Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Your job is to wait until much of that drone brood has been capped—meaning that
most of that drone brood has female varroa mites hiding inside—and destroy it, along
with the mites hiding inside. There is a great deal of satisfaction in freezing that comb,
feeding it to chickens or birds, or melting it down for candles. Do this three times,
starting as early in the spring as possible (with probably two frames), and replace the
drone comb every eighteen to twenty-one days or so to catch most of the mites. In two
to three months your colony will have significantly fewer mites and maybe none at
all—providing it had any to begin with.
There's a catch, of course. Drones are a sign of a healthy, well fed colony, so that
should tell you something right off; if there are few or no drones during the most active
part of the season, and little or no drone brood in a large colony, there's trouble afoot
and you better find out what it is. A healthy, strong colony will have lots of drone brood
by comparison.
By the time you read this a varroa lure (a pheromone-baited trap you can put in a
colony that varroa mites are attracted to) may be ready. Early results show that some-
where around 50 per- cent of the mites not in cells in a colony were drawn to, and
trapped in the lure. Watch for it, and if it works, use it.
Keep making mite counts all during the season to make sure they are not getting
ahead of you. Keep other stresses in the colony at a minimum, make sure there is plenty
of food available, and that the queen remains happy and productive.
With resistant bees, screened bottom boards, drone (and maybe pheromone) trap-
ping, dusting with powdered sugar, reduced stress from other pests and diseases, ample
nutrition and a good queen, varroa mites should only be a minor worry in your colony
management scheme. There are a significant number of beekeepers now who are doing
all these things, and others who are letting go for a bit because of the difficulty of mak-
ing them happen, and not treating for mites, and not losing colonies to mites. It can, and
is being done.
A virus that is commonly associated with varroa infestations is deformed wing virus. Lar-
vae are infected when they contact the virus from house bees feeding them. The virus
manifests itself by causing the wings of the emerging adult bee to be deformed. These
bees either die young, or are ejected from the colony. Watch for this symptom of a var-
roa infestation.
