compendium cross-posted from sci.agriculture.beekeeping newsgroup
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Carman <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
news:8d2lrg$2lm$1@news.wave.co.nz...
> Greetings All
> The NZ beekeeping industry and beekeepers are presently in turmoil.
> Varoa mite has been confirmed at 5 sites in Auckland which is one of our
> major ports,  the Beekeepers assoc. is asking the hard questions of border
> control regarding how this has happened when we have been historically
free
> from Varoa mite.
> It is likely the mite has been here 4-5 years

Very sorry to hear that you have joined the club.

I do hope that your government will not now make the same mistakes as so
many others.  My advice
would be:

1 In view of the length of time that you have had varroa you might as well
accept that it is endemic.
2 There is therefore no point in destroying colonies or setting up exclusion
zones.
3 It would be impossible for anyone to give you a simple 'answer' to varroa
in a posting here - but have
a look at the archives where you will find a great deal of useful material.
4 A search on 'varroa' will produce more web sites than you will read and
digest in a week - perhaps a
month!
5 There is a vast amount of literature that has been published - buy the
books and start studying.
6 Treatment is broadly divided between 'hard' chemicals (e.g. Bayvarol,
Apistan etc), soft chemicals
(thymol, formic/lactic/oxalic acids) and mechanical (removal of drone brood
etc).  You will need to
make up your own mind about them (hard chemical contaminate the wax and
varroa is becoming
resistant to them, soft chemicals may be less easy to use but some of us
believe that they are more
environmentally friendly, mechanical methods are hard work!).
7 Resistant bees are probably some way off - so do not rely on that one! 8
There is new hope the
varroa can be controlled with fungi - some really promising work going on in
this country.
9 Above all else - be vigilant.  Varroa populations increase at an
incredible speed and by the time that
you notice that you have a problem it will probably be too late.  Colonies
can look very good at the
end of the summer with huge populations which then collapse in weeks; the
reason is that the brood
is infested and the emerging bees will be damaged - so what appears to be a
healthy colony is
simply the old bees - and there will be nothing to replace them.

I wish you the very best of luck and hope that you will learn from those who
are already living with the
problem.  Don't give up - there is life (and beekeeping) after varroa - it
is just a bit more difficult.
[PETER EDWARDS, UK]

Carman <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
news:8do1lh$u65$1@news.wave.co.nz...
(shortened)
> Now that Varroa is here in NZ.......
> Anyway my query is this, in the countries which have the varroa mite, do
> overseas beekeepers do migratory beekeeping?
Hi Carman,  Which part of North Is. are you?
Varroa and migratory beekeeping:  Yes, once the panicky stage is over and
the V.j. are everywhere
things get normal.  I have seen migratory beekeeping big scale in Canada
last autumn and it also
happens small scale (nearer NZ scale, that is) here in UK.  You are just
going through an
intermediate stage - so get ahead in your thinking and assume the V.j. are
here to stay and that they
are in every hive, whether it has been tested or treated, or not. That is to
say - you can never get rid of
them, there are always a few left, and it's a matter of keeping the numbers
below the level when bees
suffer big time from viruses. It's just a mental gearchange.
N.Z. interests me from the point of view that you have a fairly homogeneous
stock of bees, derived
from a limited selection of genetic material.  What are the consequences of
this? - The most likely
one is that they all suffer just as badly (or as little) as each other and
you don't see such variation in
reaction to V.j. as elsewhere. Could be bad news on the basis of 'all eggs
in one basket'.  Conversely,
how few introductions of the mite do you have? Are the mites all alike and
are they a strain that is
already resistant to Apistan, for example?  Tell us when you know, please. I
can imagine the
problems for people like Aretaki Honey, with bees stood still all over the
island. At least it's the
autumn and things have a chance to sort out before the new season.
We think of you but we, some of us, do think that the New Zealanders were
just a little bit smug
about not having the troubles that the rest of the world has.
Like you I leave honey in the hives in autumn - none of my hives has had any
sugar syrup for years. It
saves a lot of work and kit, which I pay for in less honey, but I'm just
lazy, perhaps.
(Nudge:- I hope I interpreted your term 'overseas' correctly as meaning
everywhere except N.Z.)
Martin MK UK  Kia Ora !

"Carman" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Just heard on the news that the NZ beekeepers Association is recommending
>the destruction of all Bees in the Varroa mite exclusion zone, which takes
>in a big area.
New Zealand is fortunate to be in a position to learn from the
experiences in Europe and North America about varroa.
Destroying hives with varroa is the most useless bit of beekeeping advice
I've heard since the Texas
Department of Agriculture
established a quarantine zone for Africanized bees (the bees didn't obey).

There may be some merit to the illusion that somebody is doing
something about the problem but, unless there is 100% control of feral bees
and swarming, it is
almost certainly doomed to failure.  On what basis is such advice given?

Sorry to learn about the NZ mite problem, but best to face facts, learn from
other regions, and deal
with it accordingly.

John Caldeira
Dallas, Texas
http://home.earthlink.net/~jcaldeira/beekeeping/

>I've never paid much attention to the varroa mite threads in this ng, as it
>was not applicable to our situation,  now i am forced to seek our as much
>information as possble. It would be good to have as much information about
>varroa mite as possible,  and i would appreciate any good websites about
>this pest and control measures.
>How do you overseas beekeepers control or cope with the pest?  Do you
>destroy all hives?

The bad news is that it will cost you more to keep bees.  The really bad
news is that those
misguided persons who think they can exterminate it, when it has already
become established may
do a lot more damage.

The good news is that it will make you a better beekeeper, if you allow it.
You will become much
more observant to tiny clues as you inspect your bees, things like the odor
of the hive, for example.
I'm not talking about foulbrood here; this odor is like getting hit with a
bat. I'm talking about the faint
sour odor that tells you that the bees are sick.

If you are observant, the first place you are likely to see varroa is on the
broken burr comb between
the boxes, which has some developing drone brood. Each time you break apart
boxes, check this
drone brood. Don't be in a hurry to remove all burr comb; bees need some
drones anyway.  Of course
hives that are already weak from varroa are apt to cease rearing drones, so
the absence of drones in
the season when they normally are present is another clue to trouble.

>also i was reading a British book wish recommended a certain pesticide
strip
>to be hung between the frames.  The book also spoke of a herbal essence
>which could be attachedto sticky paper and hung between the frames,
>non-harmful to bees but repellent to the mite, it was a herb i never heard
>of and as far as i know is not grown here...

Essential oils have been shown to give some control in some situations, but
are not reliable as your
total control program. Beekeepers who placed their whole trust in oils have
lost bees, and the
advocates have become a lot quieter.  So caveat emptor.

I think a four-pronged program would work, if you didn't want to use
pesticides, but it is very labor
intensive, and all parts would have to be in operation, along with careful
monitoring of varroa levels.
1.  Get the most resistant stock you can. Always breed from your best bees.
Those who have a high
varroa level despite your efforts are simply weak bees, and should never be
allowed to reproduce.
2.  Use screen bottoms on your hives. Varroa that falls off the bees may not
be able to get back up to
them. Even better, have the capability of inserting a tray of soapy water
for a few moments a couple
times per year. Then smoke the bees with tobacco smoke. Varroa drops off and
dies in the soapy
water. 3.  Have one frame of drone brood in the hive at all times. When this
is full of sealed drone
brood, remove and use for fish bait, or freeze it and put it back.
4.  Essential oils at least twice per year.

I don't do this, but, as I say, I think it would work.  As a commercial
pollination beekeeper, there
simply isn't the resources to do this. A beekeeper who has an outside job to
support his beekeeping
on a small scale could do it. It might also be possible for commercial honey
producers who get a premium price for "organic" honey.