Gah! Varroa
Aug. 29th, 2009 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
doodlemaier posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
bee_folkPoking around at the entrance of the hive this morning I watched the girls drag one of their brothers out and dump him off the edge of the hive stand. He appeared to be newly hatched, covered in that downy fuzz but upon closer inspection I noticed that he was also sporting a reviled hitchhiker - a varroa mite.
The varroa mite resembles very much a tiny deer tick to the naked eye, but to you and I it's the equivalent of having one or more blood-sucking squirrels trapped in our underwear! This is the first time I've ever seen one outside of a photograph. Since hiving the colony in early May I've obviously never seen them attached to any of the workers as they come and go, on any brood, on the any of the comb, or in the hive at all (including at my inspection just last week). Whereas I'm pretty discouraged, I'm reserving the freak-out for better information. I bought my packaged bees, and marked mated queen from Walter T Kelley's bees and I was informed at the time of purchase that they never medicate their bees, which is a practice I'd like to continue if possible. Based on this information I have to assume that varroa has been a part of my hive since its inception. I'm going to take a sugar shake test today or tomorrow and, as soon as possible, introduce a drone brood frame and a screened bottom board. But I'm thinking that it's probably time to, begrudgingly, put in an order for Apistan and Apiguard as well.
The varroa mite resembles very much a tiny deer tick to the naked eye, but to you and I it's the equivalent of having one or more blood-sucking squirrels trapped in our underwear! This is the first time I've ever seen one outside of a photograph. Since hiving the colony in early May I've obviously never seen them attached to any of the workers as they come and go, on any brood, on the any of the comb, or in the hive at all (including at my inspection just last week). Whereas I'm pretty discouraged, I'm reserving the freak-out for better information. I bought my packaged bees, and marked mated queen from Walter T Kelley's bees and I was informed at the time of purchase that they never medicate their bees, which is a practice I'd like to continue if possible. Based on this information I have to assume that varroa has been a part of my hive since its inception. I'm going to take a sugar shake test today or tomorrow and, as soon as possible, introduce a drone brood frame and a screened bottom board. But I'm thinking that it's probably time to, begrudgingly, put in an order for Apistan and Apiguard as well.
