Scot Mc Pherson:
> Actually the break in the brooding cycle kills most of the varroa. By
> the time the colony has increased brooding to sustain a varroa
> population, most of the varroa are gone and it will take 2 years or more
> for the varroa to gain a foothold again.

Oh no. Not so. Separating adult bees from brood only stops varroa reproduction for a while, but it continues as soon as new brood is started to be capped. Ok some mites die during the waiting time, but it is not a large amount. Here in Finland we have no brood for about 5 - 6 months, and after all this time we do have lots of varroa left, about 50 % of the number in fall. And most of the ones that died were riding an old bee who separated from the winter cluster to die, and the rider died after the 'horse'.  This does not happen in packets in big numbers..

I recommend oxalic spraying for all swarms that come from unknown source to kill most of the mites.  If I would know that there is more than few varroa in the packets I would definitely use oxalic.  Use for 1 - 2 packets and monitor how many mites drops in 3 days so you know if you need to treat all packets.


Ari Seppälä
Finland

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