Subject: Re: Where have all the bees gone?

From: [email-masked] (Robert Inget)
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 1995 17:02:41

In article <[email-masked]> David D Stubbs <[email-masked]> writes:
>Path: rainrgnews0!psgrain!news.tek.com!usenet
>From: David D Stubbs <[email-masked]>
>Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping
>Subject: Re: Where have all the bees gone?
>Date: 12 Jun 1995 17:06:03 GMT
>Organization: Tektronix, Inc, Beaverton, OR, USA
>Lines: 14
>Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
>References: <[email-masked]>
>NNTP-Posting-Host: juarez.cse.tek.com
>X-Newsreader: NCSA Mosaic

>I have seen no honey bees here in Portland this spring.  The local 7-year-olds
>who spent
>the entire summer last year catching bees report none this year.

>I read last year that about 99% of the wild hives in Oregon have been wiped out
>by a
>mite (or some other tiny critter) that feasts on bee eggs.  Unfortunately, I
>don't remember
>the source, nor have I seen any follow-up in the local paper, The Oregonian.

>I'm both curious about and fearful of this turn of event.  What's not getting
>pollinated?!

>David D. Stubbs                           [email-masked]
>Customer-Centered Design                  MS 39-632
>Measurement Business                      +1 503 627 2627 voice
>Tektronix, Inc.                           +1 503 627 1388 fax

   You are correct. The varroa mite is the enemy. Perhaps bumble bees will 
save the food supply, till we get something better then  mite strips to 
control.

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From: [email-masked] (Patrick McGuire)
Date: 29 Jun 1995 19:19:55 GMT

>I also had the occasion to see a bumblebee try to
>enter (rob?) one of my hives.  What a fight!  It was 
>about 6 or 8 to 1 but the bumblebee seemed to
>escape without being seriously harmed.
>
	Funny you should have Bumblebees that were not seriously harmed. 
 I have observed Bumblebees entering my hives on numerous occasions and, 
alas, my bees successfully kill it.  I am constantly finding dead 
Bumblebees in front of my hives.

	Meanwhile, I am sure that the people who have noticed drastic 
drops in their bee populations are experiencing the ravages of the 
varroa.  Last year, at the October meeting of our local bee club, a slide 
and film presentation by our local La. State Horticulturist alerted us to 
the coming of varroa.  Included in the presentation was a microscope set 
up with specimens of dead mite.
        The very next day I was observing my 7 hives and out of the 
entrance of one hive strolls this drone with a mite piggy backing in the 
middle of the thorax.  The drone was black and the mite was bright orange 
so this little Halloween surprise really was obvious.
        I got Apistan strips within one week and treated all my hives.  
The number of dead mites appearing on the "doorstep" to each hive was 
amazing.  Literally teaspoons full for several days after beginning 
treatment.  I did not lose one hive.
        Unfortunately, I had 5 friends who did not treat their hives and 
lost all or at least 75% of their colonies by January.

						Pat McGuire
                                                New Orleans, LA

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From: [email-masked] (Malcolm Roe)
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 14:40:48 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> Richard Yates <[email-masked]> writes:
>
>I have seen some small red-brown mites on my bees, also piggybacking. These do
>not seem to harm the bees, which occasionally seem to carry more than one mite.
>The mites are about the size of the ball in a medium Biro, & will shuffle about
>if poked with the corner of the hive tool edge. I have seen them for some time
>in a supposedly varroa-free area.
>
>Can anyone hazard a guess as to what these mites might be? [N.P.I. :) ]

Braula.

They're insects (6 legs) not mites (8 legs) and are more or less harmless.
It's worth learning the difference, especially if you haven't got varroa
yet.  Braula are longer than they're wide and the legs are easily visible.
They are usually found on the top of the bee's thorax.  Varroa are just
the opposite - wider than they're long and with non-obvious legs.  If
found on adult bees they're usually underneath the abdomen.

-- 
Malcolm Roe                                Phone  :  +44 1442 345104
Crosfield Electronics Ltd                  Fax    :  +44 1442 343000
Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7RH, UK        E-mail :  [email-masked] 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

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From: Richard Yates <[email-masked]>
Date: 3 Jul 1995 11:51:30 GMT

Richard.
~~~~~~~~