# My bees left



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Varroa


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## williewonka (Nov 3, 2012)

Michael Palmer said:


> Varroa


What led you to that conclusion?


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

The bee dying as it emerged, and the stunted bee you pulled out.


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## RAK (May 2, 2010)

varroa x2


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## sfisher (Sep 22, 2009)

I thought it took Varroa longer than that to kill a package, could the package have already been that infested with Varroa?


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## Maryland Beekeeper (Nov 1, 2012)

Inspections prior to oct. ? Hive looks pretty well filled out. Perhaps they swarmed and were then overcome by robbers ?
Sorry,
Drew


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

sfisher said:


> I thought it took Varroa longer than that to kill a package, could the package have already been that infested with Varroa?


Used to be. Colonies full of mites surviving for a couple years until the virus load became too high and the colony crashed. Now it can happen more quickly, with lower mite loads. It's the viruses, not the mites. And of course the package was infested with mites when installed...but what's in the neighborhood matters, too.


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## wadehump (Sep 30, 2007)

I did not treat the bees with anything. Thank you.

The supplier did


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