https://web.archive.org/web/20210420141942if_/https://kashmirreader.com/2021/01/05/honeybee-venom-as-cure-of-cancer/embed/#?secret=Lx1SmlzGGJPosted in 2021 Links on by Peter Halford.
You should be aware that this is shaping up to be a bad year
for colony losses, seemingly due to very levels of varroa. No doubt the odd
weather this year has had an influence.
There has been much correspondence on the HWBKA WhatsApp
group about losses. Our own Honey Queen Helen Hadley posted she had lost 3 and
now reckons it is 9 so far. John Miller has lost one …the only one he forgot to
treat. As a result, I (PC) inspected my own colonies a couple of days ago and
discovered to my dismay I have lost 7 out of 12 so far.
There had been some talk of absconding on WhatsApp and
indeed some of my deceased colonies which were previously very strong had just
a few 10’s of bees left and loads of untouched stores, which puzzled me.
I decided to contact the Regional Bee Inspector Dan
Etheridge, sent him some notes and had very long and very interesting conversation
with him. His first impression is that I experienced a 'varroa bomb' as Randy
Oliver calls them. Apparently, he reckons we are having the worst year ever for
varroa induced colony collapses especially in the south; quote ...’my phone has
not stopped ringing since the Christmas break’. For those of you who have been
very rigorous in your varroa treatments it may not be such a problem.
As some of you know I have for more than a decade now tried
to practice a policy of minimum intervention in the hope that by not treating quite
so vigorously and supporting strains unable to tolerate varroa we might expect
natural selection to do what it should and establish a new equilibrium with
more tolerant bees, plus there is much published literature that bees are
adapting. It had been working out. After 10+ years with very few losses I
suppose I had been lulled into a false sense of security. However, this time I
have been caught out.
Dan was at great pains to point out that he is not against
'natural beekeeping' in the slightest and indeed tried himself for many
years. However, he was also at great
pains to point out, and this is the very important salutary lesson I will take
away from this experience, that one must monitor varroa very regularly and
accurately. At least once a month and preferably using the alcohol or sugar
wash technique rather than relying on the sticky board which he has found
unreliable, otherwise, given the right conditions the varroa numbers can
explode ‘exponentially’. Had I done this more conscientiously I would not have been
caught out as I have been. It's not necessary to treat with varroacides
religiously, regularly, needlessly or prophylactically. But it is essential to
treat when really needed.
So, I’ll
be going out to treat my remaining 5 colonies with the vaporiser tomorrow, 3
times 5 days apart as I’ve
missed the brood break …not
there would have been one in this record-breaking warm winter.
The completely empty ‘Marie Celeste’ colonies you’ll see in the photograph,
and which one might think have absconded are not so unusual apparently as in
some colonies most of the ailing bees have the decency to do a Captain Oates
and take themselves off to die elsewhere.
Malcolm has been in touch with many members and is finding
that losses are mounting. Such losses are more typically seen in February /
March … this not looking like a ‘normal’ year
So, the message is check your hives now, and if
concerned, it might not be too late to rescue them with an Oxalic acid
sublimation …using ApiBioxal the approved product of course!
