> There is a lot of speculation on "what would happen" if beekeepers stopped
> treating hives for varroa mites.
There is a lot of talk about his on other bee discussion venues and many are
claiming that they have gone years without treatment and their bees are
fine. I am quite sure some do. As to how and why it works for some and not
for others, I am much less sure.
Many who do so do not monitor for mites and I have no idea how observant --
or honest -- most are. The ones I have heard from mostly are not dependant
on their bees for income and I have no way of knowing how they compute their
yields or survival.
Of course, I suspect that the people posting are the successful ones and I
imagine that that those who have bad luck just shut up and go away or forget
about or don't mention their failures. There are brave exceptions. For
example, Dennis Murrell reported heavy losses after reporting years of
success.
Most of the reports are anecdotal and so there is no way to assign any
statistics to them and bias is almost certain. How many people talk about
their gambling losses? Everyone comes back from Vegas a winner, according
to what we hear, yet the casinos get bigger and bigger and more
ostentatious. I wonder where the money comes from if they are giving it
away to every visitor.
I decided to see for myself what happens in my personal situation if I
reduced my varroa management to a minimum. For several years I did one
oxalic drizzle in fall. I was determined to never use coumaphos. The
varroa levels were getting up, but the bees were doing fine and my numbers
were increasing. Hives looked healthy although some varroa could be found
in the drone brood.
That went on for several years, then, this year I had a few hives in the
cooler end of a warm yard fail to thrive, even when boosted all season.
Then, this fall, I noticed what looked like EFB in a strong hive. I dusted
with OTC, and then several weeks later went back to feed and found two
handsful of bees and a queen, lots of eggs, and emerging brood. Sure looked
like CCD, but we have no CCD in Canada I hear. This hive met all the
(vague) criteria for CCD except that I had no way to know if it would be
robbed or occupied by opportunistic insects, since nothing was being robbed
in the yard and we don't have SHB or wax moth. Maybe that is why we don't
have CCD in Canada. (Right Dave?)
I do not see any nosema in my hives, but have not sampled seriously. I took
a few samples and looked at them under a 'scope and saw only two spores in
total.
I suppose I really should have been more on the job, seeing as I was driving
all over Alberta testing everyone else's bees, but I was curious to see what
happens first hand in my own sandbox. I found out.
I have also found out what happens eventually in a commercial outfit which
does not treat and does not monitor for AFB and act decisively when it is
seen. I suspended treatments for a few years and had breakdowns serious
enough to cost me colonies and this year, saw two commercial outfits where
AFB has gotten ahead of the beekeeper. One had AFB in every third hive and
will be lucky to winter 1/3 of the bees and another where I saw isolated
cells in every yard I visited. They will be OK this winter, and will get a
treatment on ASAP, but without careful and effective treatment and/or
culling, this outfit will have major problems within two years IMO.
Anyhow, that is my experience. A few years back, I had a hive that was
given to me. It was a swarm that lived in a truck tool box. The farmer
gave it to me, tool box and all. It thrived for several years, then one day
I saw a mite on a bee at the entrance. Shortly after the hive died. It was
never treated, never gave honey, and died after surviving for a while, all
on (obviously) natural comb.
All in all, my success with not treating when indicated has been dismal. At
the other end of the spectrum, Tom Rinderer and his group have developed
bees which have been demonstrated to go without treatment for varroa or AFB
in many varied environments, but I understand that when mixed with run of
the mill bees, they can fall victim, too.
My take? As a limited experiment going untreated is an interesting
experiment, but as a way to make a sure living it is not prudent unless a
great deal of effort is put into monitoring and some exit point is
contemplated if the parameters so indicate. Even then, it is risky. Perhaps
with stock that has a good pedigree it is less so, but I did obtain stocks
which were supposedly somewhat varroa tolerant.
It's one of those things that works fine until it doesn't.
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