2022 Mite Killing Plans

 

I am convinced that the only beekeeping activity that matters at this point is killing and controlling mites. Nothing compares- figure this part out, and one deals with the normal mysteries of beekeeping. But mites- Varroa I mean- are supernatural- not normal, and have caused so many beekeepers to abandon the craft, and I, for one, can understand this- and may not be far behind.

4 hives, 3 in line and adjacent to each other, and I just found another  one behind those 3, in the most watched and treated apiary I have ( my roof at home), have now died as of today. Three were brand new 2021 hives- Carniolans- all with at least a full super of capped honey, or more, good gathering bees, each strong in October,  now all dead. All treated, per the book, plus, with Formic Pro. The fourth hive has a cluster of maybe 100 bees, queenless, and trying to stay warm- but doomed to die. I've also lost a fifth hive at an out apiary at a friend's. So five down so far. I think that means about 14 surviving hives.

I went through hive #4 today with the microscope. Clearly a huge infestation of mites that weren't killed by Formic Pro. Each dead hive is almost a mirror image of the others, and a mirror image of a hundred hives I've lost in the past. The signs are unmistakable, and frustrating as I do not seem to be able to preempt any of it. Here are the common elements:

• The hives in general are strong into Fall, with strong stores. There are treated for mites the same as all other hives (my treatments have varied widely over the years, but are always serious). 
• In November, usually mid- November- I see a huge die off- a drop of bees on to the bottom board, and if there are sufficient bees to carry them off, a mass of bees on the ground. I am not certain, even now, if this is what I saw in years past, of if this is new to the past 5 years. Seems new?
• I do autopsies, and generally find in at least half the hives, a good lay of brood, and often eggs and larva- all dead. These are often lower in the hive- suggesting they happened pre-November, when there was a strong population to cover them. Then the "cold"hit (40 degrees F?), and masses of adults died, and retreated from the capped, or freshly laid brood, which then died. So two months later I start digging into these cells.
• Firstly- I find dead eggs and even brood- suggesting that what happened happened fast. The population retreated fast- it had no time to clean up, or eat eggs, or do anything. They just abandoned the brood areas and moved upward.
• And what I find almost always, in varying degrees, is textbook infestation. Today for example, in a lower comb with dead capped brood, likely dead for months, I cut open the first capped cell I find, and there are two fat mites on top of a dead larva. And always, gaunamine spreads down the cell at its top.  Cell after cell is the same. Sometimes the cells are pierced at top- suggesting a bee started to open it knowing it was dead- and instead, released mites into the hive. So I find a dead larva with no mites, but guanamine everywhere.
• I find that infestations can be 60% of the cells- and these are all in TREATED HIVES. The frame I looked at today was sitting ON TOP of an Formic Prop pad I'd put there in October- and it had mites in almost every capped cell- all dead.

Solutions? I've been hammering at this for 5 or 10 years. What I am reporting now is what you'd find in this blog 10 years ago. I don't know the way out. I have, pretty much bar none, tried every option there is. And I remain dealing with losses like this.

Some -possibly many- beekeepers don't seem to have this problem to this extent, or even near it. Possibly they just haven't been hit yet, or possibly, my hives have developed a strain of super mites. Or quite possibly, something I am doing is contributing to the problem. I just don't know.

I do know that if one does nothing- they all die.  But I also know that some beekeepers do very little, of only use OA, and squeak by. I have no idea why. Luck? Better bees stock? Lesser virulent viruses? Or maybe they just don't look that close when they lose hives? I think the latter is highly likely- as it does take some microscopic work- or at least a hand lens- to see an infestation.

My current plan for the coming year is to switch to a bigger gun- a more potent treatment, and time it well. I and thinking to use formic acid fumigator boards, and pull the queens when doing so. I am thinking this might happen just before the Blackberry flow. So- I loose a whole brood cycle or two or three- but those bees wouldn't have contributed to the production anyhow, and maybe- MAYBE- my hives move to July close to miteless.

I can't imagine what that would feel like!