LC>From: Linda Campbell <[log in to unmask]>
  >Date:         Wed, 27 Aug 1997 11:34:14 -0400
  >Subject:      Help-Wild Hive with Varroa Mite
 
 
LC>A farmer down the road has a wild hive of honey bees that have been
  >making their home in the casing to a transmission of an abandoned
  >bulldozer on the edge of the woods. I've been keeping an eye on them,
  >looking for a swarm, since retrieval would be difficult to impossible as
  >they enter through one small screw hole. We recently noticed many bees
  >on the outside of the rusted casing. I looked closer and noticed that
  >many (90%) of the bees outside the hive have no wings. A friend says
  >they are deformed from varroa mite infestation and that the colony will
  >be dead in a month. This saddens me but of more concern is what happens
  >to the mites?
 
Could bee and without having a sample of the bees in hand one can only
guess. With that kind of mite damage which is extreme and would only
been seen as your friend says shortly before the hives die. But other
things can cause the wings to be deformed and here in California we have
the Buckeye Tree and other plants that can do a job on a hive. Other
insects and bigger pests also are known to work on the bees.
 
LC>Will the mites still be alive and well and eager if my new colony comes
  >to this spot to rob honey from the dozer transmission. Should I leave
  >these bees to die or should I try to do something. It seems the bees are
  >doomed but I am most worried about the proliferation of the varroa
  >mites. Any suggestions or experience on the subject would be
  >appreciated.
 
Hello Linda,
 
Nature will run it course and outside intervention may be wasted on
advanced cases of Varroa. The Varroa mite does live a little longer off
the bee without food then once was suspected, but its life span without
food is still too short to present a problem for any bees that may later
set up house keeping in the hive that has been dead for a few days. But
in the dieing process if the hive is robbed out in the days before it
becomes a dead out by neighboring bees they can bring home a few
uninvited guests.
 
LC>Thanks and apologies if this in inappropriate.
 
Not necessary to apologize as it brings to mind my story about the Junk
Yard Bees and how I made my first million $$ selling new military surplus
exhaust manifolds. When I was a juvenal all us kids used to sneak into
the local junk yard after it closed looking for parts for our old Model
A's. The junk yard dogs in those day were more friendly then now and we
always carried a few fresh hot dogs to keep them quite. Anyway after
getting caught several times and having my rear end warmed I stuck to
robbing bees and a few years later had some located about a mile from
the old junkyard hidden behind some trees. One afternoon I got home from
school and had a note to call the old guy at the junk yard. I did and he
had a problem with bees flying in and out of a box and did not seem to
remember us kids and our raids on his junk yard.
 
Sure enough it was a old swarm that had been there for years and it had
stung him, his customers, and his dog more then once. He was frantic to
get rid of the bees. I HAD HIM AT LAST.. anyway he was happy to give me
what ever was in the box if I would just take it away, which I did, and
many more over the years as I increased my bee hive count down the
road from his junk yard with the help of his swarms and was not unhappy
each spring to find one or more of my hive had swarmed as that old junk
man was really a nice guy and would give me all the boxes and wooden
kegs of nails that had bees in them plus a few model A parts to boot.
 
The boxes that were full of brand new WWII Jeep exhaust manifolds and I
was able to sell them over the years for a few buck less then the
million mentioned earlier, but you would not have read this far if I had
said the total income was $12.14...
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
Los Banos, California
 
 
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