Into a new nuc box they go and give them a cap QC.

Acebird:
A mite can live 2 months in flying season and 5-6 months in winter.  How long do you plan on keeping the hive queenless?

Michael Bush:
Why and how a brood break helps with Varroa is not clear.  But it is clear that it works.  Mel Disselkoen speculates that in desperation when there is brood again, the Varroa infest each cell with multiple mites causing the brood, and therefore the mites, to perish.

beepro:
Ace, it will be almost a month for the virgin to get mated.  Then it will be a queen right laying hive again.
My suspicion that a brood less state will work because the older bees will groom off the mites.  Also without new
hosts to infect the mites are starving at the same time further weakling them.   A frame of larvae about to be cap will clean up this hive just in
time for the new queen to lay.    Take this cap brood frame out to another queen less hive for a month then give it
another laying queen.   Repeat this cycle if you see a high mite count without any treatment like I did.  So far so good!

ed/La.:
I also like brood break but chose to treat during break.  I use OA fog. Another brood break option is to remove queen from strong production hive at the start of flow. Leave the brood. Let production hive  make the queen You get brood break, new queen right nuc and more honey because many of the nurse bees become forager bees.Resourses used to rear brood will be shifted to honey production.  For treatment free people use powdered sugar dusting during break. . I have in the past and probably will in the future. After brood break if needed give some brood from a hive with low mite count. That way you have some fresh nurse bees to help  get hive up to speed.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page