Trevor Weatherhead <[log in to unmask]> recently wrote:
 
I had a visit from a German lady beekeper last year who had carried out
some work at University on using temperature for mite control before
becoming a commercial beekeeper.
 
As I recall, they took sealed frames of brood out and heated them to
temperatures in the mid 40 degrees celcius.  The sealed brood could stand
it but the varroa were killed by the temperature.
 
Apparently it was not considered suitable for commercial use as there was
only a few degrees difference between the temperature needed to kill the
varroa and the temperature at which the sealed brood was killed.
 
If some our beekeeping friends in Germany are on line, they may be able to
provide more accurate details.
 
*******
 
   A few years ago someone reported at the ABRC meetings about experiments
with heating colonies in the southern U.S.  They had some success, but I
believe they concluded that it was not practical --- for much the same
reasons given by Trevor, above.
 
   The U.S. experiments were reported as abstracts in the AMERICAN BEE
JOURNAL (December issue in the past few years), but I could not find the
reference in the small amount of time I had available.  Perhaps someone
else on BEE-L can remember the year.
 
                                                        Adrian
 
Adrian M. Wenner                         (805) 893-2838 (UCSB office)
Ecol., Evol., & Marine Biology           (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara           (805) 963-8508 (home office & FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106
 
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