VSH equals no mites

[Aroc]

Well so far so good.  A couple of our hives have VSH queens.  Did a sugar roll on them today and neither one produced any mites.

In all fairness though we did use Apiguard late last year as well. Was going to do an OAV but not going to worry about it now, at least on those two.  I?d like to get to the point where mites aren?t as much of a concern.  Since we don?t have any bees close by....wishful thinking

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Aroc, good to hear your bees are active up there in Montana.  I wish you luck with VSH bees.  However, almost every queen breeder(s) claims some sort of hygienic qualities.  I wonder why so many mites with so many hygienic queens?  Intended as a Rhetorical question.

[Oldbeavo]

For the non U.S people, please explain VSH?

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Varroa Sensitive Hygenic

Means the queen is supposed to produce bees that rid mites by bees grooming and subsequently knocking the mites off the bees.

TF:  means Treatment Free

You are lucky Beavo, soon enough you will meet this little mite.  Has the mite made its was to Australia??????  Thought I read the mite has been spotted in your continent.  Can you or Bill verify this.

[Aroc]

For the non U.S people, please explain VSH?

Sorry about that.  I forget about the rest of the world sometimes.

[moebees]

You are lucky Beavo, soon enough you will meet this little mite.  Has the mite made its was to Australia??????  Thought I read the mite has been spotted in your continent.  Can you or Bill verify this.

I haven't heard specifically that Varroa have been found in managed hives but I have heard that Apis Cerana are in Australia so Varroa has to be there too.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Moe, do you know much about cerana?  I know they are poor Honey makers and swarm a lot, they are great killers of Japanese hornets.  However they are considered invasive in Australia.  I understand: who wants a honey bee that produces little Honey, swarms and takes what little Honey there is. Can you or any person tell me more about these little cerana (Asian) honey bees.
Blessings

[moebees]

Moe, do you know much about cerana?  I know they are poor Honey makers and swarm a lot, they are great killers of Japanese hornets.  However they are considered invasive in Australia.  I understand: who wants a honey bee that produces little Honey, swarms and takes what little Honey there is. Can you or any person tell me more about these little cerana (Asian) honey bees.
Blessings

I don't know much about them. They are small bees and have evolved with Varroa.  Although they have small colonies they are kept by beekeepers in Vietnam, Philippines, and probably other locations.  I don't know if you have seen this video from the national honey show but it is pretty interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW7u4At5EGc

[BeeMaster2]

Good info, raises more questions than they had answers.
The videos were, for me, ?blocked for research reasons ?. Did you encounter that?
Jim

[Oldbeavo]

We had an incursion of V. jacobsoni, not destructor that came in on some A. cerana bees at a port.
They were caught up with before they got into the population
A cerana have been in Australia up north and we are trying to eradicate them, unsure where the status is at present.
Cerana are aggressive and take over other bees hives.
The reason they survive Varoa is due to their brood cycle is shorter and the mites don't mature properly. I will stand corrected on this if any one has better info.

[Acebird]

A cerana have been in Australia up north and we are trying to eradicate them, unsure where the status is at present.

Good luck with trying to eradicate an insect.  It has never happened in the history of mankind.  Most attempts result in a bigger problem.

[BeeMaster2]

Oldbeavo,
?The reason they survive Varoa is due to their brood cycle is shorter and the mites don't mature properly. I will stand corrected on this if any one has better info.?
This is why using natural drawn comb or small cell foundation is so important to help the bees survive the mites and all the viruses that they bring. Smaller bees develop faster.
Jim

[BeeMaster2]

A cerana have been in Australia up north and we are trying to eradicate them, unsure where the status is at present.

Good luck with trying to eradicate an insect.  It has never happened in the history of mankind.  Most attempts result in a bigger problem.

Brian,
There is one case here in North Florida, not eradicated but totally under control to the point that we do not have any problems. That is the mole cricket. It used to be a serious problem. Required a lot of poison to keep it from turning your grass brown. Then they brought in a, it think, a nematode and suddenly it was no longer a problem. I rarely see them in Jacksonville now. I see more here at my new house. They were not treated here in the forest area. Also we do not have a lot of their favorite food, St Augistine grass.
Jim

[little john]

Good info, raises more questions than they had answers.
The videos were, for me, ?blocked for research reasons ?. Did you encounter that?
Jim

Hi Jim - it might be worth trying either:
http://www.ssyoutube .com/watch?v=JW7u4At5EGc  (remove space before .com)
or
https://www.clipconverter.cc/ 

Hope one of these works - good luck
LJ

[jimineycricket]

Try this and listen a lot.
http://www.honeyshow.co.uk/lecture-videos.php

[little john]

The reason they survive Varoa is due to their brood cycle is shorter and the mites don't mature properly. I will stand corrected on this if any one has better info.

My understanding is that Cerana can detect a larva which is infested - their response to which is to seal-up that brood cell completely (closing-off the ventilation pores) - thus killing both the larva and the mites inside the cell.  But - this was something I read somewhere, sometime - and can't guarantee that this info is 100% accurate.
LJ

[Bush_84]

Varroa Sensitive Hygenic

Means the queen is supposed to produce bees that rid mites by bees grooming and subsequently knocking the mites off the bees.

TF:  means Treatment Free

You are lucky Beavo, soon enough you will meet this little mite.  Has the mite made its was to Australia??????  Thought I read the mite has been spotted in your continent.  Can you or Bill verify this.

I thought vsh trait is what caused bees to remove diseased brood? 

[Michael Bush]

>I thought vsh trait is what caused bees to remove diseased brood?

That would be "Hygienic behavior" e.g. Minnesota Hygienic bees as opposed to SMR (Suppressed Mite Reproduction) which was renamed as VSH (Varroa Sensitive Hygiene).  Sensing mite damage is not the same mechanism as sensing Chalkbrood or AFB.

[beepro]

Speaking of VSH, I don't know if one of my strongest hives is one or not.   There was one mite resistant hive in my 3rd season of beekeeping before.  Right now it is too early to tell that this local Spring queen has not been evaluated yet..  My last mite count was 12 from the cap brood frames added from the other support hives.  They sure have the hygienic side to it like cleaning up the bottom board spotless unlike my other hives with a filthy bottom full of gunk.    One hive even have the large wax moth larvae buried inside the pile of junk.   How this hive became so clean I don't really know.   And not that many crawlers either.    What I really know is that I don't have to clean the bottom board anymore!    Do you have such a hive in your apiary?


Local bees so clean:

http://imgbox.com/rUAstFiv

http://imgbox.com/QoyeKQ4E

Color of bees:
http://imgbox.com/eMH0gkkZ

[Aroc]

Of the two hives that are VSH I do see a lot more ?junk? being taken outside.  They do a fair amount of brood removal as well.