Next on our race to finish reviewing last year’s MBA talks is Dr. Meghan Milbrath‘s Planning for Varroa. Oh, how we have dithered over this review. After all, the link we just gave takes you to an online version that is pretty much the same as what we heard minus a few pictures we are not going to try recreating. What could we add to simply pointing our visitors to it and encouraging them to read it? And yet most visitors seem not to follow links. Since Dr. Milbrath begins by pointing out that we are in the midst of a varroa epidemic it seems important that we at least try to provide a summary of sorts.
Here then is the rede as we understand it.
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But I am hardcore treatment-free and my plan is to just let them die. Why should I monitor?
Please do not do that.
For one, these are useful creatures in our care to whom we owe better than an unpleasant, lingering death.
For another, they may have other useful genes which would be lost if varroa resistance were the only criterion considered.
Finally there may be colonies in the area successfully resisting low levels of varroa who, upon robbing your deadout, will acquire a number of hitch-hiking mites and may now succumb to the heavier mite load, losing good resistance genes for not being perfect. You will have made a varroa bomb.
But my bees seem fine. I do not see any mites. Why should I monitor?
Varroa is very hard to see on bees until it is too late. You will not know if you do not monitor.
But my bees have been surviving without interference for years. Why should I monitor?
Congratulations on your good fortune but conditions change. Dr. Milbrath had a bee-yard where a mere annual split was sufficient to keep mite loads low. The bees did the rest. Then one year the mite levels suddenly jumped. A neighbor had abandoned four hives which then died and became varroa bombs. Her own hives would have done likewise had she not caught the change and treated to push levels back to previous values. You will not know if you do not monitor.
But I got my bees from a treatment-free, resistant source. Why should I monitor?
Your conditions are not the conditions of your supplier. Mite pressure in their area may be lower than in yours. They may be able to manage them simply by all the making increase needed to have bees to sell. For whatever reasons, treatment-free success does not always transfer. You will not know if you do not monitor.
But this is a package’s first year. I need not worry until the second year, right?
One, wrong. We have made that mistake. Two, you know the refrain. You will not know if you do not monitor.
OK. My bees died over winter but it was the cold and damp, not mites.
Did you know what to look for when you inspected the deadout? We have used this excuse ourselves. We were wrong.
Fine. I will monitor. I’ll worry about a treatment when I need it. Which I won’t. Because I have good bees.
May your bees never need treatment but if they do, as with many an unexpected misfortune, it is better to have considered options and decided upon a plan well in advance rather than be forced into hasty decisions under pressure.
2018 March 06 at 19:16
Excellent article. Thanks for sharing.
2018 March 07 at 10:26
Happy to spread the information. Dr. Milbrath is an excellent speaker.
Did you also check the “what to look for” link in the winter deadout response? We were dismayed to learn that the crystals we saw were not sugar as we had assumed but varroa pee.
2020 February 28 at 20:13
Just coming back and reading this post again. I haven’t been blogging in a while. Had the good fortune to talk with Dr Milbrath this month at a beekeeping symposium in Alabama. Brilliant speaker.
2018 March 08 at 09:30
Good advice! Thanks for sharing.
2018 March 20 at 17:44
Happy to spread the word.
2018 March 12 at 23:19
Thank you for sharing. Now I know what to look for aside from counting the mites on the grid under the bottom board.
2018 March 20 at 17:43
Glad you found the post useful.
The criticism we hear about counting mites on the bottom board is that while it tells you how many mites fell it does not tell you how many mites remain.
2018 March 23 at 07:14
Excellent article. Glad to see the emphasis on monitoring.
2018 March 23 at 09:38
Happy to spread the word. Monitoring can provide a reality check to those whistling past the beeyard, telling themselves all is well.
2018 July 05 at 15:11
[…] reprised her Plan for Varroa talk from last year to a large and interested audience. Having already written about last year’s version of this talk we need not repeat ourselves but we shall post a few […]
2020 February 28 at 20:12
[…] Plan for Varroa […]