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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
Christine Gray <[log in to unmask]>
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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 9 Nov 2003 11:23:49 -0000
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Jim said: There is no one "solution".
        There is no one easy "fix".
        The price of honey is eternal vigilance.
        Face reality, and move forward."

Maybe someday we will have Teenage Mutant Ninja Bees that can
use kung-fu on varroa, spit on tracheal mites, sneeze at AFB,
and take the wallets and watches from Small Hive Beetles, all
while producing bumper crops of honey and being easy to work.

Until then, I'm going to measure, track, and choose"

While agreeing with everything Jim said (which is a huge endorsement since there were so many words) there is one aspect we always tend to forget that might rob us of a better future if not recoginised.  That is that the current infestation with VD is, in evolutionary terms, an aberration. Varroa is a parasite and survival rules for parasites include u do not kill your hosts. It is only beekeepers who are saving VD from extinction - which we do because we are not prepared to let all colonies and mites die out together (and then restart with clean colonies).  So while we are right to hope honeybees will evolve hygenic behaviour by mutation, we can also hope for natural evolution of new strains of varroa that have lower reproduction rates and so will exist in bee colonies at low levels without killing the colonies.  I am not sure, but hasn't varroa mutated once already, but in the wrong direction?  V destructor is said to be a different strain to V jacob*** as first found in the east. 

The point is to stress the importance of monitoring every colony for mite population - and to treat ONLY  those colonies where the mites are rising to danger levels. Then we can spot colonies whereever either the bees or the mites have evolved to co-existence.  If the mites evolve first, IMHO we should NOT kill those but let them spread to survive in other hives, slowly competing with the killer mites and becoming the dominant strain.  Then treating to reduce mites below the new 'natural, non-pathological level' would be a decision of choice - rather than of necessity, as now.  Poisons could hopefully be phased out. 

But , as said before, it is depressing that 10 to 20 years after mites got to the West,  monitoring mite levels and only treating where necessary (rather than blanket treatment of all hives) is still far from the norm. How to get the message thru? 

Robin Dartington 
 

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