I believe it mite bee easier if I just typed it out, so here goes.
Robert
This is from The A BJ pages 837 and 838,test results on small comb 4.9.
ARIZONA BEEKEEPER BELIEVES SMALLER SIZE CELL DIAMETER IS THE ANSWER TO
MITE PROBLEMS.
On 11Sept. Dr. Eric H. Erickson, the director of theCarl Hayden
Bee Research Facility in Tucson, Arizona, went with us to two bee
locations, in unisolated areas, to test for both tracheal mites and
varroa mites. Samples taken in the center of the brood nest also
contained drones where possible. We choose unisolated locations because
we wanted to show him, to beat the problem, one must be able to
accomplish business as normal in doing bee management within the field.
Please note that beekeepers around us have severely lost bees, as we
ourselves have, to both mites over the years. When taken, several
adjacent yards within 2 miles were being treated, crashing, or being fed
to keep them alive.Our bees were building; and the Carmen yard were very
fast drawing new foundation.
We began putting the 4.9 cm cell size in hives in May. We did a
second round the end of June and did a third round ending Labor Day. The
Carmen yard we took samples from was worked Labor Day along with the
Knight location. The Carmen yard had been drawing wax and averaged4-8 or
more frames per colony drawn. A few colonies had a full box (10 frames)
drawn.The Knight location had less than 3 frames drawn on average and
most brood laying was on 5.0 cm comb. Both yards still had 2-3 (3-Carmen
2-Knight) one super hives (nucs) still laying on the larger Durigilt that
refused to change. Note these one super hives are now dead,not having
survived through to mid October. So much for Duragilt(5.44).
With smaller 4.9 cm comb which is still bigger than the 4.83 cm
comb this country was founded on in the Southern latitudes,(Northern
latitudes were founded on 4.9 cm to 5.0 cm sizes),we are now gettingour
varroa populations down to field tolerant coexistant levels so we can
mimic natural environment living conditions. Tracheal mite levels are
down there also, having regulated the mite back to external Vagan status,
as was the norm conditionaround 1917 in our country, before we
artificially mutated the bee's thorax and breathing tube bigger on the
thorax to create a parasite problem. At 0-6% tracheal mites, bees have
no problem coexisting. At10-11%, varroa mites are on the cuff for
trouble. In Southern ;atitudes in times of plenty they do fine; in times
of dearth the bees do poorly and both requireconstant management to
control secondary diseases.That is on 5.0 cm size comb.At 0-7% varroa
mites, changing to 4.9 cmcomb sizing, bees draw wax well and hives
nolonger require constant management to control secondary
diseases.Business is back to normal for management in the field.We hope
to cut percentages again this coming year 1998 as brood nests are
continued with 4.9 cm comb and all frames converted in our broodnests.
This shows breeding is not all the solution. We figure comb is
1/3, diet is 1/3 and breeding is 1/3. Comb must be put in by half (5) to
full boxes to work.
Dee Lusby
Tucson Az.
HONEY BEE PARASITES FROM CARMEN
VARROA MITES
Colony # # Bees # Varroa # Varroa/100 Bees
A 175 34
19.43
B 186 30
16.13
C 161 39
24.22
D 186 5
2.69
E 157 7
4.46
F 183 13
6.99
G 169 13
7.70
H 148 5
3.38
I 187 2
1.07
J 149 6
4.03
K 185 5
2.70
L 164 7
4.27
M 188 7
3.72
N 156 5
3.21
P 163 8
4.91
Q 179 17
9.50
____________________________________________
TRACHEAL MITESIN30 BEES
Colony # # Tracheal Mites % Tracheal Mites
A 0
0.00
B 0
0.00
C 0
0.00
D 0
0.00
E 1
3.33
F 0
0.00
G 1
3.33
H 0
0.00
I 1
3.33
J 7
23.33
K 0
0.00
L 1
3.33
M 1
3.33
N 1
3.33
P 0
0.00
Q 2
6.67
_______________________________________________________
HONEY BEE PARASITES FROM KNIGHT
VARROA MITES
Colony # # Bees # Varroa #
Varroa/100Bees
A 165 1
0.61
B 186 15
8.06
C 142 13
9.15
D 177 18
10.17
E 168 21
12.50
F 184 23
12.50
G 171 26
15.20
H 186 9
4.84
I 181 53
29.28
J 200 8
4.00
K 189 19
10.05
L 182 4
2.20
M 175 23
13.14
______________________________________________________
TRACHEAL MITES/30 BEES
Colony # # Tracheal Mites % Tracheal Mites
A 2
6.67
B 3
10.00
C 0
0.00
D 0
0.00
E 0
0.00
F 0
0.00
G 5
16.67
H 8
26.67
I 0
0.00
J 4
13.33
K 2
6.67
L 1
3.33
M 1
3.33
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