Maybee I'm missing something here but I see no data at all. I do see
unfounded opinions and conclusions and some name dropping. I wonder what
conclusions Dr. Ericson came to? I wonder why feral colonies that
surely build "natural" comb die from infections of AFB, T-mite, and
especially varroa mite? I wonder what proof Ms. Lusby has that tracheal
mites existed on North America before 1983? I wonder on what data the
1/3, 1/3, 1/3 estimate is based on? I wonder who those numbers down at
the bottom are suposed to impress?
Newbees beware.
Robert E Butcher wrote:
>
> I believe it mite bee easier if I just typed it out, so here goes.
>
> Robert
>
> This is from The A BJ pages 837 and 838,test results on small comb 4.9.
>
> ARIZONA BEEKEEPER BELIEVES SMALLER SIZE CELL DIAMETER IS THE ANSWER TO
> MITE PROBLEMS.
> On 11Sept. Dr. Eric H. Erickson, the director of theCarl Hayden
> Bee Research Facility in Tucson, Arizona, went with us to two bee
> locations, in unisolated areas, to test for both tracheal mites and
> varroa mites. Samples taken in the center of the brood nest also
> contained drones where possible. We choose unisolated locations because
> we wanted to show him, to beat the problem, one must be able to
> accomplish business as normal in doing bee management within the field.
> Please note that beekeepers around us have severely lost bees, as we
> ourselves have, to both mites over the years. When taken, several
> adjacent yards within 2 miles were being treated, crashing, or being fed
> to keep them alive.Our bees were building; and the Carmen yard were very
> fast drawing new foundation.
>
> We began putting the 4.9 cm cell size in hives in May. We did a
> second round the end of June and did a third round ending Labor Day. The
> Carmen yard we took samples from was worked Labor Day along with the
> Knight location. The Carmen yard had been drawing wax and averaged4-8 or
> more frames per colony drawn. A few colonies had a full box (10 frames)
> drawn.The Knight location had less than 3 frames drawn on average and
> most brood laying was on 5.0 cm comb. Both yards still had 2-3 (3-Carmen
> 2-Knight) one super hives (nucs) still laying on the larger Durigilt that
> refused to change. Note these one super hives are now dead,not having
> survived through to mid October. So much for Duragilt(5.44).
>
> With smaller 4.9 cm comb which is still bigger than the 4.83 cm
> comb this country was founded on in the Southern latitudes,(Northern
> latitudes were founded on 4.9 cm to 5.0 cm sizes),we are now gettingour
> varroa populations down to field tolerant coexistant levels so we can
> mimic natural environment living conditions. Tracheal mite levels are
> down there also, having regulated the mite back to external Vagan status,
> as was the norm conditionaround 1917 in our country, before we
> artificially mutated the bee's thorax and breathing tube bigger on the
> thorax to create a parasite problem. At 0-6% tracheal mites, bees have
> no problem coexisting. At10-11%, varroa mites are on the cuff for
> trouble. In Southern ;atitudes in times of plenty they do fine; in times
> of dearth the bees do poorly and both requireconstant management to
> control secondary diseases.That is on 5.0 cm size comb.At 0-7% varroa
> mites, changing to 4.9 cmcomb sizing, bees draw wax well and hives
> nolonger require constant management to control secondary
> diseases.Business is back to normal for management in the field.We hope
> to cut percentages again this coming year 1998 as brood nests are
> continued with 4.9 cm comb and all frames converted in our broodnests.
>
> This shows breeding is not all the solution. We figure comb is
> 1/3, diet is 1/3 and breeding is 1/3. Comb must be put in by half (5) to
> full boxes to work.
>
> Dee Lusby
>
> Tucson Az.
>
> HONEY BEE PARASITES FROM CARMEN
>
> VARROA MITES
> Colony # # Bees # Varroa # Varroa/100 Bees
> A 175 34
> 19.43
> B 186 30
> 16.13
> C 161 39
> 24.22
> D 186 5
> 2.69
> E 157 7
> 4.46
> F 183 13
> 6.99
> G 169 13
> 7.70
> H 148 5
> 3.38
> I 187 2
> 1.07
> J 149 6
> 4.03
> K 185 5
> 2.70
> L 164 7
> 4.27
> M 188 7
> 3.72
> N 156 5
> 3.21
> P 163 8
> 4.91
> Q 179 17
> 9.50
> ____________________________________________
> TRACHEAL MITESIN30 BEES
>
> Colony # # Tracheal Mites % Tracheal Mites
> A 0
> 0.00
> B 0
> 0.00
> C 0
> 0.00
> D 0
> 0.00
> E 1
> 3.33
> F 0
> 0.00
> G 1
> 3.33
> H 0
> 0.00
> I 1
> 3.33
> J 7
> 23.33
> K 0
> 0.00
> L 1
> 3.33
> M 1
> 3.33
> N 1
> 3.33
> P 0
> 0.00
> Q 2
> 6.67
>
> _______________________________________________________
>
> HONEY BEE PARASITES FROM KNIGHT
>
> VARROA MITES
> Colony # # Bees # Varroa #
> Varroa/100Bees
> A 165 1
> 0.61
> B 186 15
> 8.06
> C 142 13
> 9.15
> D 177 18
> 10.17
> E 168 21
> 12.50
> F 184 23
> 12.50
> G 171 26
> 15.20
> H 186 9
> 4.84
> I 181 53
> 29.28
> J 200 8
> 4.00
> K 189 19
> 10.05
> L 182 4
> 2.20
> M 175 23
> 13.14
> ______________________________________________________
> TRACHEAL MITES/30 BEES
> Colony # # Tracheal Mites % Tracheal Mites
> A 2
> 6.67
> B 3
> 10.00
> C 0
> 0.00
> D 0
> 0.00
> E 0
> 0.00
> F 0
> 0.00
> G 5
> 16.67
> H 8
> 26.67
> I 0
> 0.00
> J 4
> 13.33
> K 2
> 6.67
> L 1
> 3.33
> M 1
> 3.33
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _____________________________________________________________________
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