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Randy,s Posts

Simulation of sugar dusting against varroa

Knowing the intrinsic rate of reproduction of the honey bee colony and of varroa, the proportion of mites that are phoretic at the time, and the efficacy of a powdered sugar dusting at removing those phoretic mites, one can create a spreadsheet that will calculate the estimated effect of repeated sugar dustings. I’ve done so,...

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A Review of Dr. Lu’s paper on neonics in Massachusetts

A Review of Dr. Lu’s paper on neonics in Massachusetts By Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com August 18, 2015   I was recently asked by a couple of extension horticulturalists to comment on Dr. Alex Lu’s most recent publication on the neonicotinoid insecticides.  I hesitated to do so, since Dr. Lu feels that I’ve picked on him. ...

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Williams, et al (2015)  Neonicotinoid pesticides severely affect honey bee queens.

Updated Nov 2:  The science of the effects of neonics upon pollinators is so contentious, that I am often asked to comment on new published studies.  This study, which claimed an effect of neonics on queen mating, immediately garnered such requests.  Unfortunately, the lead author was at conference at the time, and was unable to...

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Oxalic acid Powerpoint presentation

Updated 15 January 2016   Updated oxalic acid ppt presentation Since the EPA registered oxalic acid for the use in beehives (as far as I know, Brushy Mountain has the only registered product to date), I’ve been flooded with questions about using it (since I’ve used it steadily in my operation for over a decade). Therefore,...

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Other resources on varroa management

There are a number of other resources for reliable information on varroa management, some of which I’ll include links for: The Honey Bee Health Coalition released this summary of mite management tools in 2015.  Free download at Tools for Varroa Management

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General public presentation

Here is a slide show for general public presentation.  Contains some old 35mm photos, which I hope to soon replace. Public general presentationPublic general presentation  

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DWV sampling instructions

Dear U.S. beekeeper, Recent studies by Dr. Stephen Martin and associates have found that there is apparently a benign form of DWV that can out compete the virulent form, thus allowing colonies to survive despite varroa infestation. If this is true, it raises the possibility that we may be able to minimize the effect of...

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Donze 1998 A look under the cap

donze-1998-a-look-under-the-cap

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Oxalic shop towel updates

This page is for the sharing information on the extended-release method for oxalic acid application–by dissolving it in glycerin, and then applying to the hive on a cellulose matrix.  You can view  my  article on the subject here: Beyond Taktic.  A big thanks to EPA, ARS, and CDPR for working with me toward registering this application method...

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Mite Management in Top Bar Hives

Mite management of top bar hives The varroa mite does not care that you’re keeping your bees in a top bar hive–colonies in top bar hives are just as susceptible to the mite.  Unless you are running a truly mite-proof bee stock, you can expect the same sort of buildup of mite populations as in...

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K.I.S.S. Breeding for varroa resistance

Open the link below to view the annotated pictorial presentation. 2017 KISS Breeding and if you want to see us doing smokin’ hot mite washin’ in real time, Rachel surprised me by figuring out how to prop up her cell phone to take a video of us washing a yard–to see the 36-second video, click...

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Suggested protocol to determine amount of mite immigration

Suggested protocol to determine amount of mite immigration Credit to Eva Frey for coming up with this protocol: Frey E, Rosenkranz P. Autumn invasion rates of Varroa destructor (mesostigmata: Varroidae) into honey bee (hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies and the resulting increase in mite populations. J Econ Entomol. 2014:107(2):508–515. https://doi.org/10.1603/ec13381 Frey E, Schnell H, Rosenkranz P. Invasion...

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Being Part of The Solution

Click on the link below to view a ppt presentation. Being Part of the Solution  

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How to perform an alcohol wash

If you prep correctly, it only takes a few minutes to determine the varroa infestation rate of a hive.  Here I show how to do it in under 4 minutes. View a video that my assistant Brooke Molina shot the other day with her cell phone:

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Henderson-Tilton calculator

I created a handy spreadsheet in Excel for calculating Henderson-Tilton efficacies.  Here’s a snip of it: If you wish, you can enter your raw data into the blue unprotected grid, and then calculate the means or medians (and standard errors of the means if you wish to display them) there.  Then enter those calculated values into...

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