No varroa?

[alfazer]

I only had one colony to bring through winter 2015/16. I treated them with oxalic vape last January and saw very light varroa drop, less than 10 on the board.
From that one colony I made five more this year. I now have 6 colonies; 1 new queen has been outstanding, 2 very good, other 3 med-small (boxes dummied down) but looking ok. I have clear crownboards. Occasionally through the season I place a white board under the hives and I saw no varroa, just usual wax and pollen.

I didn't treat in autumn with anything at all. Adding Hivealive to my syrup is all I've done this year.

Few day ago I used oxalic vape and absolutely nothing has dropped except some wax bits. Bees seem healthy, rarely see any dead ones on the mesh or on the ground.

I've had bad varroa in the past so I know well what they look like.

So bees seem to be thriving is it possible I have virtually no varroa, or am I doing something wrong with my treatment?

 

[charlievictorbravo]

The only observation I would make is that I would always try to assess the level of mite infestation before treating. Nevertheless, if the last OA treatment was done properly, you seem to have been very lucky in terms of either your bees or the mites carrying benign viruses - the type B DWV appears to allow the bees to find the mites and groom them off. In your case, I don't think I'd want to kill all the mites - leave a few pet mites to carry the benign virus forward.

An alternative view could be that your apiary is so remote from others that when you did your treatment last January, you knocked them right back almost to zero and they have not been replaced by horizontal movement (i.e. no mites from other colonies brought in by foraging/robbing workers or drifting drones).

My story this year is the opposite of yours - a constant battle with Varroa from July to the end of December using Oxalic Acid and Thymol-based treatments. All three hives are now dropping less than 2 a day, which is a relief!

CVB

 

[For want of a better word]

ALF... you seem to be getting on top of the beast!

Alcohol shake of 125g of workers will give the only realistic representation of varroa infestation in a colony.

I seem to remember Dr Schroder reporting that type B DWV inhibited type A DWV and the symptoms of deformed wings were therefore not presented? Varroa being the main vector of both.

Randy Oliver said that if everyone, including the 2 hivers treated their bees the varroa problem would become manageable... as CVB seems to be experiencing... that sideways transfer from another beekeepers infested bees is a big problem !

Yeghes da

 

[Eyeman]

Congratulations
How did you go about expanding to 6 colonies?
By splitting colonies & inducing brood breaks you will have had an effect on varroa numbers.
Did you make your inspection boards sticky when monitoring during the summer?
How long after the last vape did you monitor the varroa drop?

 

[rje66]

ALF... you seem to be getting on top of the beast!

Alcohol shake of 125g of workers will give the only realistic representation of varroa infestation in a colony.

I seem to remember Dr Schroder reporting that type B DWV inhibited type A DWV and the symptoms of deformed wings were therefore not presented? Varroa being the main vector of both.

Randy Oliver said that if everyone, including the 2 hivers treated their bees the varroa problem would become manageable... as CVB seems to be experiencing... that sideways transfer from another beekeepers infested bees is a big problem !

Yeghes da

What do you use as your alcohol and where do you get it??

 

[charlievictorbravo]

What do you use as your alcohol and where do you get it??

You could use rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) for this but the problem with alcohol rolling or icing suger rolling is getting the 300 bees + or _ . It's easy in the season but you have to open them up and remove frames which is not advisable when it's cold outside. Plus the alcohol shaking kills 300 bees but icing sugar does not. Rubbing alcohol is available in most Pharmacists.

My bees are at the bottom of the garden so I can check natural drops easily and record them to spot trends. Sad, I know, but I have a daily record of natural mite drops on 3 hives starting in July when I first treated until the end of December when I got the mites under control.

CVB

 

[Millet]

You could use rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) for this but the problem with alcohol rolling or icing suger rolling is getting the 300 bees + or _ . It's easy in the season but you have to open them up and remove frames which is not advisable when it's cold outside. Plus the alcohol shaking kills 300 bees but icing sugar does not. Rubbing alcohol is available in most Pharmacists.

My bees are at the bottom of the garden so I can check natural drops easily and record them to spot trends. Sad, I know, but I have a daily record of natural mite drops on 3 hives starting in July when I first treated until the end of December when I got the mites under control.

CVB

Pathetic if you ask me, Oxalic Acid for gassing kills no bees yet it is illegal, where as that Stone age method that kills bees is still allowed, words fail me..

 

[alfazer]

Congratulations
How did you go about expanding to 6 colonies?
By splitting colonies & inducing brood breaks you will have had an effect on varroa numbers.
Did you make your inspection boards sticky when monitoring during the summer?
How long after the last vape did you monitor the varroa drop?

I created my colonies mostly by artificial swarm. I had been using pollen sub patties from Feb to aim for a fast build up. Saw swarm cells in May over several frames, so split them out with the frames and bees they were attached to, and placed in nucs and dummied-down nationals. One of these was placed above the original box and super with a board in-between. (Forget what it's called, but it has a hole with a QE to let workers up and down and a hole in the side frame for the drones)
Then late June early July I had two separate occasions where natural swarms occurred. (guess I didn't see that coming) So I collected from my garden and housed those as well.
I was feeding syrup to all new colonies, on and off all summer. (We had poor weather too)

I didn't think to make the boards sticky, so you make a good point there.

I had monitored varroa drop for around a week, then took screens out. In a few cases I kept screens under my hive stand most of the season but not up tight to the hive. I just find it interesting to observe what drops; wax, pollen types and in previous years, varroa.

I'm well aware of varroa infestation having previously lost all three of my colonies to it in winter 2014, hence my start again with one colony last year.

I am in quite a rural location and as far as I know there are no other apiaries within about 3 miles.

Thanks for your feedback.