Local beekeeper's take on diseases

[Bridget]

My husband went to chat to a local beekeeper, who we heard had stopped, to see if he had any kit to sell. The old chap said he hadn't stopped but had lost 29 colonies over the past two winters. Thought it was because of the conditions. My husband asked him if he had taken any preventative action against diseases, the old boy said no, that he thought bees should be left to deal with any disease. Its not clear whether it was just varroa or somthing else, but he is only about 1.5 miles as the crow flies from here. He now has one colony from a swarm last July and hopes to re-build from there. Needless to say we didn't mention that we were looking for kit. Would it have been varroa or could it have been something else in this area? And how do we get him to protect his bees?

[Jon]

Would it have been varroa or could it have been something else in this area? And how do we get him to protect his bees?

It's never just varroa. You also get all the viral diseases associated with non treatment of varroa and nosema is ever present at some level or another.

If you treat for varroa and keep nosema under control your bees will probably do well.

[gavin]

It is almost certain that Varroa (and its viruses) are the main cause of his losses if he isn't treating.

If he has colonies that died overwinter, maybe you could help him look at the stuff on the floor of one of his dead colonies - which would almost certainly include mites. Or maybe you could show him the mites that fall on a sticky board if you use one. Presumably he isn't on the internet and doesn't read the beekeeping magazines? Maybe the BeeBase/NBU leaflet on Varroa would help him.

The messages on treatment can be confusing. A simple message could be: thymol method (eg Apiguard) in summer after the spring flow, oxalic in the dead of winter when there's no brood.

[Jon]

A simple message could be: thymol method (eg Apiguard) in summer after the spring flow, oxalic in the dead of winter when there's no brood.

That is the best advice a new beekeeper can get. Unfortunately the internet is awash with non treatment gurus but when you look at their own beekeeping they generally lose all or most of their bees yet continue to advise others not to treat.

My father who turned 80 last year keeps about 15 colonies and he follows the advice above re thymol and Oxalic and rarely loses a colony - certainly not to varroa. He despairs of the non treaters as they lose their bees every winter and come around scrounging in the spring telling him he is too old to be keeping so many colonies!

[Neonach]

Your advice makes sense to me, Jon, but as I don't have any diseases or pests other than bee louse, and there's no other honey bees here at all, would I be right in thinking that in my case best leave alone? I don't suffer losses as such: it's just a problem of learning how best to manage the mating game in these conditions.

[gavin]

I don't think that you can guarantee you don't have Nosema, viruses, acarine, but let's hope Varroa is too distant and that it stays that way. Varroa is the big one and everything changes once it arrives.

The mating game - yes, in terms of successful mating and having enough diversity in your stocks. The first will be helped by sticking to hardy native types, and the second needs either enough stocks or queen swaps with someone in a similar position from time to time.

[Jon]

but as I don't have any diseases or pests other than bee louse, and there's no other honey bees here at all, would I be right in thinking that in my case best leave alone?

You are so lucky to be in a varroa free area.
I would not use thymol or oxalic in your case as they are used primarily to keep mite numbers down.

Some people add a bit of thymol to the winter syrup feed with a view to reducing the nosema level in the bee gut.
There is a paper published by a Turkish researcher which claims this to be very effective.

http://www.docsdrive.com/pdfs/ansinet/pjbs/2005/1142-1145.pdf

As Gavin says, you will run into breeding problems quite quickly if there are just a couple of colonies in the area.

[Bridget]

It is almost certain that Varroa (and its viruses) are the main cause of his losses if he isn't treating.

If he has colonies that died overwinter, maybe you could help him look at the stuff on the floor of one of his dead colonies - which would almost certainly include mites. Or maybe you could show him the mites that fall on a sticky board if you use one. Presumably he isn't on the internet and doesn't read the beekeeping magazines? Maybe the BeeBase/NBU leaflet on Varroa would help him.

He is a really experienced beekeeper, been selling the honey for years, at least as long as I can remember driving past his sign which must be at least 35 years. Hard to start telling him stuff when we are such beginners. Half his colonies died in 2010 and the rest last winter. didn't ask how his new swarm was doing. However being fairly close I,d be worried having someone in the vicinity who wasn't treating.

[gavin]

If you want to encourage him to treat, another way might be to encourage him to send me or Fiona at SASA samples off the floor. If Varroa is his problem he may listen to the message from someone who has looked at samples.

[Jon]

He is a really experienced beekeeper, been selling the honey for years, at least as long as I can remember driving past his sign which must be at least 35 years. Hard to start telling him stuff when we are such beginners.

Some of the new beekeepers know a lot more than the 'experienced' beekeepers after just a couple of years as they are open minded. The advice I was given re. setting up a queen rearing group was to concentrate on the new beekeepers and forget about the longer term beekeepers as they are so resistant to change.