BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > DISEASE & PEST CONTROL
Varroa - to treat, or not to treat ?
little john:
For millennia the Varroa mite was kept away from Apis Mellifera by geographical separation, but subsequent to the activities of human beings Varroa has now spread throughout most countries of the world and currently poses one of the biggest challenges facing beekeepers.
With regard to how best to deal with Varroa, beekeepers have become entrenched into two opposing camps: one which advocates treatment, and the other advocating being 'treatment-free' ... which is usually synonymous with being chemical-free, although there are several other types of treatment available, such as physical, and procedural (being essentially methods of brood interruption), but although some of these may be very effective methods at a local level, the overall problem continues to persist.
It is common knowledge that drones from one hive freely enter other hives, regardless of whether that other hive be in the same apiary or not. And although it is generally considered that guard bees prevent foreign foraging bees from entering, this guarding activity is not 100% effective, for sometimes foreign foraging bees DO manage to enter. I first suspected this (the entry of foreign foragers past guard bees) as being the source of communication which leads to robbing under conditions of nectar dearth, and it was effectively 'confirmed' when - having sealed all my hives at midnight on several occasions - one or two bees were observed waiting patiently to be let into their hive entrances the following morning. But where had they spent the night ? These bees were observed to always be in good condition, and so had very clearly spent the night somewhere warm, and most likely had been 'topped-up' with some kind of carbohydrate in order to fuel their return flight home. Spending the night in another hive, at another apiary, is the only obvious conclusion which can be drawn.
This is why 100% mite-kills in (say) a Thermo-Solar hive, or even by the use of numerous Oxalic Acid Vapourisation applications, are doomed to failure if a neighbouring apiary is being run treatment-free, and where a small residual population of mites are being tolerated. Thus, an apiary might well be mite-free immediately after applying the treatment of choice - but will not remain mite-free for very long after that. For beekeeping is a communal activity, in the sense that your bees will always affect neighbouring apiaries, and vice-versa. The philosophies of treatment and treatment-free can then be seen as opposing philosophies and as such cannot co-exist effectively. That is why the problem of Varroa continues to persist, even in those areas where feral colonies are absent or few in number.
To be treatment-free for a number of years may sound like a success story - and I suppose it IS when viewed at the individual apiary level, but when viewed from a wider communal point-of-view, it is just so many years of fostering a seed source of this parasite which may well have been spread during that time by natural inter-apiary foraging activity.
I cannot offer any solutions to this riddle, but it is very obvious to me that the current scenario of some treating for Varroa and some not treating, has generated an untenable situation which is analogous to the constant bailing-out of water from a leaky boat - insomuch as it ain't solving the underlying problem.
LJ
Michael Bush:
If everyone continuously treats for Varroa the problem is unsolvable. The feral bees (our only real hope for the future genetics of bees) will still have Varroa. As soon as everyone stopped treating for Tracheal mites the problem went away. The problem is not the people not treating. The problem is the people treating.
?If you?re not part of the genetic solution of breeding mite-tolerant bees, then you?re part of the problem?? Randy Oliver
BeeMaster2:
I had heard that India, due to lack of money for treatment, decided when they were first infested with mites, that they were not going to treat them across the country. The first 2 years they lost most of their hives but then they recovered. Treatment free. I go with treatment free. This spring, most of my hives were dropping mites like crazy, I was worried but did not treat. It took about 2 to 3 weeks to clear up. Now I rarely see them in the dry oil trays.
Jim
Rurification:
I totally get what you're saying here, but I keep losing colony after colony and when I do the postmortems the answer inevitably comes back as being related directly or indirectly to mites. So, am I just supposed to spend the next decade paying huge amounts of money to replace my bees every year? If they were cheaper, I might feel differently, but the prices are still skyrocketing around here. And catching feral swarms is not feasible.
Realistically, what are we who want just a few hives supposed to do?
Michael Bush:
>And catching feral swarms is not feasible.
I don't see how it's not feasible, but the first step is to get bees that are surviving without treatments. The feral bees have already taken their losses. If you don't want to trap them or get on a swarm list or do a cut out then try these for next year:
http://www.fatbeeman.com/bees-honey/
http://www.wolfcreekbees.com/
http://www.goldstarhoneybees.com/shopcontent.asp?type=How%20to%20get%20bees%20for%20your%20Gold%20Star%20top%20bar%20hive
http://anarchyapiaries.org/hivetools/node/32
http://www.enjoybeekeeping.com/
And if they are all sold out you can call or write:
Kirk Webster
Box 381
Middlebury, Vt. 05753
802-989-5895 (no voice mail)
Myron Kropf
2233 LITTLE WOODS RD
BEXAR AR 72515-9509
870-458-3002 (no voice mail)
And there are others. Likely there are some treatment free beekeepers near you.
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