Subject: Are these varroa mites?

From: [email-masked]
Date: 9 Dec 94 11:59:53 MDT

Bad news:

I went out yesterday to take a look at the hives and found out of six, five were
dead.  Upon inspection I found the cause:  mites.  These were small, roundish,
red creatures, all dead.  Some were still attached to the bees in the segments
of the abdomens of the dead bees.  Are these the cursed varroa mites?  I posted
earlier saying i had eight dead hives.  I checked the base boards of those
hives yesterday when I brought the latest dead hives in.  These older boards
also had dead mites in them. 

We might have treated them earlier if we had known what to look for.  My dad
contacted the Utah state entomologist who said that there was no point in
treating them now, during the winter.  I guess you learn as you go.

As I asked before, are these the damnable varroa I have been hearing about? 
Can we use the infected boxes and frames again, or should they be destroyed? 
Is there anything else we can do for next year to prevent the mites from
infecting?

Thanks for your help earlier and now,

Todd Seamons
[email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Aaron Morris)
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 94 07:44:12 EST

In article <[email-masked]>
[email-masked] writes:
 
>
>Bad news:
>
>I went out yesterday to take a look at the hives and found out of six,
>five were dead...
>
 
Todd,
   Telling you what you already know, "Yup.  Mites have done you in!".
It's a sad and hard lesson that more and more of us are learning.  Seems
one would have to live in a cave not to have at least heard of varroa,
but it's not until it hits home that we realize the "It CAN happen
here!".  I follow very closely current literature about the mites'
progress, but it wasn't until I had 'em that I took the threat
seriously.
   The bad news, as you've noted, is that you lost 5 outta 6 hives.
Chances are that hive number 6 is in jeopardy.  You can still treat that
hive, but it's only worth the bother if there is a sufficient remaining
population to warrant treatment.  You'll need two strips and they come
packaged by the dozen (or is it ten?) for about $20 U.S.  I would guess
(and this is ONLY a guess) that your remaining hive is probably close to
the end and probably won't make it through the winter, treatment or not.
   The most critical time to treat your hives is in the fall, about
the time when drones are being expelled.  At that time, drone brood
(preferred by varroa) is next to nonexistant and varroa switches over
to worker brood.  The percentage of infected workers skyrockets at a
time when your hive needs a healthy worker population in preparation for
winter.  The added stress of varroa can cause the workers to die before
they make it through the winter, or as noted in this forum, can cause
your bees to abscond (take off for a better location or perhaps move
into neighboring hives - taking the infestation with them)!  Thus, it is
very important to diagnose and treat for varroa when the honey season is
winding down.  In these parts (Upstate New York) there was a real
conflict between the approaching winter and a GREAT(!) fall honey flow.
One should never treat hives with ANYTHING while honey supers (for human
consumption) are in plave.  I opted to withhold treatment until the
fall flow was completely over.  So far that decision has cost me two out
eight hives.  Hardly worth the 50 or 60 pounds of honey I got by waiting.
   The good news is that you will be able to reuse your equipment next
spring.  The mites are parasites and require healthy hosts to survive.
When the bees die, the mites' demise is not far off.  You should however
be warry of your new bees picking up varroa from your area next year.
If hive number 6 survives, it should be suspect.  If hive 6 doesn't make
it, your area is still suspect.  Learn to diagnose varroa by means other
than a dead hive.  Ether roll or visual examination of drone brood are
two methods to determine if your bees have mites.  If you find that
mites are a problem, get the supers off and the Apistan strips in.  And
be particularly warry of reinfestation from your own hives.  If you
find mites in a single hive and treat accordingly, but miss a problem
in a neighboring hive, the treated hive may be quick to pick up mites
>from  the infested but untreated neighbor.  Varroa is a REAL problem that
can wipe out a hive totally or take a good chunk out of a honey flow if
they show up at the wrong time.  Murphy's law says they'll probably show
up at the peak of the best honey flow of the season.  If they do, your
choice is to sacrifice the harvest for the sake of your bees or sacrifice
your bees in sake of a better harvest.  It's more economical to sacrifice
the harvest than the bees.  I'll keep a closer eye on the problem next
year and may opt to skip the fall flow altogether in favor of an early
treatment.  I'd rather have less honey in the fall and healthy bees in
the spring than more honey in the fall and NO bees in the spring.
   Finally, keep current on breeding efforts.  There currently are no
breeds available commercially that have proven to be varroa resistant.
Buckfast bees show promise towards tracheal (not varroa) mite resistance
and there are signs of hope for varroa resistance from other breeds,
but nothing is available yet.  Currently, Apistan is the best bet, but
better bees may be on the horizon.
   Sorry for your loss.  Consider it an expensive lesson from the
School of Hard Knocks.  Good luck staying mite free next year!
 
Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!

---

From: [email-masked] (Hugo Thone)
Date: 14 Dec 1994 11:54:09 GMT

Todd,

We are living here with Varroa for more than 5 years.  Apistan strips have
proved to be the most effective and handy remedy.
We apply it immediately after the last harvest (begin august) and we leave
the strips in the hives for maximum 6 weeks.  In emergency cases you can use
it in spring too, but then the honney is unsuitable for human consumption. 

The main problem is the contamination of the wax with fluvalinate after
several years of treatement or after faulty use of the Varroa strips.
I presume it will be found in the honney eventually.

There is no problem in re-using your boxes and frames. The main source 
of infection are the colonies in your neighboorhood that are heavily infected
with Varroa mites.

	Cheers,
-- 

Hugo Thone / ALCATEL BELL TELEPHONE / SE121 / F.Wellesplein 1 / B-2018 Antwerp
Email : [email-masked] / Phone : (32) 3 240 94 52 / Fax:(32) 3 240 99 50

                           do bee do bee do ....