> I have some hives that are already three seasons old and still going
> strong and I increased and made new queens with these...According
> to the "The Varroa handbook" I should have lost my three season
> old hives already and this winter I will lose all the rest of the bees
I
> keep.

That's interesting.  To those who followed my 'toolbox hive', the swarm
in an old toolbox that was given to me two springs ago, I must say that
it finally died.  When I left I July, the colony had been looking okay,
as far as I could tell, since I could not open it, inspect it, or even
do a mite drop.  After all, it was just an old wooden toolbox with comb
hanging from the lid, full of bees.

When I came back from the summer's travels, however, there were no
longer bees coming and going from the crack in its top.  A post mortem
inspection seemed to indicate that the queen failed.  There was just
empty comb.  Maybe, just maybe, the varroa got away on them.  I couldn't
see any signs of that, though, and before I left on vacation, I saw no
varroa riding on bees or deformed wings, even though I looked often.

Anyhow, the point is this: the colony lived through three winters and
three summers without wrapping, medicating, feeding, or any mite
treatment, and if it died of varroa, I'd be surprised.

I mention this because it just goes to show that we cannot predict with
certainty that hives will die of varroa, if left untreated, nor can we
be sure, if they do not die, that they are somehow resistant to varroa.
I don''t attribute any special qualities to the bees in that hive.  At
one point, I wondered if they had a small cell comb, so I sneaked a bit
out and measured it.  I thought I saw some cells that were smaller than
5.2, but when I measured the other day, all cells were 5.2, bang on.
I'll have to cut out more of the comb and check some more.  Anyhow, I
don't think those bees were special.  I just think that a number of
factors combined to spare them death from varroa.  Call it luck.

Why did they live so long?  Well, for one thing, last year we had a
serious drought, and drought is very hard on varroa.  That fact is one
reason that some people discount Lusbys' success with 4.9.  These people
say that Tucson is dry.  That dryness did not stop varroa from wiping
out Lusbys' previous bees on larger comb. But I digress...

The toolbox hive also swarmed last year, and swarming apparently limits
varroa.

At any rate, I don't know.  Maybe it did die from varroa.  I was away.
This was just one feral hive I kept around, just to watch bees being
themselves.

Having said all that, however, I always monitored all my managed hives
carefully for varroa, using sugar shakes and natural drops, and, as I
have previously reported, once we stopped fall treatment, and began
using a single Apistan in early Spring, we seldom found more than a mite
or three on a drop board in fall.

I don't think I ever lost even one hive, out of thousands, to varroa.
Varroa just did not do what was expected in my operation.

There is a lot we don't understand about bees and about mites.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::