Varroa in Newcastle

I was surprised to learn the standard inspection of sentinel hives was every 6 weeks and involved pulling sticky paper under a screened bottom board and sending it way to be checked for any mites strips in the hives may have killed.
Might be some validity to the claims if by regular inspection you are expecting sugar roll or alcohol washes.
No experience with the strips at all but it does make me wonder if a low level infection could go undetected and if sentinel hives were not the original point of infection then the timeline could be significantly more than weeks.

As I said earlier exactly the support I expected for recreational bee keepers.
We faced the same level of support after the fires we had in Jan 2020, those of us that were lucky enough to save hives were left in the middle of 1.5million acres that resembled a moonscape with no resources for bees and at least 9 months before there would be any. I was lucky that at the time I had a retail business was doing a few media interviews and managed to get the word out. I ended up taking sugar donations from the public and was able to get it to some of those that needed it to get their bees through summer/autumn/winter and into spring when the environment started to recover.

There is a lot of love for recreational beekeepers among the population, it will only take someone to make them aware of what is happening to recreational beekeepers in eradication zones. Point out the lack of government and industry support, co-ordinate a response to help them and I am sure there would be an overwhelming response.

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With the sentinel hives due to get checked once every six weeks, how easy would it be to put off or postpone doing a check during extended periods of rain?

Not fear of the unknown but fear of the known, the impacts of Verroa are well known I dont think there would be a beekeeper in the world that would chose to live with verroa over living without it given the choice.
Unlike Canada Australia does not share a nearly 9000km land boundary with a country where verroa is endemic and we are not facing hundreds or thousands of re-infestations annually. The priorities are as they should be, detection containment and eradication if possible. History would indicate that it is not only possible but achievable given this is the first time in 70+ years that verroa has been known that it has actually made it into bees in Australia. Being an island does have some advantages and early detection does offer the chance at eradication that very few other countries had the realistic opportunity of achieving.

It is not as if Australia is not prepared for verroa becoming endemic plans have been in place for decades to live with verroa. Even with the current situation one of the first things being done is testing to determine where the mites have arrived from and what if any resistance they have to known chemical treatments.

Here’s a link to one such document.
https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/sitecollectiondocuments/animal-plant/pests-diseases/bees/honeybee-report.pdf

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Mesh at the bottom or sticky surface captures approximately 30% of the varroa population in the hive. So, for detection purposes, the method is valid. The purpose of all those washes is to establish the level of infestation to work out a treatment plan.

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4 new infections overnight but all linked to known infections and only a small increase in the size of zones.

This is straight from the DPI update so looks like if it is on a hive it will be destroyed but if you have a set of flow frames boxes etc not in use there might be a chance to save them…

Infected premises hive destruction

Unfortunately, it is necessary to euthanise honeybee colonies in the eradication zones and destroy internal hive equipment such as brood and honey frames.

The State Control Centre has completed a risk assessment on options to decontaminate external equipment such as hive boxes, pallets and straps as well as metal ware, so they can be retained by beekeepers.
The response plan has been updated so equipment will only be destroyed when a risk assessment deems it necessary.

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From what I understand almost all mites being found are in hives from a single commercial beekeeper. It actually seems quite possible that this infestation did not come from the port of Newcastle but made its way there from the hives of that commercial beekeeper- who had apiaries at multiple sites in that region… how his hives became so infected at multiple sites- is a mystery at this time… The number of mites found in his hives is a lot higher than what was found in the sentinel hives (just half a dozen mites in total). This is all just what I am hearing - hopefully we will know more over the coming weeks.

I feel much more sad for the bees than for the hive equipment to be honest…

Hi Jack, I think my hive equipment is “precious”. The least that would need to be destroyed, the better.

It would break my heart to destroy the bees, & would be hard to watch. However having at least the boxes, roofs & bottom boards to start afresh with, would be better than starting afresh with nothing, even with compensation.

Edit: I mustn’t forget to mention my 30 y/o QEs.

PS After a little bit of research, I’m thinking that if the inevitable does happen, I might be able to manage them with a bare minimum of treatments, if any.

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In tropical and subtropical areas, varroa requires rather more work and treatment than at places with climate less ideal for it. Invasiveness goes down slightly in the hottest time of the year but, in general, tropical and subtropical climates are favourable for varroa.

Thanks ABB. While sleeping on it & digesting information from "The Bee Whispers"s video, I wont get away without treating like I was thinking I would yesterday…

My splits & brood breaks will work well while I’m doing them, however I still need to stop splitting at some point, in order to get a honey flow.

Late season splits, while at the time, I think are warranted, always end up costing honey production. I suppose you can’t always have nucs to sell as well as honey.

PS. This leaves me with a question for @Dawn_SD What happens to the mites during a brood break? Is the time taken for a colony to raise emergency queens enough of a brood break?

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Depends on how much time you think is needed to raise an emergency queen, and how soon she starts laying after the last uncapped brood was capped. Varroa only replicates in uncapped brood. Three weeks is a very rough guide for having no uncapped brood, for it to be an effective brood break. Here is a pretty good University article:

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Thanks Dawn, I’ll check that out.

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Hi Jeff,
Don’t get me wrong- the destruction of all that equipment is a tragedy and waste. But I can understand both the logistical issues- and the time constraints involved. Hives can be replaced and they are also compensated. If varroa become endemic Australia loses its unique position globally, loses productivity, bees suffer and beekeeping has an entire new set of expenses and work- possibly forever. Whilst it remains unknown whether this outbreak can be eradicated every effort should be made in my opinion to stop it dead.

I have contacts in nsw close to this outbreak and it is already devastating for them. Entire livelihoods are on the line.

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Jeff, brood breaks don’t do much on their own. Treatment is steel needed. The idea of the whole thing is quite simple. 70-90% of the population of varroa in a hive is with brood. When brood gets capped it becomes almost impervious to chemicals. One may treat the hive but it will kill only those 10-30% of varroa sitting on bees. Practically, somewhat less. Then brood hatches, varroa exits cells with it and now the hive is full of varroa again.

An artificial brood break allows one to treat the whole population of the hive varroa but in different locations. One removes all capped brood with some workers and puts it in an isolator - a hive bees cannot leave. Now the original hive can be treated because varroa doesn’t have a place to hide. Then, one waits till all brood is hatched in an isolator and treats this portion of bees. At this stage, if one is lucky, both portions will be free of varroa. It is unlikely in real life, but at least the population will be so low, that it doesn’t matter for a while.

That is all that this tool gives you. The question is how one integrates this tool into the beekeeping system used. Making splits for sale? Good, the splitting time becomes a treatment time to drop the varroa population significantly. For the rest of the year, go with some slow-release method to treat the brood as it hatches when the population of varroa started to grow again. Have a dearth between flows and still need a strong population of bees? Fine, fit this method here and recombine split with the main hive. The last serious flow is not too far and you don’t need this brood at all? Is it a requeening year too? Fantastic, kill the queen or isolate it to keep the hive calmer and have a real brood break. No splitting at all. And so on :slight_smile:

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Hi Dawn, it looks like “The Bee Whisperer” copied all the information from that link :slight_smile: Anyway it’s good information & hopefully, if we don’t get it under control, we’ll still be able to manage our bees, with a few adjustments.

I’m liking the idea of removing drone brood, which I’ll allow the bees to make, specifically for the purpose of removing to destroy. I hope my daughters chooks like drone brood, I’m sure they will.

Another bloke my age told me that he’ll give bees up if they can’t control the mites.

Best chicken treat ever!

You mean capped brood.

Formic acid kills mites in the capped cells. I’m not sure what percentage the mill rate is in capped vs uncapped or phoretic mites. Also not sure if the application method affects the capped brood varroa kill rate (slow release pad like formic pro or brushed onto capped cells).

I wish it was so. By now varroa would be an interesting historical beekeeping fact. Bood cell cap allows transfer of air but not enough to make application really efficient. In mid-late '80 formic acid was the weapon of choice in the area I lived. Both, spray and slow release method. Hives were never varroa-free. On the other hand, even then it wasn’t a big deal.

And the latest update…

The deadly parasite that has affected honey bee populations has been detected hundreds of kilometres from initial sites in Newcastle, with a new emergency zone in north-west New South Wales…

…A new emergency zone has been declared around the Narrabri property.

NSW DPI had now established emergency zones around 19 infested premises since the varroa mite was first identified.

Dr Anderson said that with close epidemiological links in all cases, the apiary industry had a good opportunity to eradicate the threat. …