Hi all,
 
>I requested several weeks ago that a few of you more verbose posters
>reply <if you could be so kind> to Ormond Aebi's question,...
 
>What in your opinion is the best single treatment for Varroa?
 
I answered Rob direct on this but feel I would like to broadcast my
views on the 'best' treatment.
 
I believe that the 'best' is either bio-mechanical or whatever your
neighbours are using (presuming it's reasonable) because the mites will
more easily develop resistance to chemicals if they get a little sniff of
each chemical from each beekeeper. Chemicals are only buying us time and
we must protect and extend that time as much as we can. 'Blanket'
treatment over a large area can knock back a pest very effectively all
over that area for some time.
 
-----
Varroa in Drone Brood
 
I believe that varroa uses _only_ drone brood in Apis Cerana and I think
that this is due to the life cycle of the mite. The 'capped' time for
Cerana is rather shorter than in Mellifera and I think that in worker
brood it is _too_ short for successful Varroa maturation. In Mellifera,
the _even_longer_ drone brood time is just _great_ for successful Varroa
maturation.
 
-----
Varroa on other hosts.
 
I have been told here during recent lectures at the British Beekeepers'
Association spring convention that Varroa are 'totally unable to survive
on any hosts [than honeybees]' I'm not in retrospect sure whether this is
Mellifera and Cerana only or includes Dorsata, Florea and the 'new' one,
the name of which escapes me. I haven't seen the Bee World article, I may
try to locate a copy.
 
-----
Colony desertion
 
We also heard at the same lectures of cases of colony desertion when
heavily infested by Varroa. It seems that several colonies that were under
investigation to see what the mechanism is of colony collapse (in the UK
at least), deserted the hive typically leaving just the queen and a few
workers. This strange behaviour is suggested also to explain sudden
_vast_ increases in Varroa concentrations in otherwise normally
progressing colonies. Kerry Clark comments on this on Bee-l and various
friends here have also commented (up from tens per day on Bayvarol to
thousands per day in tests just a few weeks apart).
 
The researcher on this is Dr. Stephen Martin at Cardiff University here
in the UK. I don't yet know if he has an Email address -- I must find
out! I suspect that he would be very interested in any correlating
evidence.
 
 
He also reports 'relatively large' _natural_ mite motality in study
colonies, up to 900 per day rather than the 'few' per day at colony
collapse reported elsewhere. The reason is as yet unclear but is guessed
to be due to a lower level of secondary infections. Again I guess he
would be interested in correlating evidence.
 
-----
Beekeeping on CompuServe.
 
Someone asked a little while ago about Beekeeping on Compuserve. There
does not appear to be anything like Bee-l there, but some beekeepers do
chat in the Gardening Forum.
 
-----
Spring has arrived (again) here. After a false start in mid March
followed by three or four weeks of cold (by our standards) wet and windy
weather with a little snow (I had to feed four out of six colonies -- all
nucs from last year), the sun has come back. Temperatures are up to about
15C, the wind and rain are mostly gone and the bees are out working at
last.
 
Bye for now, Gordon.