http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/lusbyjun.1997.htm
Concerning chewing out varroa We have had several
beekeepers want to know how and what to look for, to see if
their worker bees are chewing out and/or removing varroa
mites from infested larvae cells. This is what we have told
them to look for. Here in Arizona, you will see this
chewing out of varroa mites on the downside of the honey
flow. It will start slowly as the queens stop raising
drones, pick-up speed as the drones are expelled from the
hive, then taper-off just prior to brood nest cleansing
time. By the time the brood nest is resituated and cleaned
by the workers, with the pulling out of old larvae cocoons
and reshellacked, you will find varroa mites down to a
non-detectable level in most cases; and under control by
the workers. In Arizona, we see it happening approximately
twice a year with the primary chewing out season in the
Fall. Other times you will see it occurring in spurts and
will be right after requeening, when the hive workers are
throwing out drones and getting ready to roll again. You
will see it mostly around the edge of the brood nest of
sealed worker cells, although it can occur as a buck-shot
brood pattern in weaker hives or in a strong hive where
large numbers of mites are transferring from drone to
workers.
Look for uncapped worker brood with the pupae exposed and
in many cases cannibalized. If there was only one varroa
and it was located on the head between the eyes, many times
the pupae will be unharmed, as the worker bees have only to
remove the mite to rectify the situation. If the varroa is
on the back of the head between the thorax, the worker bees
will eat the head off to get to the varroa. If the varroa
and/or another is on the thorax, they will eat down to that
also. If the Varroa and/or more are located on the abdomen,
lodged with the tergits, the bees will continue eating
down. You will notice that when the worker bees are doing
this and working only with removing varroa mites from
healthy bees, the pupae will be a healthy white color,
which shows that the worker bees are not removing diseased
or infected larvae/pupae. When the varroa is removed from
the top of the head and the pupae left unharmed, you will
usually notice that the pupae are at a stage of purple
darkening eyes. The bees seem to chew out the varroa when
other chores of the hive are not pressing i.e. honey
gathering and major brood rearing. Until then, the varroa
mainly infest drone larvae and pupae. Thus the drones,
although they do no work physically in the hive, do act as
the best attractant by body mass and therefore a better
basil food target, to pull disease and parasites to
themselves, so workers can survive throughout the active
season by raising vital brood and gathering stores or honey
and pollen. Then as the season winds down the drones are
thrown out, the worker brood acts as a living liver in the
hive purging the overpopulation of varroa mites to bring it
into a balanced parasitic mite host relationship similar to
Apis cerana in Southeast Asia. Each new brood rearing
season, the cycle starts again. Check of sealed worker
brood, not uncapped by workers, have revealed non-infested
pupae by varroa. When you see this, you know that your bees
are doing what they should to handle the problem. Caution:
Do not confuse this phenomena with starving bees that need
pollen and or honey or both. These hives were not starving
and had plenty of stores in them. Beekeepers must learn to
see with their eyes and understand the difference. If you
look close, you will see which types of queens and
characteristics to recognize, to know by body color and
conformity. that your bees can handle mites.
Respectfully submitted,
Dee A. Lusby
Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper
Moyza, Arizona
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---
|
