Varroa counts

[fatshark]

Anyone else keeping a watch on their Varroa drop over the recent cold spell? Mine appear to be increasing which I suppose might be due to ever-reducing amounts of sealed brood. It's predicted to be 14oC tomorrow in contrast to a max/min of 1oC/-4oC yesterday so will be interesting to see if the increased colony activity displaces a few more of the little blighters.

[Jon]

Getting close to Oxalic time. I suspect there is little or no brood present at the moment.

[fatshark]

Doing mine tomorrow ... for that very reason. I also like the cluster to be a bit less compact ...

[Greengage]

13 degrees here in Dublin and Bees flying yesterday????
We had a lot of bees going into start of November on brood and Half. I have heard report of swarm in November from reliable source as he believed no room in brood box due to excess amounts of Ivy being collected.

[Jon]

15c in Belfast. I checked a few nucs and a couple of colonies and they are indeed brood free.
I'll treat in a couple of days when they are back in cluster.
They are working like it's springtime and bringing in pollen at the moment.

[gavin]

The tops of mine have all been cold for weeks so I'm assuming that this would be a good time for treatment too. This year I've decided to rely on a rather late treatment with amitraz (obtained through the Bee Farmers Association and their friendly vet) and generally leave off the oxalic but, like Jon I suspect, I'd be trickling when they've clustered in the cold rather than waiting for clusters to open.


Heard a rumour from an association in the West that I was being prosecuted for veterinary medicines misdemeanours! Guess I'm being confused with someone else ....


The bees were flying well here too.

[fatshark]

Just back from doing all mine ... some of the colonies were clearly confused by the temperature as they were running around on the landing board in the dark, before I'd even touched the hive. I sublimate so prefer the cluster to be more open. If I was a dribbler still like you and Jon I'd wait for them to cluster again.

I started in one apiary with a head torch (no suit) and had to switch to red lights as I was getting buzzed. I tidied up by the light of the moon which, between the scudding clouds, was very bright. Colonies look good through the clear crownboards. Nice to see some bees again.

Didn't remember your name coming up when I was recently in the Wild West ...

[Greengage]

Heard a rumour from an association in the West that I was being prosecuted for veterinary medicines misdemeanours! Guess I'm being confused with someone else ....
The bees were flying well here too.
Interesting about the Misdemeanour, I saw in this months AN Beachaire the Irish beekeping magazine an advertisment from a British company who will supply medicines via mail, I thought this could not be imported without a licence and I have to sign for it when I purchase. must be a mistake in the magazine. ( Oh your probably outside Europe so these conditions dont apply :confused:)
We also have a new product available called APIVAR it is available from a company called Veto Pharm of France and they have been given a temporary licence to sell APIVAR on to the Irish Market for Varroa treatment. it says available from usual stockists anyway I dont require it but I asked about getting it and guess what, None of the scockists have it . I asked my supplier why he sells chemicals and describes them as medicines, he reckoned because they are licenced, wonder what the correct term here is.

[fatshark]

Mite drops somewhat variable. Some colonies with very low natural drops have produced a surprisingly* good number. Others have been exceedingly low. Quite a difference between apiaries.

* disappointingly, though better on the tray than in the colony.

[Jon]

I put correx boards under a couple of colonies I have in double Paynes nucs and one had a drop of about 150 and the other about 70 mites after 48 hours.
These colonies were treated with Apilife Var in August.
Definitely worth treating as there will be more mites dropping over the next couple of weeks.

[busybeephilip]

I put correx boards under a couple of colonies I have in double Paynes nucs and one had a drop of about 150 and the other about 70 mites after 48 hours.
These colonies were treated with Apilife Var in August.
Definitely worth treating as there will be more mites dropping over the next couple of weeks.

jon was those figures reflecting hives that have just been treated with an OA dribble or not

[Jon]

yep. Treated with OA on Monday.

[The Drone Ranger]

Shortest day soon so abiboloxal will have to go ahead despite weather

[Greengage]

Saw this short video on Hive alive, I may have being set up but it is interesting to see how a mite can transfer from a flower to a foraging bee.
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/12/devastating-mites-jump-nimbly-flowers-honeybees

[Jon]

One I am monitoring is still dropping 60+ per day on day 5

[Thymallus]

Not trying to be smug as varroa can catch us all out. But found 2 mites dropped in over 10 colonies. The varroa boards were in for over a week. I had one really bad colony in autumn but it shows up as clean at the moment. Either worrying (for me) that the drop counts are misleading (they often are) and I'm not detecting them or I got the autumn vaping regime spot on.
Now the decision as to whether give them another winter vaping......
I suppose I'd better just in case. At least it will provide peace of mind.

[Jon]

You could Vape or trickle a couple as a trial and check what falls.
My mite counts were very low in August but seem to have crept up now.
Having said that, the colony I am monitoring will probably end up with a total of 500 or so which is well short of a catastrophe.
I don't think I have had a colony drop over 1000 mites in the past 10 years
Some of the posts on facebook are showing mite drops of thousands.

[Thymallus]

May as well vape the lot at the same time if I'm getting the gear out. It's relatively quick.
I had one hive that dropped a few thousand mites this year on vaping. It was dropping quite a lot before hand. Interestingly it was a hive that was moved to the borage, where there were around another 30 or so hives from other keepers dotted around the field. Circumstantial I know.....
Certainly gave me confidence that vaping was doing the trick, as the drops from my other hives was paltry.

[Jon]

This paper shows how quickly mites get picked up from other colonies in the area.

Invasion of Varroa destructor mites into mite-free honey bee colonies under the controlled conditions of a military training area
Journal of Apicultural Research
Vol. 50 (2) pp. 138-144 (http://www.ibrabee.org.uk/component/k2/item/1775)

[Thymallus]

Thnaks for that Jon. Perhaps not fanciful thinking on my part.
As I'm hoping to take more colonies there next year I can do a before and after and see what emerges.