David Eyre wrote:
>
> On 16 Jan 97 at 9:50, Greg Hunt wrote: Thanks-Nosema
>
> > This is just some quick advice in response to Brian Hensel's experience with
> > re-hiving a colony in abandoned equipment.  It sounds like Brian did a good
> > job in trying to clean up the mites and Nosema, but I would suggest that
> > people in this situation shoud not requeen. If those bees represent a colony
> > that survived on its own for years rather than a recent swarm, they may have
> > some resistance to mites by natural selection.  From the description, it
> > sounded like they had good hygienic behavior which helps bees resist many
> > brood diseases (like Varroa).  Unfortunately, one loses the genetic stock when
> > requeening.  Consider letting the bees raise their own queens, or raise queens
> > yourself.
>
> While I agree with the broad outlines of the above, regretfully Nosema
> damages the queen. The usual first response of the bees, once healthy, is
> to superscede the old queen. Depending on mating, some of the original
> genetics will be lost.
>         Didn't his original post describe how he had managed to save this hive
> from Varroa? I would venture, (in view of his discription of flightless
> bees) that this hive has no resistance to either T or V mites, and will
> need treatment from here on.
 
HI DAVID AND GREG, AND BEELINERS!!!
     Believe me when I say that I thought long and hard, before
replacing the queen, but when I kept a very close eye on this hive, the
original queen was not laying any new eggs. I saw the entire brood
emerge and die off one by one. The worker bee's were so busy trying to
keep up with all the dead and sick brood they weren't out foraging for
nectar or pollen. It wasn't a case of the approaching fall weather that
she shut down, I think that she was sick. This hive was probably a swarm
from a nearby beekeepers hive, because there are no other feral hives in
the area. If this hive was resistant to varroa than they would have been
able to survive better than they were. I feel that if I didn't take the
steps that I took then, they would have perished.
     I wanted to just leave them alone,at first, but when I brought it
to the attention of some local beekeepers, they wanted me to move them
into a good hive and treat them, because they were afraid this hive
would infect their hives. They all lost many of their hives to varroa,
and were just starting to build up their colonies, and didn't want
another outbreak, and I certainly can understand now that they are
totally free of varroa.
 
     I am happy to say that I have not seen anymore sick bee's crawling
out of the hive, since I placed a baggy feeder in the hive treated with
fumidil-b. The bee's have filled all their empty comb with this syrup,
and really look good.
 
     I saw solid brood, all healthy, and there isn't any sign of
dysentery within the hive, but I need to get rid of the old dark comb as
soon as I can this summer. The queen is of the Buckfast variety from
Weavers in Texas. After she got settled in last October, she started
laying eggs like mad, even though winter was approaching. In just three
months she has brought this hive back from extinction, and did it in the
middle of winter! I chose Buckfast because of their resistance to
varroa, their gentleness, and from all of the things I have read about
BROTHER ADAM, and all the postings here on BEE-L.
     I hope that Dr. Pedro Rodriguez has the answer to the varroa
problem as simplistic as it seems, it will need to be tested through out
the world. If it is successful, which I am hoping it will be, then we
will owe him much gratitude.
 
THANKS AGAIN, for all the wonderful suggestions, I have allot of
information on Nosema, how to detect it, and how to treat it. My
daughter has a Microscope, and this weekend we are going to see if we
can spot the Nosema spores, because of a suggestion from Mr. John
Skinner. Thanks John!
 
BRIAN HENSEL
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