The varroa news from NZ is hot these days.

I wonder if those buying bees from other apparently varroa-free parts of the
world have been checking to see if their packages are truly varroa-free, or just
trusting that there is no varroa in imported packages from these areas.  As for
us, until now, we have just been taking the seller's word for it.

I remember how, here in Alberta, varroa was found in some NZ bees a year or two
back; then the finder blamed his sampling methods since he could not find more.
In retrospect, he may have well been the one who first spotted the NZ varroa.
Varroa is funny that way.  It shows up, then further sampling may not reveal it
for a long time, but it is there.

As those who have been following my progress in my diary may know, we have some
yards which received package bees from a certified varroa-free source.  They
were installed in a fairly remote location in hives with foundation only. The
other day one of our workers mentioned that he saw signs of varroa, but though
nothing further of it until we were talking and someone pointed out that those
particular bees *should* be mite-free.

Although we were not completely scrupulous about ensuring that no trucks or
persons with bees from our other hives were in contact -- it was not a big
priority -- we cannot think of any obvious ways that (m)any mites could have
been transmitted to these hives in the four weeks since they were installed.

The worker who thought he saw signs of mites returned to the site and did a 24
hour mite drop and came up with the two mites you can see in my diary.  It is
hard to be sure they are fresh, but they have the proper colour.  One seems
slightly immature.  If so, the mites must have gotten in in the first week or
so. The thing that strikes me is that if someone spotted the signs of mites by
eye in the first place, either he is tremendously lucky and observant -- or
there must be many more.

Our provincial inspection people will be considering this and may -- or may
not -- have some comments, but since the situation is uncontrolled, nothing can
be proven very easily one way or the other.  In the meantime, those who are
blissfully thinking they have no exposure to varroa because they bought
mite-free packages may want to get some Apistan and sticky boards and read up on
varroa.

It's not whether the varroa-free areas will someday have varroa, but when.  If
no one else is checking, a  buyer may be the first to discover varroa in a far
distant country.

allen
--
Diary and pictures at http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/
Cell size, worker bee size, package installation & performance, winter loss,
Fondant feeding, Pierco vs. Permadent, unwrapping bees, AFB, varroa, protein
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