It has been awhile since I have read Bee-L and this topic caught my
attention. Haven't read the archives so will assume I am repeating what
has already been said 400 times by telling you my experience with varroa.

I live in a geographically isolated area and stayed free of varroa until
approximately 1997. I didn't actually notice the mites until the spring of
1999 ( busy building a house ). By the spring of 1999 the mites were so
populous I could find 3 or 4 in almost every drone cell. I treated with
Apistan strips but half of my 400 hives died. I noticed many of the queens
seemed to move in slow motion which I suspect was the result of a virus
spread by the mites.

I've monitored mite levels by pulling out drone larva and sporadically
testing with Apistan strips and sticky boards over the following years.
Had to treat spring and fall with Apistan to keep mite levels under
control. In the spring of 2002 I decided I'd better give Apistan a rest so
treated with formic acid pads. It was a cold spring and the treatment was
not very successful. That summer was very cool and dry here and I got very
little honey. By the first of August I was again finding 3 or 4 varroa in
every drone cell, could even spot them on the odd bee. So on the first of
August 2002 I pulled off all the bone dry empty honey supers and installed
Apistan strips.

In the spring of 2003 I tested mite levels using the alcohol wash method
as described by Rob Currie on www.capabees.ca/eil.htm. This page also
includes a chart reflecting treatment thresholds. The only change I made
to his method was to put the sample bees from each hive in quart jars full
of alcohol so that I could shake them for five minutes.

Testing this spring showed mite levels were 2% so I did not treat. Tested
again at the end of June and the mite level had not changed. Tested again
at the end of August and mite levels were 2.5% to 3% so I again did not
treat.

There are too many variables to for me to know why this is. Some possible
factors are: I started clipping all my queens last year so that there are
fewer feral swarms reinfecting my hives, we had a very hot summer this
year so that the mites could not reproduce as well, the one and only
hobbyest within 50 miles of me gave up beekeeping this year, or because I
put strips in early last fall there was a more effective mite kill. I
would be interested in other people's theories on this.

One thing many beekeepers noticed when their hives first became infected
with varroa was that they had one or two bumper honey crops in the years
before their hives collapsed. This was also the case with me. Is this just
coincidence or do low mite levels somehow have a positive influence on
honey crops?

Our summer was hot and dry. Fortuantly we had enough rain in the spring to
get an adequate honey crop. (100lbs/hive) That's about 100% better than
last year.

Ted

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