2020- End Of Year Synopsis, Pretty Much Like Everything Else

Tomorrow is the end of 2020- and we are all so glad, believing that that the next year will be better, can could not get worse Maybe a return, if even a temporary one, to some normalcy, and a bigger, more generous, and understanding outlook toward the world at large and to our neighbors.

That said, beekeeping, for myself and many I talk to, has had an equally bad year. In this respect, I can only speak for my own experience- but it's been one problem after another- some clearly due to operator error (i.e., myself and bungling), but mostly due to the greatest bee scourge of all- the varroa mite. Or so I assume. 

Its my 25th year of beekeeping, and my 5th year I think of having to make beekeeping as much about mite control as it is about beekeeping. I'd say, on the balance, it's more like 75% mite control (in terms of time and attention), and 25% beekeeping. 

In part as I we ready to cash it in- after trying endless strategies to control the mite- different treatments, timings, strategies. And- I learned that not everyone has had to deal with this- some beekeepers live in a paradise of having to do a mite treatment or two a year, and have little loss. I am pretty sure that they are living in a bubble- and it will crash, as it did with me.

This year I tried an aggressive approach with frequent OAV treatments of 2 grams every 4 weeks through Spring, withholding treatments during our honey flow, then returning aggressively. A typical hive received 25 or so treatments for the year- which is a heck of a lot. I did my best to be thorough, to time these every 4 days (4x4), and to keep mite kill records, which are a great way to count infestations (together with this helpful  mite calculator by beekeeper Eric Miller  ) 

Despite this aggressive attack, I saw numerous mite explosions. One day I'd see a drop of 200, and after the next treatment 3 or 4 days later, see a drop of 500. This kept happening- more like I was breeding mites than killing them. Possibly I was seeing bad mite migration from commercial hives nearby- but it happened early as well. It was like a wave I couldn't stop.

Below is a graph of the  year as it happened with 6 of my hives (I am down to half, not about 20). The purple vertical lines and orange lines are the days I treated. The graph shows the 48 hour mite counts, The warm colored curves are hives that died (as of today), the blue are those that have survived (as of today, but we're not done yet).

It might be a little hard to decipher- but the bottom line is that my treatment plan with OAV, was far from successful  

Bad timing? Inefficient application? Migration? Resistant mites? I don't know- but it's super disappointing- as with previous attempts (and there have been many), I didn't seem to make a dent. And in the end, I don't know why.

I did see some new things however. The autopsies of the last 3 deadouts showed no mites in the dead capped brood. Which means- I think- that there were few mites at the time of their capping, Which suggests the OAV was doing a good job, at least at that point. I've done a lot of autopsies under a stereo scope over the years, and there are always mites in capped cells. This was new.

So- I'm mystified. Mites dead, but viruses still present? Winter bees sickened by viruses earlier, even though mites were eventually controlled? Or something entirely new?

Now, with hives all closed up, is the time to start making new plans.  I feel like I've spent so many years at this that I should be able to figure it out, at least some sort of reasonable IPM strategy.  I am assuming this is all about mites- but not finding them in the recent autopsies is concerning. 

What's left is a small handful of options. Continue with OAV, but pick a more opportune and strategic timing of it. Use Formic to augment the treatments, and consider using Apivar (which I found in the past to be ineffective). Consider shook swarming (suggested by a Canadian beekeeper friend), and try to get an handle on the impact of migration where I live (if it is the primary source, then I need to figure out a way to deal with this).

Compared to the disasters of 2020, and the past 4 years, this really is nothing much. Though I know lots of beekeepers who have had large losses here, or quit. I don't want to (yet), but it is getting tough. I have a 150 empty supers up against the fence that need a home, barely half got one this year- and I want to see  them on hives again.