Beekeeping Through the Eyes of a Biologist
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Allow me to start with an excellent assessment by Bee Culture’s Phil Craft (BC July 2015): Perhaps beekeepers who have come to the craft in the last few decades aren’t aware of the effect varroa had when it first arrived on this continent and of how it earned its full name, Varroa destructor. Whatever the reason, every year, beekeepers all over the country lose colonies to mites and the viruses of which they are carriers, and they never know what hit them. They blame pesticides,or CCD, or habitat loss, and sometimes those really are causes, or at least significant factors. However, too, too often, the underlying cause is a lack of effective management, which allows a mite infestation to overwhelm a colony or weaken it to the point that it succumbs easily to other stressors. The most frustrating thing about these losses is that they don’t have to happen. Watch Dennis vanEngelsdorp explain why mite management is critical for colony survival, and which methods work or don’t at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bm3Y4t1NwQ
Re-Evaluating Varroa Monitoring Part 1 METHODS Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ March 2020 In order to avoid the preventable death of colonies due to varroa-virus overload, we’re told to monitor our colonies’ mite levels. But how best to do so? In this series of articles, I’ll review what we actually know, and provide […]
Read MoreQuestions on Amitraz Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ March 2020 This past year, some beekeepers asked me a couple of questions about amitraz. So I ran some quick cage trials to obtain answers. The results surprised me. Amitraz is a highly-effective acaricide (something that kills mites and ticks), and is widely used by […]
Read MoreContents Background. 2 The 2019 field test. 2 Results. 4 Those danged outliers!. 6 Overall efficacy. 7 Could there have been mite immigration from other colonies?. 8 Fate of the applied towels. 9 progression of action of treatment over time. 13 Results from others. 14 Mexico and uruguay. 14 Southeastern States with high humidity. 14 […]
Read MoreContents Selective breeding for mite resistance. 4 The 2018 season. 4 A visit to France. 12 My spring surprise. 13 Selection vs. Bottlenecking. 16 Choosing the breeders. 17 The big question ― heritability. 18 The importance of the drone pool 19 A Primer on Bee Genetics. 19 Bottom line. 21 Acknowledgements. 22 References. 22 […]
Read MoreMite Drift Quantification: A Citizen Science Project Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com I’ve updated the instructions at the link below: @Citizen Science Mite Drift Instructions
Read MoreGuessing the Future with Varroa: Part 2 Ways that Bees Can Manage the Mite Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ in January, 2019 I suspect that our problems with varroa—at least for commercial beekeepers—may get worse before they get better. But I’d be willing to bet that eventually, we’ll all be keeping bees […]
Read MoreGuessing the Future with Varroa Part 1 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ December 2018 The Greek philosopher Heraclitus maintained that there is nothing permanent except change. This certainly applies to biology and the business of beekeeping, both of which are always in some state of evolution. However, beekeeping in the U.S. was unusual in […]
Read MoreExtended-Release Oxalic Acid Progress Report #4 2018 California Field Trial Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com Published in ABJ in November 2018 I’ve handed my beekeeping operation, still headquartered at my home, over to my sons Eric and Ian, with the provision that I have the hives at my disposal for research during my “retirement.” This season I […]
Read MoreContents Defining our Objectives. 4 LIVE AND LET DIE “Bond Method.. 4 “NATURAL” Beekeeping.. 5 The Mutualistic Symbiosis Between the Bee and Humans. 6 Recreational Beekeeping. 7 “TREATMENT FREE” Beekeepers. 7 Eliminating the Fitness Benefit to the Varroa/DWV Complex Gained by Killing its host hive. 9 Darwinian Beekeeping. 9 The Dream of a “Gentler” Mite. […]
Read MoreContents A Primer on the Drivers of Evolution. 2 Defining the Niche. 2 The Breeding Population. 3 The Honey bee Populations in the U.S. 4 Reproduction and Dispersal 7 Acknowledgements. 9 Notes and Citations. 9 The Varroa Problem: Part 17b The Evolution of Bees, Mites, and DWV First Published in ABJ August 2018 […]
Read MoreContents Being part of The Solution rather than part of The Problem.. 1 Assigning the blame. 2 Let’s first get some facts straight. 3 Our part in creating the monster. 8 Understanding Bee, Varroa, Virus & Beekeeping Coevolution. 9 it’s all about successful dispersal and transmission. 10 Here’s how it works. 11 Next. 13 Acknowledgements. […]
Read MoreContents Bee Drift and Mite Dispersal (continued) 1 So why do colonies allow bees to drift in?. 1 The sheer numbers involved. 4 The amount of mite drift into other hives. 5 Collapse and Robbing. 7 What happens to all the mite-infested bees when a colony collapses?. 8 Swarms coming back to bite you in […]
Read MoreContents Bee Drift and Mite Dispersal 1 Dispersal of varroa. 2 Phoresy, grooming, and host preference by the mites. 3 The shifting of varroa’s preferred transport. 6 Our unnaturally close placement of hives in apiaries. 7 Measured rates of hive-to-hive worker and drone drift. 7 The Diffusion of Mites. 8 Are some hives more attractive […]
Read MoreContents Quick summary. 1 First assessment—early July. 1 Breeder disappointment. 2 Second through fourth assessments. 3 The final tally. 3 The Cost of the selective breeding program.. 4 what’s next. 4 Control of matings. 5 Analysis of the late-season Failure to Maintain low mite levels. 5 Could the spikes have come from mite reproduction?. 11 […]
Read MoreIf 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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