Tom,
My sympathy is extended to the Irish beekeepers!

Having kept bees for 68 years and watched the happenings to our beekeepers
all over the USA with the arrival of the tracheal mite in 84 followed by the
Varroa mite in
87, gives me concern for beekeeping in Ireland.

We beekeepers tend to be highly independent and difficult to convince.  I
watched
so-called EXPERT beekeepers loudly proclaim that they were so knowledgeable,
their bees were so well located and managed, and they would never buy a queen
or bees from another part of the country that "their bees would never be
bothered by either of these mites, particularly the Varroa mite because it
was visible to the human eye."

Later, some came to me saying: George, I lost 75% or 90% of all my colonies.
What do I do?  There was one commercial beekeeper up near Pittsburgh who was
quite
voiceful about how good both he and his bees were, and he refused to treat.
In
April he had 475 colonies, but 6 months later in October, he had just 9
colonies.  He
gave up beekeeping.

I guess Irish beekeepers are no different that American beekeepers.  If that
is so,
most will IGNORE those things that the bee scientists and bee researchers tell
them to do, or they may do it BUT NOT DO IT AT THE CORRECT TIME OF YEAR, OR
NOT
THE CORRECT DOSE, OR NOT IN THE CORRECT LOCATION WITHIN THE COLONY.  After
their bees are dead, of course they will say "the treatment recommended by the
scientists DIDN'T WORK - they don't know what they are talking about."

Tom, those of us who have followed the exact teachings of our scientists and
researchers basically have never lost a colony to mites.  Many of our
commercial
beekeepers have 5,000, 10,000, or more colonies and don't lose bees to mites.
 It
is the hobbyist with 5 or 10 colonies who "knows everything" and does NOT
accept
any knowledge from scientists that are the problem people.  Because they are
the
local neighbor, everyone trusts this guy that seems to know it all.

I leave you with a STRONG suggestion.  Either contact your government bee
scientists or read all the writings of the American scientists about
Treatment of bees for Varroa mites, AND FOLLOW THOSE RULES.  Your bees will
make honey, maybe not as much, but they will stay alive.  Those who are
greedy and won't treat at the correct time because their supers are still on
might wind up with more honey than you, but their bees are DEAD.  Decide
which way you want to go.

Good Luck.

George Imirie

By the way, do they still foxhunt over there?  30-40 years ago, I used to
come over for a week or so and hunt with the Galway blazers and the
Scarteens.  I enjoyed Ireland and the Irish, but never learned to like
Guinness Stout.  Scotch was my choice.