🐝💗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.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

I don't really know the answer to that. Honeybees are supposedly not native to the US. They come from Europe. People are trying to breed bees with the hygienic traits for mite control, ie... they can sense when something is wrong in capped cells and clean it out to remove the threat. I think there has been quite a bit of progress along those lines. So, some of those bees might have already been introduced. The bees need to learn to fend for themselves, but until that time, we need to help them. I'm not far along enough in my learning to know how to raise hygienic bees, but it's one of the things I want to know. We might always need to intervene on their behalf. I for one want to learn how to do it naturally, as I believe that is how they learn to become aware of the mites. But, I don't want to be so stubborn about that, that I lose my bees.

I know here breeders are working with local stock for resistance to mites, more cold hardy and gentler strains. Slow progress but making progress.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Working on honey jar label this AM. Me, the art and layout, DW tech, so far, no bloodshed.

 

[R2elk]

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.

For the most part, I don't do anything about mites.

I live in an isolated area. If I don't have honeybees, there are no honeybees around.

 

[Apis mellifera]

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.

I'm not sure how southern beekeepers would use it, maybe one spring and one fall treatment. In my area I would do one OAV in January and one Narroa treatment in May or June. I doubt I would ever need it.

 

[drstratton]

I'm not sure how southern beekeepers would use it, maybe one spring and one fall treatment. In my area I would do one OAV in January and one Narroa treatment in May or June. I doubt I would ever need it.

I'm in the west, Eastern Washington state. We don't usually get our first frost until mid to late October. January & February are our coldest months.
It will be interesting to see what the recommendations will be when it's approved.

 

[drstratton]

These are the highest counts I've seen. I hope that just means it's working.

As the weather cools I'm going to leave the boards in longer.

it was 68 at the Apiary this morning.

36 hours after treatment
Varroa Mite Count
Nuc Hive #1: 9
Nuc Hive #2: 12
Package Hive: 3
Swarm Hive: 0