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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Tom Barrett <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 12 May 2002 21:58:14 +0100
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Hello All and Bob Harrison and Lloyd Spear

Thanks indeed for your observations on my post.

Bob said >Most researchers will not touch this post .

Have I stirred up a hornet's nest?!

But what worries me about the entire varroa scene is that we are all
fundamentally in the hands of the worst beekeeper. If a beekeeper chooses to
take shortcuts and thereby causes resistant mites to appear sooner rather
than later then that is it. We appear to have no answer to that. At the end
of the day, beekeeping is a personalised activity. Nobody can say how I have
handled my hives this afternoon, or what legal or illegal methods I have
employed to maximise the honey production from those hives. And let us be
quite blunt about this, if my livelihood is in producing honey, my
attraction will be to my Profit and Loss Account and not to the possibility
that I may cause resistant mites to appear.

Bob wrote:
>There are other methods of controlling varroa but none as easy for the large
>beekeeper to use as Apistan or Checkmite.

I believe that this is the 'Achilles Heel' of our approach to varroa. We
have used these acaricides on an incremental basis - ignoring the fact that
they have a relatively short effective life, and creating super varroa mites
in the process. These acaricides are Profit and Loss driven, they are low in
labour content and in skill content. And when the super mites are ahead of
what we can throw at them then we are truly in a 'no win' situation.

The replies to my post convince me at any rate, that the incremental
chemical approach to varroa leads nowhere. Perhaps I have the advantage that
my income is not depending on my hives, and in this I can sympathise with
those beekeepers who are dependent on beekeeping for their income.

We here in Ireland, as have our colleagues in New Zealand and I daresay
Australia when varroa strikes, have the undoubted advantage of being able to
learn from the unfortunate experiences of those countries who were stricken
by varroa before we were.

I sincerely hope that none of these countries latterly stricken by varroa
will ever have beekeepers putting Coumaphos into their hives. Indeed Apistan
or its near relative Bayvarol should also be assiduously avoided. Using IPM
will indoubtedly cause us to have to work harder. But is the prize of clean
hives and clean wax, as has occurred in Denmark not worth it?

Sincerely
Tom Barrett
Dublin
Ireland

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