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Author Topic: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville  (Read 3907 times)


Offline SlickMick

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2016, 05:45:28 am »
Just read the news on ABC web site.

http://ab.co/29x0MzZ

We just have to trust that it will be appropriately dealt with by bio security and that its threat is eradicated.

Mick

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2016, 06:04:11 am »
If the bees have been there for 2 years, the odds are pretty good that they threw off a swarm or two already. Sorry to hear that.
Jim
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Online Michael Bush

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2016, 08:37:06 am »
>We just have to trust that it will be appropriately dealt with by bio security and that its threat is eradicated.

I have never heard of eradication working yet.  They have tried it everywhere Varroa has arrived and it was just a waste of bees...  So sorry to hear this.
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Offline Honeycomb king

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2016, 09:19:27 am »
Certainly not our first incursion of varroa here, so let's not give up yet.
 We do have good systems in place here ready for what ever comes our way.
I suppose the advantage of being the last place on earth is that we have the knowledge and support of so many other beekeeping nations.
Here we have government bio security as well as a strong alliance of professional and hobby beekeepers that have been trained,  so I believe if there is any chance then we will try.
The mites found were V.jacobsoni and on a hive of Asian honey bee, that was destroyed.
We will keep you posted.
Wish us luck. And anymore helpful suggestions too would be good.
Thanks.

Offline SlickMick

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2016, 09:45:38 am »
The mites found were V.jacobsoni and on a hive of Asian honey bee, that was destroyed.

Is this the same as in the US?

Mick

Offline SlickMick

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2016, 09:56:49 am »
I am sure that many of us who have no experience with varroa are keenly interested to learn as much as we can about it, how it is transferred across the country, how it thrives in some hives and not so much in others, how beeks in other countries are dealing with them and so on.

There seems to be a lot of diverse opinions on this forum on how to deal with them and it might be useful to understand the main strategies used to combat them.

Mick

Offline Honeycomb king

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2016, 10:09:50 am »
Varroa destructor is the more common species. If that's what you mean mick.
V.jacobsoni doesn't tend to jump species as readily, that is it stays productive more so on Asian honey bee A.cerana.
I'm sure someone will chip in with all the correct info.
I just think at the moment it's the old story of not letting the facts ruin a good story.
Varroa jacobsoni has been found on apis ceranea in a port. Both destroyed. Not the first time either has turned up in Australia so let's hope we are on top of it.

Offline monarchis

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #8 on: July 06, 2016, 03:17:58 pm »
Bad news. Sorry to hear that. :cry:

Offline yantabulla

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #9 on: July 06, 2016, 06:31:58 pm »
I agree HC.  The hysteria about this is getting out of hand.

Offline ozbee

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2016, 12:13:12 am »
 a update for you .  we seem to be very lucky in that the hive was in a barren part of the port which is surrounded by 75% water . the only  area to forage was the sugar terminal . we have not been able to catch a single cerna bee in 2.5 klm radius  . so far  . it is looking very promising  .

Offline divemaster1963

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #11 on: July 18, 2016, 12:19:59 am »
Great news there.!  Keep us posted.

John

Offline Honeycomb king

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2016, 02:01:59 am »
Thanks oz bee. More info when you got it. So will your search now move outward to the 10 km radius zone? Would like to know how the surveillance is being done.

Offline Lancej

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #13 on: July 20, 2016, 08:19:26 am »
Apparently another hive was found nine kilometres from the original site also containing Asian bees, no mites on the bees but one mite found in the hive. Hopefully that's the end of it. Here's a Facebook link.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/biosecurity-queensland/update-varroa-mites-found-in-annandale-asian-honey-bee-hive/1101001656619706

Offline Lone

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #14 on: July 21, 2016, 07:08:11 am »
They are going to employ beekeepers to walk around and look for A. cerani.

My feeling is that if/when the Townsville cerani meets up with the colonies that came through Cairns then we will have more problems. This was the blatantly obvious reason not to stop the eradication programme a couple of years ago.  Does anyone know the current spread of the cerani in Far North Queensland?

Quote
The hysteria about this is getting out of hand.
  I can imagine you might adopt a touch of hysteria if there were varroa at Port Macquarie.  I actually don't know if I'll be able to look after bees if varroa becomes established.  I am feeling very sad about it.

Lone


Offline yantabulla

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Re: Varroa Jacobsoni found in Townsville
« Reply #15 on: July 21, 2016, 09:22:45 pm »
Lone, I'm not trying to trivialise it. 

Nana Glen is 30 km from an international marina at Coffs Harbour.  I have been called to get swarms in the Jetty area a few times only to find them gone or picked up by someone else.  Who knows what they were or what was on them.  I am just as exposed as you are. 

This incursion has been seized upon by the woo merchants & scare mongers that hang around at the fringes of our industry and they are giving the impression that it is the end of the world so that they can push there agendas and crowd fund their lazy, unproductive lifestyles.

My Facebook feed is full of references to Varroa.  Its another thing I have to explain to people like "no my honey is not watered down", "no I don't feed antibiotics to my bees", "no I don't heat my honey", no my honey is not imported from China", "have you heard about that hive where the honey runs out of a tap?'

The rest of the world is dealing with Varroa.  The good beekeepers will survive & the not so good ones won't.  Bees will outlast people.

I really hope that this outbreak can be contained.  The pessimist in me feels that it is already out of the box & moving at 110km per hour on the back of trucks right now.

https://www.facebook.com/oraravalleyhoney/

Yanta

 

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