# Sticky  Australia may have varroa now. What to do initially?



## elmer_fud

I am not sure if I can help with the splitting question.

I would be tempted to put robber screens on all of your hives so you don't have as much drifting between hives and minimize the chance of varro comming in from drifting bees. Varo can also be picked up on flowers and other ways, so this is not a guarentee to help though. Based on the fact that is sounds like the Australia government is burning everything, I suspect it will either be continue life the same way (without mites) or you are going to lose everything to the government burning them. If the government is burning everything I am not sure that I would even worry about treatment at this point because it will not be needed regardless of if you have mites show up in your hives or not. 

Hopefully this is not to bleak of a picture, but this is my observations looking from the outside. 

There is a thread on this here, but it does not cover what you are asking. It might provide some useful info though








Varroa in NSW


could have one on your suit, go a few miles to a new spot and check a hive and the mite hops of the suit and into the hive. IE mite migration device. GG makes sense. I guess I was thinking of only working one bee yard at a time/day/ect and not moving between them a lot without the ability to...




www.beesource.com


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## grozzie2

The varroa are 900km away, they are attempting to erradicate. It may or may not work. In the meantime, I dont think you are at significant risk for a while, unless hives are moved from the infested area to your area.

In the meantime, I'd read up on how to deal with varroa in your bees, get ahead of the knowledge curve in anticipation of when (not if) they arrive at your location. they may or may not arrive from this incursion, but eventual arrival is inevitable.

I've been keeping bees with varroa for 12 years. It's just one more thing on the list of things we deal with. It can be done, but it does introduce a lot of 'must be done' work to the process. Gone are the days of 'throw bees in a box and wait for them to fill it up with honey'.


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## ifixoldhouses

Australian bees won't have any resistance whatsoever, I don't think it'll be good when it finally does hit your area. Alcohol wash kits will sell out quick, order some Apivar now. Our bees are all kinds of mixed up with VSH genetics, and they still die w/o lots of effort.


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## Litsinger

Dave:

Thought of your post this afternoon as I saw this update from Randy Oliver- best of success to you as you deal with this.

*



The varroa invasion into Australia

Click to expand...

*


> I've been speaking on a daily basis with one of the two beekeepers whose operations are infested, as well as others in the industry.
> So far, over 1000 of their colonies have been euthanized, with many more planned to be burned. As you can imagine, this is very emotional for those beekeepers, who have also been prevented from selling their massive inventories of honey on hand.
> 
> The Department of Primary Industries appears to be doing a good job of "contact tracing"(epidemiological links) and so far, all detections have been linked to these two operations. The key issue is to define the perimeter of how far mites have drifted from those infested colonies. My own tracking of marked bees indicates that there is considerable drift of bees from hive to hive to at least a half mile, and some to a mile. Not to mention that a bee carrying a mite can forage for several miles away from its hive, and perhaps bump into another uninfested bee on a flower.
> 
> The obvious questions are whether mites have gotten outside of the containment zone, or established in the feral population. If they are still limited to a small zone, there's a feasible chance of eradication. The concern is that it is currently winter in Australia, and some of the infested hives had high enough mite counts that it's obvious that they've had varroa since at least early last summer. This would have allowed time for considerable drift, perhaps into the hobby sector in Newcastle.
> 
> Those of us who have lived through the invasions of tracheal and varroa mites understand the futility of eradication if a mite is already well-established. The offspring of even a single female mite can relatively quickly spread throughout a continent, especially if aided by inadvertent human transportation.
> 
> For better detection screening, the DPI just received a large shipment of stickyboards from the U.S. (which I've made clear are more efficacious at detection than are alcohol washes). They are also working on getting registered colony treatments into the country. I hung out the past few days with one supplier in North America, whose phone was ringing off the hook for requests by Australian beekeeping supply houses.
> 
> When I was asked several years ago by the Department for recommendations for their incursion plans, I made the point that if they were not willing to take strong actions -- including using fipronil bait stations to kill feral colonies -- that their chances of eradication would be zero.
> Although I have only had indirect communication with the DPI during this incursion, I am encouraged that they are indeed preparing to perform such baiting.
> 
> The commercial beekeepers in the country are well aware that the possibility of complete eradication are slim, but it's clear that the agency, based upon lack of detections outside the containment zone, feels that they still have a fighting chance.
> 
> Since beekeepers will soon need to start moving colonies to pollinate the almond orchards, restrictions on movement will need to be put into place, to prevent the dispersion of varroa throughout the country. We all know that it only takes a single beekeeper to screw it up for an entire continent, so let's cross our fingers that none do!
> 
> Aussie beekeepers have enjoyed having their honey and beeswax being miticide free. Suggestions have been made for treating all hives going to almond pollination with Apivar strips. There is of course pushback, since beekeepers don't want residues in their hive products.
> 
> A big question is whether the strain of mites in the incursion are resistant to any miticides, so tests are being performed. If the introduced mites are "amitraz-naive" this might be a worthwhile consideration, since such treatment in my own amitraz-free operation can actually completely eliminate every mite from a colony.
> 
> If there are any Aussie beekeepers reading this, here are some suggestions:
> 
> Keep a cool head. The DPI appears to be well informed, and doing a good job. I commend them for trying to act with transparency, and keeping the public informed. Beekeepers can help them by cooperating fully, especially since since there will be agents unfamiliar with bees.
> Since most Aussie beekeepers are completely unfamiliar with mites, they should view photos of mites in alcohol washes or on stickyboards, to train their eyes to recognize them. They are difficult for the untrained eye to spot, and you don't want to miss a single one!
> Alcohol washes or sugar shakes of 300 bees can easily miss a low-level infestation. An "accelerated" stickyboard count, using formic acid, rapid-release amitraz, or even whole-colony sugar dusting, will have fewer false negatives.
> Speaking as one who performs thousands of mite washes, best recovery is with either high-proof alcohol (90%) or Dawn Ultra detergent (which we prefer, since it gives the best recovery, is inexpensive, and not flammable). *I highly recommend using Dawn over alcohol. It requires very little agitation, so far less work on the beekeeper's part.* Refer to the following
> An Improved, But Not Yet Perfect, Varroa Mite Washer - Scientific Beekeeping
> Refining the Mite Wash: Part 4 - Comparing the Release Agents - Scientific Beekeeping
> Although the chance of eradication of this incursion are slim, it is still possible, and well worth making the effort.
> Beekeepers who are required to have their colonies euthanized will be compensated, and should consider the sacrifice to be a heroic effort to save their industry. Australia will inevitably get infested by varroa, but the longer they can avoid it, the better for the beekeepers. Let's all root for success in this containment and eradication of this incursion!


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## grozzie2

ifixoldhouses said:


> Australian bees won't have any resistance whatsoever, I


So they will be just like the bees in North America in that respect.


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## ifixoldhouses

grozzie2 said:


> So they will be just like the bees in North America in that respect.


We've been breeding for resistance for 20 years, They would be starting from scratch.


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## johno

We have made very little progress in those 20 years, the ones that I have tried would not survive without treatments.


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## grozzie2

ifixoldhouses said:


> We've been breeding for resistance for 20 years, They would be starting from scratch.


And if any progress had been made in that 20 years, we would all have bees which are not bothered by varroa. Reality is, those bees dont exist except in the minds of a few folks peddling fairy tales to the gullible.


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## Litsinger

johno said:


> We have made very little progress in those 20 years, the ones that I have tried would not survive without treatments.





grozzie2 said:


> And if any progress had been made in that 20 years, we would all have bees which are not bothered by varroa.


Not itching for a fight, but two points on this score:

1. This particular thread is about a guy in Australia looking for some common sense advice about what to prepare for regarding the prospect of varroa becoming endemic in his area- not an argument on the merits of TF.

2. To say there has been no progress is in my opinion an obfuscation. It is fair in my opinion to say that progress has been slow and uneven, but not nonexistent. From a recent exchange on this topic:



Litsinger said:


> Whether it is the excellent results that have been obtained by the University of Guelph Low Varroa Growth program, the yeoman's work that Randy Oliver is doing on this front, the optimistic opinion of Dr. Büchler regarding the future for a genetic solution to the varroa menace (starting at the 32:35 mark of the ‘Two Bees in a Podcast’), or the market-driven model of the Hilo Bees program I have reason to be willing to at least keep an open mind about the prospect of a genetic future for resistant bees in my lifetime


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## ifixoldhouses

I don't think any bee is treatment free, but we’ve been working towards it for "x" amount of years, where their bees have no idea, I don't think it will be good, ie massive losses.


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## William Bagwell

ifixoldhouses said:


> I don't think any bee is treatment free, but we’ve been working towards it for "x" amount of years, where their bees have no idea, I don't think it will be good, ie massive losses.


Depends on which virus the mites brought with them. Have read that early on in the US bees could tolerate huge mite counts compared to today.


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## AHudd

@Litsinger, were those bees you marked and released Drones or workers or both.
Thanks, Alex


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## johno

Litsinger, just being practical and replying to the post about the progress we have made in 20 years, not anything about TF. Australians need to know that if this mite is not eradicated that their bees ane not going to find an answer, they are going to need a great deal of help from beekeepers. This mite has proved to be a survivor and will be difficult to stop once infestation begins. Yes the viruses around the Australian bees will play a large part in how deadly the mites will become.


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## Gray Goose

seems to me eradicating the 1000's of feral colonies is going to slow down the "getting VSH bees"
the 3 % that survive to repopulate, can be the basis of the resistance And a Better DCA.
IMO "the bees are in danger" kill them all, ends the same way No Bees.
If mites really have been there since last summer in their locale, seems the horse is out of the barn.
genetic diversity may offer better hope,, than killing all the bees.

they do have the 20 years of efforts the rest of the world had done, and can Import queens, and seeman to start a breading program.

reality is in my ever to be humble opinion, better than wishing and hoping.

and how did the mites get there, has that been determined, if not they could get there again.
Imported flowers, in clothing of travelers, etc
off a boat or plane but on what medium.
hard to be part of the travel world , BUT separate.

GG


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## Litsinger

johno said:


> ... just being practical and replying to the post about the progress we have made in 20 years, not anything about TF.


Thanks for the feedback @johno. I do appreciate it.

I'll freely admit I might be a little touchy when it comes to the TF debate. It's a character flaw, but I'm working on it.


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## Litsinger

AHudd said:


> ... were those bees you marked and released Drones or workers or both.


Alex- didn't want you to think I was ignoring your post. Do you mind to clarify the question? I'm not sure I'm tracking with you, but I'm a little slow on the uptake at times too.


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## ursa_minor

Litsinger said:


> I'll freely admit I might be a little touchy when it comes to the TF debate. It's a character flaw, but I'm working on it.


Don't be so hard on yourself, IMO you are one of the most patient, kind and level headed commenters on here.


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## grozzie2

Litsinger said:


> Not itching for a fight, but two points on this score:
> 
> 1. This particular thread is about a guy in Australia looking for some common sense advice about what to prepare for regarding the prospect of varroa becoming endemic in his area- not an argument on the merits of TF.


And I did offer what I consider sound advice. Read up on dealing with varroa, it's going to arrive, the only question is when. I never once said anything about TF, but you seem to read that into every commenters comments all the time.

That's a big part of why I dont participate much here any more. Doesn't seem to matter what one says these days, the TF zealots take offense to it if one is not bowing to the teachings of the TF hucksters.

I'm recently back from a fairly long beesource hiatus, and likely to go on another because I get fed up with all the TF bovine excrement always jumping into every thread when it has nothing to do with the topic.


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## Litsinger

ursa_minor said:


> Don't be so hard on yourself, IMO you are one of the most patient, kind and level headed commenters on here.


Thank you for your kind words, @ursa_minor. I appreciate it.


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## Litsinger

grozzie2 said:


> That's a big part of why I dont participate much here any more.


@grozzie2:

My sincerest apologies to you for misinterpreting your comments. I do enjoy your posts and insight and hope you'll stick around.


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## AHudd

Litsinger said:


> Alex- didn't want you to think I was ignoring your post. Do you mind to clarify the question? I'm not sure I'm tracking with you, but I'm a little slow on the uptake at times too.


I'll backtrack to make sure I understood what I thought I read. BRB

Alex


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## AHudd

@Litsinger, post #5, after looking again, I think you were quoting Randy Oliver. 

Alex


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## Litsinger

AHudd said:


> @Litsinger, post #5, after looking again, I think you were quoting Randy Oliver.


Thanks for the clarification, Alex. I went back and edited the post with quotes to highlight Randy's comments. @Rader Sidetrack has cleaned this up for me before and now I finally figured out how to do it without the assist.


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## Bane

elmer_fud said:


> I am not sure if I can help with the splitting question.
> 
> I would be tempted to put robber screens on all of your hives so you don't have as much drifting between hives and minimize the chance of varro comming in from drifting bees. Varo can also be picked up on flowers and other ways, so this is not a guarentee to help though. Based on the fact that is sounds like the Australia government is burning everything, I suspect it will either be continue life the same way (without mites) or you are going to lose everything to the government burning them. If the government is burning everything I am not sure that I would even worry about treatment at this point because it will not be needed regardless of if you have mites show up in your hives or not.
> 
> Hopefully this is not to bleak of a picture, but this is my observations looking from the outside.
> 
> There is a thread on this here, but it does not cover what you are asking. It might provide some useful info though
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Varroa in NSW
> 
> 
> could have one on your suit, go a few miles to a new spot and check a hive and the mite hops of the suit and into the hive. IE mite migration device. GG makes sense. I guess I was thinking of only working one bee yard at a time/day/ect and not moving between them a lot without the ability to...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.beesource.com


light your governments rear end on fire. Perhaps they are idiots, but most places have methods of halting and containing mites. It does not sound like it is the Mites your government is after, rather the BEES . . .


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## No tears

I think this thread has gone off topic guys. I live about 100km from the epicentre of this out break. The DPI is certainly doing all they can to stop the spread of varroa. At every new infection they find they put up a 10km radius zone where all bees are to be destroyed and outside of that is a 25 km zone where all hives must be reported including know wild hives for inspection then there’s another 25km ring around where all hives must also be reported. The whole state of NSW is in lockdown and no one is allowed to touch their hive other than to do varroa inspection. They are also deploying fipranol baiting to eradicate the wild hives. So far all outbreaks are directly traceable to the Newcastle outbreak even though they have spread out to different areas. They where all hive moved recently but before the varroa was detected. They seem to be hopeful they can still get it under control. 🤞


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## No tears

One question I do have is how long did it take for varroa to spread across America and what was the mortality rate in the first wave. The bad thing for us is that DPI suspects the varroa that arrived here is carrying deformed wing virus.


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## joebeewhisperer

Litsinger said:


> Thanks for the feedback @johno. I do appreciate it.
> 
> I'll freely admit I might be a little touchy when it comes to the TF debate. It's a character flaw, but I'm working on it.


I have some opinions, based on raising bees in an isolated area of middle TN USA at 2000’ (609m) elevation. Average winter probably has 60-80 days with temps below freezing, but some flying days mixed here and there. So fairly mild, but a real winter. This becomes relevant in separating bees that brood, from bees which go broodless in the cold.

Ok first off, several million colonies are shipped around in the US, every single year. Higher losses (particularly in winter) have become normal, and management practices have evolved with this fact vs pre-Varroa days.

Folks who own/manage/run 1000 hives will have roughly the same numbers next year, just like last year. As troublesome and expensive as this process has become, it is well-documented so you are not going from scratch.

I have bees that I’m convinced are significantly less vulnerable to varroa, but the chief advantage is at least 1 and often 2 brood breaks. Move these cold weather bees to Miami FL, and they would be 10% better than Italians, rather than 60% (just pulling wild numbers out of the air).

If I were on a continent where they haven’t existed, I’d probably be experimenting in some small capacity with new genetics. But I would be more inclined to keep the stock I like, and come up with a treatment regimen. Especially if the climate allows for brooding more-or-less year-round

I personally don’t think eradicating hives is the answer, simply because it’s been tried here (Pacific NW comes to mind) and failed. But I don’t know a good way to go about it. But I would plan to treat, at least until I’m adjusted.


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## Dave McDonough

Has anyone used oxalic acid strips as per Randy Oliver’s research? He seams to have great results in 222 hives tested.


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## vpetemo

Frankly, it is amazing that the little critters never made there due to the fact that you are down under se Asia where they come from.


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## drummerboy

Splitting all winter surviving colonies was the only method we used to control mites for two decades....That lasted until another beekeeper moved in several yards around us in 2015-16, infecting our bees with mites and ? Who knows what?

That bee -'killer' is gone, his bees all died the first year and we began treating 'lightly' after loosing way too many colonies, while still splitting 'every single' survivor, even the small ones that under better conditions would have been combined or dumped. 

We are convinced that annual brood breaks, either by splitting or allowing bees to swarm will be the way forward.

imho; as long as 'treated' bees don't move back into our area (i'm assuming that any ferrels have passed on), we may be able to recover and return to less intrusive methods of controlling mites. 

....Alas, that is the hope.

Good Luck Australia!


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## HaplozygousNut

Australia might allow some imports of Varroa resistant bees because of this. African bees would be a good candidate for the tropical or subtropical climate in North Eastern Australia. For cold hardiness down south in Australia, you might need a South African strain of African bee, which has Cape bee genetics mixed in (Genetic diversity and population structure of two subspecies of western honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) in the Republic of South Africa as revealed by microsatellite genotyping). Or maybe you can find another kind of Varroa resistant bee good for summer dormancy, such as the Saharan bees of Northwest Africa. I am assuming that Australia gets a summer dearth because of the hot and dry climate.

The Malagasy bee is said to be good for Varroa. They get a mild winter in Madagascar like in parts of Australia.




 We have fully Varroa resistant bees where I am in central North Carolina. Although all my neighbor beekeepers and beekeepers at all the bee clubs here have Varroa susceptible bees. You have to get the feral population through swarms or breeding down a few generations to get the Varroa resistant genetics here in North Carolina where I am.


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## HaplozygousNut

Dave McDonough said:


> Has anyone used oxalic acid strips as per Randy Oliver’s research? He seams to have great results in 222 hives tested.


The beekeeper that I bought bees from years ago used Black walnut smoke to treat his hives. From what I understand it worked well for him. There is also Creosote smoke that works to kill mites:





USDA ARS Online Magazine Vol. 45, No. 8







agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov




.
_*
"Creosote bush smoke achieves a 90 to 100 percent mite knockdown after 1 minute, but Eischen says that excessive exposure can harm the bees. "It's similar to burning tobacco in that respect," he says. "It's hard to find chemicals that remove mites without harming bees."*_


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## ursa_minor

Joseph Clemens said:


> NP, it's a question that's been on my mind for a very long time.
> 
> No matter that we haven't yet had any noticeable amount of precipitation, since January, yet. There are always some of those Creosote Bushes that are in bloom. It's like Spring dandelion bloom, in many other locations, but here, it is year-'round.
> 
> I sure wish I could remember which plant, it is, that has nectar the color of fluorescent automobile antifreeze.





HaplozygousNut said:


> "Creosote bush smoke achieves a 90 to 100 percent mite knockdown after 1 minute, but Eischen says that excessive exposure can harm the bees. "It's similar to burning tobacco in that respect," he says. "It's hard to find chemicals that remove mites without harming bees."


Ok, on a thread talking about why Mr. Clemens bees are successfully TF I came across the top quote from him, then on this thread there was the bottom quote, Hmmmm??? is there a link with Joseph Clemens TF success and the Creasote bush?

ETA, I don't believe he uses the bush to smoke his bees do the bees use either the nectar or pollen and could the prolonged use, as he states is all year round be a benefit?


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## bushpilot

Two words, oxalic acid.


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## ursa_minor

bushpilot said:


> Two words, oxalic acid.


Absolutely Oxalic Acid would help and is a great treatment but it is not without it's own failings, needing repeated treatments is one of them, safety to the beekeeper is another. 

It would be interesting to find that there was something that works which the bees themselves gather.


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## drummerboy

ursa_minor said:


> Absolutely Oxalic Acid would help and is a great treatment but it is not without it's own failings, needing repeated treatments is one of them, safety to the beekeeper is another.
> 
> It would be interesting to find that there was something that works which the bees themselves gather.


imho; If we don't provide the opportunities for bees to correct/control mites (and many other problems) it will take much longer for them (and us) to figure it out.

Example; Bees figured out tracheal mites without our assistance. 

Are varroa mites more or less of a concern? 

Are we humans just too impatient? Do we think we know better than bees?


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## HaplozygousNut

Here, I found an article talking about Sarahan bee's resistance to Varroa (http://cetam.fr/site/2010/07/24/sauvegarde-de-labeille-saharienne/):
_*"Bien que les apiculteurs ne traitent pas contre le varroa, nous n’avons d’ailleurs pas constaté de prolifération de varroas ni la moindre abeille atrophiée dans les ruches."*_

Translation from French:
_*"Although beekeepers do not treat against varroa, we did not notice any proliferation of varroa nor the slightest atrophied bee in the hives. "*_

Saharan bees are in the African lineage, and related to the African bee. But they are cold hardy. I have read from here (Mitochondrial genome of the North African Sahara Honeybee, Apis mellifera sahariensis (Hymenoptera: Apidae)) that Saharan bees live in areas where the temperature can get cold:
*"It has the ability to adapt to extreme conditions like temperatures in Saharan zones ranging from −10 °C to over 50 °C to drought conditions (Adjlane et al. 2016) and high altitudes (Haccour 1960)."*

A video of probably Saharan bees:


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## grozzie2

I cant speak for the folks in Australia, but speaking for myself. I'd rather deal with varroa on apis milleiera vs dealing with scutellata.

Just my opinion.


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## GregB

As the fight against varroa mite ramps up, researchers hope to develop honey bee-safe pesticide to control it - ABC News


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## HaplozygousNut

grozzie2 said:


> I cant speak for the folks in Australia, but speaking for myself. I'd rather deal with varroa on apis milleiera vs dealing with scutellata.
> 
> Just my opinion.


The African bees are famous for their aggression, but there are some gentle A. m. scutellata populations, too. I saw a photo in a bee magazine of a person going into a colony without gloves somewhere in Central America where African bees are dominant. I also read about a person taking off her veil while taking out an African bee colony (?) from a hollow in the side of a hill somewhere in Latin America in a bee magazine, if I remember rightly. 

I showed a gentle nucleus colony here in North Carolina to a person from Uganda years ago, and he commented that the bees in Uganda are not aggressive like our bees. 

Here is an Australian (?) beekeeper that has experience with A. m. adansonii from West Africa. A. m. adansonii are also famous for their aggression just like A. m. scutellata. 








emo_snal


emo_snal - the new blog in LiveJournal. There should be new interesting records soon.




emo-snal.livejournal.com




Quote:
_*"These bees run off of any piece of comb as soon as we begin to remove it, so that by the time we’ve removed it from the hive and are holding it up there are few bees on it. Once we’ve finished going through a hive here nearly all the bees are handing in a clump underneath the hive box. The European honeybees I’m accustomed to by and large remain on the comb, ideally ignoring the beekeeper (though if one hasn’t blown enough smoke one sign of imminent trouble is that the bees are all looking at you). Even with a stirred up colony of “Africanized” honeybees (AHB), while a lot will lift off to fly combat air patrols, the overwhelming majority at any given time will remain on the comb. While some of these colonies were a bit more aggressive than an ideal European hive, I found none were as bad as the average AHB colony.
I had approached the hive fully suited up, but, finding from the behavior of the bees that there weren’t trying to sting me -- “angry” bees make a distinctively different pitch that becomes very recognizable with beekeeping experience, and the usual accompanying behavior of trying to sting one’s gloves and clothes is usually a give-away-- I carefully exposed first a few inches of my wrist between my glove and sleeve (just in case I’d read the scene wrong and there were prehaps angry bees whose sound was masked by the non-angry bees), and then removed one glove and then both and as a demonstration placed my hand squarely amid the bees crawling across the tops of the topbars in the hive. Many of the trainees first made exclamations of amazement at what I had done, as they had never even attempted to take such a risk, but seeing that I didnt’ get stung many then followed my example. This isn’t merely cowboy show-off antics, but rather I think it’s one of the most important lessons that one should be comfortable with the bees and not entirely in fear of them. There’s a trend in beekeeping training to teach new beekeepers to fully suit up every time but there’s compelling reasons to go bare handed if you can -- for example it’s much easier to manipulate the tools and parts of the hive, and being bare-handed will make you hyper-aware if you’re upsetting the bees, but in this case I really wanted to demonstrate to the trainees that their bees weren’t a fearsome danger to be very afraid of coming in contact with. The trainees with bare hands in the hive around me laughed and grinned and called out to their friends who were away looking at other hives to come see what they were doing."*_

So the strain of African bee matters for traits like gentleness.
Quote from Brother Adam about difference in aggression of different strains within a subspecies:
_*"Perhaps nothing has made the Cyprian bee more unpopular than its irritability. Most strains strongly resent any interference, and this irascibility is just as pronounced in its native habitat. Records of the first imports into Europe, however, laid stress on its remarkable docility, and I found that there are still such good-tempered strains in the Island. Although the Cyprian is probably the most homozygous race known, my enquiry has revealed a measure of variation. There are many deep valleys where individual isolation is as complete as that of the Island itself. These isolated pockets hold the material for the further improvement of the Cyprian race; it should be possible by suitable selection to develop strains as gentle and as tolerant of manipulation as any Italian."*_


But there likely will be "hot" hives when mixing of foreign gene pools. Even with the gentle Italian bee this happens. Brother Adam wrote about beekeepers in Turkey importing Italian bees, then getting aggressive or "hot" hives. They blamed it on the Italian bee and stopped raising Italian bees because of this. It is from hybrid vigor.

Quote from Brother Adam: (http://www.pedigreeapis.org/biblio/books/voyages/4voy/en.shtml):

_*"Though so prolific when crossed, the Anatolian is not given to swarming, as our experience has demonstrated. She is also very good tempered, bearing manipulation with the greatest calm and composure, although she definitely resents interference in cold weather and late in the evening. Moreover, with regard to temper, there appears to be a considerable variation in strains, as I could verify myself when in Turkey. But the Anatolian is no exception in this respect; there is to my knowledge no race which does not show up a difference in temper between one strain and another. When unsuitably crossed, or when mated at random to drones of unknown origin, bad temper will result in almost any strain or race."*_



I don't use leather gloves, I started using chemical rubber gloves with the sleeves to them because they keep from riling the bees.

Like these: https://www.amazon.com/LANON-Chemic...s&qid=1648334044&s=hi&sr=1-27&ts_id=393300011 (I got them at about $7 for a pair at Harbor Freight.) Bees love to sting leather and so riles them up. But they slide off the rubber without stinging so much.

Also, I use a three layered full bee suits with a polystyrene fabric in the middle layer. It is very good to keep stings out and the bees don't like to sting it. My sister tried a three layered bee suit without the polystyrene middle fabric and she got a sting through that suit when she walked to the apiary so we gave that suit back. Mann Lake said that it works as well as the polystyrene fabric, but I don't think so. Also, get the long rubber boots to go under the rubber sleeves of the full bee suit legs to keep the bees out.

Face masks also help to keep your breath from riling the bees.





The Saharan bee is related to the African bee, but not aggressive.
Quote from Brother Adam (http://www.pedigreeapis.org/biblio/books/voyages/4voy/en.shtml):

_*"The bees are relatively good-tempered, but rather nervous, particularly in times of dearth. When a hive is opened they run to and fro, just as wasps will when their nest is disturbed. They also fly up in great numbers, but do not act aggressively. Also, when under manipulation, the bees fall off the combs very readily. They seem to have the least foothold of any bees I know. In this respect the Italian bee represents the other extreme — she can only be dislodged with force. One other notable characteristic of sahariensis is its quick flight from the entrance. There is no loitering of any kind — a quality which I believe Baldensberger already noted. She tends to propolize, but not excessively."*_

The Malagasy bees (Apis mellifera unicolor) are also said to be nervous and fly off their comb when manipulated. But they are gentle. You might need to get a strain of Malagasy bee from the high altitude of Madagascar or the southeast part of Madagascar for cold hardiness. Weather map of Madagascar:





Madagascar Weather Map


Animated Madagascar weather map showing 12 day forecast and current weather conditions. Overlay rain, snow, cloud, wind and temperature, city locations and webcams




www.weather-forecast.com




Compare the winter temperature to this weather map of Australia:





Australia Weather Map


Animated Australia weather map showing 12 day forecast and current weather conditions. Overlay rain, snow, cloud, wind and temperature, city locations and webcams




www.weather-forecast.com





There are cold hardy gentle African bees in Uganda on Mount Elgon. But they may not be suited for the hot and dry climate of Australia. They used to be thought to be their own subspecies (Apis mellifera monticola), but are now thought to be only a mountain strain of African bee There are three subspecies of bees in Uganda, _Apis mellifera scutellata_, _Apis mellifera adansonii_, and a new subspecies in the "Y" lineage.

An article about Apis mellifera monticola written by Brother Adam:








Monticola Picture Log


The Buckfast Africa Team. Brother Adam stayed home this time, 1989, when Kenya was visited. The others from left: Bert Thrybom, Erik Bjorklund and Erik Osterlund from Sweden and Michael van der Zee from Holland. It was Africa we visited and of course we took a tour to the big animals...




www.beesource.com





Here are beekeepers in Sweden and Norway using the Brother Adam's line of Mount Elgon/Saharan bee hybrids for Varroa resistance.


beekeeping










Survival of a Commercial small cell and treatment free Beekeeper in Norway - ResistantBees_english







english.resistantbees.es






Quote about the bees of Africa having better resistance for Varroa mites (in_the_making):

_*"The Varroa mite had just arrived to Sweden and scared us as the AIDS of bees, not aid of bees. It's still the big challenge for our western honeybee. Anyway I just got a gut feeling I had to have bees that could handle the mite themselves to be able to continue being a beekeeper. So when Michael van der Zee 1988 wanted to go to Kenya for Monticola bees I looked around in Sweden for people to join the team. I had met van der Zee the year before in connection with Brother Adam getting his honorate doctorate at the Swedish University of Agriculture.*_

*The breeding material we managed to get was aimed for Buckfast Abbey, but also for ourselves. Many contributed with funds, but we also put in money ourselves into the expedition. In March 1989 Dr Bert Thrybom, Erik Bjorklund, Michael van der Zee and I went for two adventurous weeks to the high mountains in Kenya. Why Africa?

There are millions of swarms flying back and forth in Africa as well as more stationary types of bees. The genetic treasury is huge. Man has not been able to erode the genetic variation here through too intense selection and inbreeding. A small fraction, and not the best one, of African genetics were let loose by accident in South America and lay the ground for what Hollywood called killer bees.

The African bee is not the original host of the varroa mite. It is closely related to our western type of bee. It is also an Apis mellifera bee. Not an Apis cerana bee. And this Apis mellifera managed to adapt into a resistant type of bee in only a few years in South America, maybe 5 years or so. Of course it's interesting to find out under what circumstances a mellifera bee in only a few years can develop resistance? Something valuable would be learned.

Anyway, that was the reasoning behind going to Africa for breeding material. Something was present in Africa that made bees develop resistance relatively quickly. We didn't know what. We didn't like aggressive bees or bees that easily absconded, so we went for a bee that doesn't abscond and is relatively easy to handle. We went to the mountains of East Africa, to Kenya.

Later resistance developed in African bees again, now in South Africa, in about 5 years. And now also the Varroa mite has arrived to east Africa and the bees there have shown themselves to tolerate the mite well.

Today we most probably know the cause for the ability to develop varroa resistance quickly. Natural genetic diversity, epigentic processes and small natural cellsize.*

_*We took eggs and young larvae to Sweden and I managed to produce a couple of virgins in late March early April. Dr Thrybom gave the semen glucose to make it movable again after the more than 14 days it had been travelling. He inseminated the queens with Monticola semen. Again larvae from the mating nucs were grafted later in spring and daughters were inseminated, as well as mated naturally still later that year. Many interesting observations were made.

The pheromones of the queens were apparently different as some virgins were not recognized as queens and ignored in the mating nucs. Some larvae were not well fed, some didn't hatch, etc. So I understand we were lucky that we were able to produce the first two at all.

Initial findings told us the development time of the brood was shorter. After some years of selection the stock the bee breeding club and I produced was wintering even better than the Buckfast bees we had before. Surprisingly the new bees also had an even lower swarming tendency. This was in line with the observations made in Africa where the log hives of the Monticolas we saw many times were filled with combs, while the logs of lowland bees (Scutellata) were not.
The conclusion is that if you begin with a big genetic variation and use selection you can get where you want in not too many generations.

The experiences from South America and South Africa make us understand that more processes are going on in the adaptation process than only recombination of nucleus DNA. One process that is much discussed these days, or rather processes, are what is called epigenetics, changes in environment changes how and if genes are expressed. And these changes are inheritable, until the environment changes again. Only nucleus DNA changes can't explain such a rapid development of resistance that the African bees showed in South America and in Africa. The epigenetical systems must be very powerful in adaptatation processes. That also makes us understand that the kind of bees we want are those that have adapted to the environment where they live."*_

These different kinds of bees are not bad in honey production. They may even do better in honey production than the Italian bee in the tropical rainforest climate of northeastern Australia.

Quote about the African bee's honey production (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingless_bee):
_*"The number of active Melipona beekeepers is rapidly declining in favor of the more economical, nonindigenous Africanized Apis mellifera. The high honey yield, 100 kg (220 lbs) or more annually, along with the ease of hive care and ability to create new hives from existing stock, commonly outweighs the negative consequences of "killer bee" hive maintenance."*_

The African bee out did all the other kinds of bees in the tropics of South America, and became established in the wild there. Before the introduction of the African bee, the honeybee was not able to establish itself in the tropical climate of South America. The temperate subspecies already there before the introduction of the African bee were only kept alive by beekeepers, but never thrived, and wild colonies remained scarce there in the tropics.

Here, in the book "Honeybee Ecology", by Thomas D. Seeley, it is written about how well the African bee has done and that it is the dominant bee in the tropical climate of South America:

Page 144,
*"Furthermore, the observation that African bees often cope with local forage dearths by migrating to richer areas, rather than remaining in one location and falling back on food reserves (see below), suggests that they rely less on food storage than do European bees. On the other hand, beekeepers in South Africa (Fletcher 1978) and South America (Michener 1975) report excellent annual honey crops-50 to 200 kilograms per colony-with African bees. Perhaps, though, this reflects certain apicultural manipulations of the bees, such as supplying colonies with a superabundance of empty combs and so has little relevance to the way African bees live in nature."*

Page 141,
_*"Moreover, the honeybees in South America, although they are now evidently pure African bees (at least in northern South America) (Daly 1975, Nunamaker and Wilson 1981)............"
"Of the 26 African queens which escaped in Brazil and constitued the nucleus of the population there, all but one, form Tanzania, came from the vicinity of Pretoria, South Africa (Michener 1982)."*_

Sorry for the long reply! I hope you find it interesting.


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## HaplozygousNut

I recently realized that it could be dangerous for some native species in Australia to import a bee that can live in the tropical rainforest. The honeybee could become invasive and suck up all the nectar sources and compete against other animals like native bees of Australia. So Australia may only want to import temperate climate bees. The Saharan bee might be good. But the African bee has been shown to spreads well in the tropics.


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