Colony Health & Varroa
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
Extended-Release Oxalic Acid Progress Report #3
Extended-Release Oxalic Acid Progress Report #3 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ January 2018 As the synthetic miticides predictably lose their effectiveness across the world, beekeepers are turning more and more toward oxalic acid to control varroa. Unfortunately, oxalic is not a very efficacious treatment when there is brood present. To that end I...
The Varroa Problem: Part 15 – Modeling the Effect of Mite Treatments
Contents Early-season mite management. 2 Mid-season mite management. 4 Late-summer mite management. 4 A day-by-day model 5 The basics of oxalic vaporization. 6 The optimal interval for OA vaporization treatments. 9 Fall-winter mite management. 13 Acknowledgements. 13 Notes and Citations. 14 The Varroa Problem: Part 15 Modeling the Effect of Mite Treatments Randy Oliver...
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:
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance: 1000 hives, 100 hours
Contents 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...
The Varroa Problem: Part 16a Bee Drift and Mite Dispersal
Contents 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...
The Varroa Problem: Part 16b – Bee Drift and Mite Dispersal (cont.)
Contents 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...
The Varroa Problem: Part 17a – Treatment Free Beekeeping and Being Part of the Solution Rather than Part of the Problem
Contents 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....
The Varroa Problem: Part 17b – The Evolution of Bees, Mites, and DWV
Contents 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...
The Varroa Problem: Part 17c – Being Part of the Solution
Contents 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....
Extended-Release Oxalic Acid Progress Report #4 – 2018 California Field Trial
Extended-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...
Guessing the Future with Varroa: Part 1
Guessing 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...
Guessing the Future of Varroa: Part 2 – Ways that Bees Can Manage the Mite
Guessing 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...
Mite Drift Quantification
Mite Drift Quantification: A Citizen Science Project Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com I’ve updated the instructions at the link below: @Citizen Science Mite Drift Instructions
Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance: Walking the Walk
Contents 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 ...
Extended-Release Oxalic Acid Progress Report #5 – 2019
Contents 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...
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I appreciate the notes of support that I receive from all over the world. Seeing who is donating, their locations, and the little notes that come with contributions help to let me know how I should direct my research and writing. In appreciation, and in order to show who is supporting my research and writing, I honor below those who have recently made substantial donations:
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RECENT $100+ SERIOUS SUPPORTERS
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Busy Bee Honey, Vermont
Rick Anderson
Steve Sweet, Idaho
Ulster County Beekeepers Association
Jan Lawson
Honey Bee Club of Stillwater, Minnesota
Black Hills Area Beekeeping Club, South Dakota
Richard Ozero, Alberta
Paul Yanus, Vermont
Suddabees Honey LLC
Dean Christie
New Hampshire Beekeepers Association
Jane Sebring
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Jim Lyssy
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Yosef Shochat
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Deborah Corcoran
Justin Ray
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Charles Bailey Jr
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Owyhee Honey Company
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Charles Bailey Jr
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Mike Tooley
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Pamela Stegemerten
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Los Angeles County Beekeepers Association
Michael Kurtz
Dan Geer
Ross Honey Company
Steven Greenwood
Julie Spezia
Stephen Lamb, California
Pam Rogers, Indiana
El Dorado Beekeepers, California
Bill Mares, Vermont
Mike Stoops
Adam Bagerski, Oregon
Dorothy Hammett
Janine Cohen, California
Neil Nordquist, California
Richard Hyde, California
Bonnie Bee & Co., California
Merrimack Valley Beekeepers Association, New Hampshire
Laura Risk, Colorado
Capital Area Beekeepers Association, Pennsylvania
West Sound Beekeepers Association, Washington
Beekeepers’ Guild San Mateo, California
Omaha Bee Club, Nebraska
Joplin Area Beekeepers Association
Steve Sweet, Idaho
Bill’s Bees
Rich Blohm, New York
James Baerwald
Kip Glass, Missouri
Charles Vorisek
Carlos Perez, California
Debra Morey
Margaret Varney
Chester County Beekeepers Association, Pennsylvania
Thomas Dahl
Vince Aloyo, Pennsylvania
Charles Bureau
Help Save the Bees Foundation, Nevada
Aaron Bergman, Florida
Alan Herzfeld, Idaho
Eli’s Bees, California
Ghislain De Roeck, Belgium
Buncombe County Beekeepers, North Carolina
Robert Holcombe, Rhode Island
Alex Naumenko, Florida
Honey Bee Club of Stillwater, Minnesota
New Hampshire Beekeepers Association
Merrimack Valley Beekeepers, New Hampshire
Blossomwood Honey, Al
Bee Thankful Raw Honey
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Andrew Dewey, Maine
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