Mailing list for the Person County Beekeepers Association, Roxboro, NC

[Randall Austin <s.randall.austin AT gmail.com>]

The 2015/2016 Bee Informed Partnership survey results are now on their website <here>.

Notable conclusions from the researchers include:

“Many backyard beekeepers don’t have any varroa control strategies in place. We think this results in colonies collapsing and spreading mites to neighboring colonies that are otherwise well-managed for mites,” said Nathalie Steinhauer, a graduate student in the UMD Department of Entomology who leads the data collection efforts for the annual survey. “We are seeing more evidence to suggest that good beekeepers who take the right steps to control mites are losing colonies in this way, through no fault of their own.”

The observation that bad beekeeping with respect to varroa mite management spills over onto neighboring good beekeepers was also the topic of several academic presentations at the spring NCSBA conference.

Being uninformed about the impact of varroa and varroa-borne viruses on colonies is easy to fix. One tiny place to start is <here>. Of course knowledge by itself isn't enough -- we must also respond to the threat by taking action. Otherwise we are bee-killers, both in our own hives and in our surrounding neighborhoods.

The BIP survey shows that summer losses in poorly managed hives are typically higher than winter losses. This is no surprise at all to those who understand a little varroa mite biology. Not only that, but colonies that die in late summer aren't around to die in winter. This year in particular, if you didn't assess mite infestation levels this spring and didn't apply an appropriate treatment before the honey flow, check the mite levels at the end of the flow (usually by late June in my area) and take action, if needed. Legitimate, effective treatment options are more limited in the hot months but there are still treatments that can be used.

Randall Austin