Subject: Varroa questions from Ormond

From: [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein)
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 1994 14:30:00 GMT

Rob Bidleman <[email-masked]> recently wrote to BEE-L:

>I requested several weeks ago that a few of you more verbose posters
>reply <if you could be so kind> to Ormond Aebi's question, I have filled
>him in as best I could but promised I would get a second, third and
>fourth opinion<s> so he could more or less get a good rounded view of the
>Varroa situation. I will ask again:

I am not personally an expert in this arena, but will throw the following
comments into the fray, for whatever they are worth!

>When <at what age> do the mites enter the bees? <not the hive, the bee>

Varroa is an external parasite, so they do not "enter" the bee itself.
Tracheal mite, on the other hand, is an internal parasite.
The Varroa mite does enter brood cells to reproduce - is this what you
are refering to??   Also, are you asking for the age of the bees or
the age of the mites (or both?)

>What in your opinion is the best single treatment for Varroa?
In the USA, the *only* legal chemical treatment that I am aware of is
fluvalinate (Apistan). I have heard of bio-mechanical methods (removing
capped drone brood so as to remove the enclosed mites), but am unsure
how effective this is.

>What is the fate of the mites once bees are decimated in an area?

I would assume that if the bees were truly decimated, then the mites
would die off also. Actually, it seems to me that the bee population would
have to be *eliminated*, otherwise reinfestation from the small, but
remaining bee population would be a problem. In the USA, I would think
it nearly impossible to eliminate the bee population in an area due to
the widespread presence of managed colonies - beekeepers tend to
replace bees that die off. Sure, the wild population might be
eliminated by the mite, but the managed colonies can still be a
"mite reservoir", providing a haven for the mites, and a source of
re-infestation. Finally, I don't know what "alternative hosts" are
around that could support the Varroa mite in the absence of honey bees.

>Thank you in advance for Ormond.
>
>         +%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%
>         %   [email-masked]   box 721 healdsburg ca 95448   %
>         +%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%+%

Hope that helps. I'm afraid I posed more questions than I answered, though!

Rick Hough, a hobby beekeeper with 9 colonies NE of Boston, MA, USA.

"Ask ten beekeepers how to do something, and you will hear
at least a dozen "RIGHT" ways to do it!" - overheard at a club meeting.

-- 
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