Hi,                                                                             
                                                                                
I am new to the list.  There seems to be quite a few of us.  I have been        
into bees for a year now and live in Virginia in the USA.  I understand         
there is quite a varroa mite problem here they carry a virus that has wiped     
out most of the hives around here.  I lost all of the 7 hives I had last        
year.  How wide-spread is this problem?  Is the varroa the only cause?          
                                                                                
Now I have found a hive in a tree and have been sapping out workers with a      
funnel and setting a brood chamber with a new queen next to the funnel so       
the workers drift over and join her.  I then take the hive off 10 miles         
where they will live.  I let the hive recover and repeat the process.  I        
have put in Apistan strips, 2 per box, hanging along side of the frames.  I     
don't know how to treat for trachael mites and what patties are.  Can           
someone enlighten me?  I want to do this right.                                 
                                                                                
I live on this farm of 500 acres that had 6 hive stacks that had not been       
touched for about 15 years.  I have been trying to save them from this virus    
mess and get into bees myself.  The bees are very vigorous.  They build and     
fill comb quickly.                                                              
                                                                                
So to summarize my questions:                                                   
                                                                                
        1.  Is the virus wide-spread?                                           
        2.  Do other things cause the virus besides varroa?                     
        3.  What are patties?                                                   
        4.  What to do about trachael mites?                                    
        5.  Any suggestions on building more hives out of this tree hive?       
                                                                                
Thanks a lot, this is a very interesting discussion group.