🐝💗Our Backyard Beekeeping Journey!💗🐝

[drstratton]

Yes, there's a few. Norroa looks promising. Should be out soon.
https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/...bf42c395d20540a_20250328_Norroa-one-pager.pdf
Other than formic acid, I never lost a queen or had to protect a queen from a treatment.

Varroa jumped from Apis Cerana to Apis Mellifera. Apis Cerana is the only bee that is 100% resistant. It's a smaller bee that has its own set of issues and doesn't produce nearly as much honey as Apis Mellifera. More than a few queens have been smuggled from countries like Cuba who claim 100% resistance. They're not resistant. It's not just the mites but the diseases they vector. If I sent mites to Cuba from my hives it would probably wipe them out. After struggling my first year's beekeeping I bought USDA Russian queens, and they worked out great for me. I've been grafting and splitting them for at least 8 years. I don't know how much of the original genetics I still have but they are still great bees. Russian bees are not perfect but are disease and mite resistant and overwinter great. If you're interested in the history and spread of varroa mites YouTube "Understanding varroa mites" by Dr. David Peck / NY Bee Wellness. Excellent presentation.

The difference between VSH bees and Randy's is he doesn't claim they are hygienic. He doesn't care how the bees control the mites just that they control them and are still productive with good temperament. Some current popular VSH breeders are producing nasty, low production bees. It's great to hear @R2elk is having success with them.

Thank you for all of the great information. I knew some of the bones of the info, but didn't have the meat to fill it out...lol

The Norroa sounds very promising. If I'm reading it correctly, it sounds like it's only used in the spring and that's all you need.

 

[cavemanrich]

Yes. I ordered them through Olivarez Honey Bees, Inc.

They are advertised as being very gentle. So far they are out performing my other 2 hives. The Olivarez Italians are not far behind though.

I know you do your best to control these mites
Just wondering how you would rate your hives as.
Average,,,,, less then,,,, or well above average.
The well above average means less or hardly any mites.
I also understand that some years may be different than others.