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Sun, 24 Dec 2006 08:46:52 -0500 |
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Chris Writes:
>I would suggest that with the diligent application of IPM the problem
may go
>away.
Hello Chris!
The symptoms I am seeing in my area of Pennsylvania, whether much
different than that that seen in the south, I do not know. But it seems
at least in my area, we are not dealing with a typical varroa
infestation.
In early August when I inspected some of these colonies, I remember
commenting to the owner of the bees about the strange absence of varroa or
associated symptoms. July / August are time when varroa peak in our
area, and the apparent lack of varroa was something that I thought
was ‘out of the norm’ for the time of year. This suggested to me the
possibility that varroa may not be a prime suspect in these cases, and
that symptom of depressed brood rearing may have extended several weeks to
more than a month earlier, well into the early flow!
My explanation to the owner of the colonies was that apparently the lack
of brood production was having a devastating effect on the varroa.
Actually, the evidence 'as I saw it' seemed to point towards varroa, as a
potential victim in this event and not a culprit.
On the drive back home I was compelled to stop several times to check out
the local bee forage. It seemed, although forage was not as abundant for
the time of year as I would have liked to see, the affected colonies were
exhibiting symptoms that I would tend to associate with severe drought.
IMO, the level of bee forage available (again, not as abundant as usual)
was not matching the level of stress I was seeing in these affected
colonies as far as forage availabilities are concerned.
Best Wishes,
Joe Waggle
Ecologicalbeekeeping.com
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries'
Feral Bee Project:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeralBeeProject/
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