Today
it is not a secret to anyone, that the transfer of Varroa mite from the bees
Apis Cerana to the bees Apis Melifera was due to the fact, that people began to
move bee colonies at their discretion, to the places they need, and did not
leave the bees to live in the places, for which they were intended by the Nature, or by the God.
Similarly,
the struggle of beekeepers with Varroa mite and the Collapse of Bee Colonies
caused by the presence of this mite in bee families, looks rather strange and
ridiculous ....
Virtually
all methods of mite control involve the use of chemicals, which are in one form
or another, impact on mites, located on the bees. Unfortunately, all these
methods are powerless to impact on mites, located in closed cells of the combs.
But, as the researchers say, if you will see one mite on a bee, you can be sure
of the presence of another 10 mites in the brood cells.
Thus,
we poison the bees and spoil the honey, but do not affect the mites... 90% of
them will stay alive.... Of course, we kill him a little, reducing the growth
rate of their number ... But ... Should we feed the pharmaceutical companies,
poison the bees, and poison ourselves by using chemicals? Why has the mite now spreads and intensified
so much, that we cannot cope with it ?
It's a fact, that mites can kill the family in a year, if no any measure
is taken !
It's
all about the "modern methods" of beekeeping ... Twenty years ago rural beekeeper did not know
any chemistry, did not reared any queens, did not divide and did not strengthen
his bee families, and received honey as much as nature gave him. Now everything
has changed !
Honey-hungry
"modern" beekeepers manipulate bees and broods, creating
"strong" families in order to get as much honey as possible... It
doesn’t matter that it will be polluted with pesticides, with antibiotics, with
acaricidal drugs .... It doesn’t matter that it cannot be exported because of
its bad quality... But it can be sold to dealers on the domestic market ... But
dealers pay a little, and it is needed more and more honey, in order to justify the costs of care, transportation
and chemistry ... And as a result, we obtain
vicious circle...
How
did beekeepers could escape from this "vicious circle" at the end of
the last century? Easily! The fact is, that thanks to the “natural” methods of
beekeeping used by them, together with minimal treatment of bees with oxalic
acid diluted in water, they managed to hold the mites within the frames, in
which they minimally harmed the family...
And how they did it ?
Firstly,
the dark forest bee, which prevailed previously, is in itself quite
thermophilic, and somewhat "lazy" in contrast with Carnica breed ...
This breed of bees begin to grow brood in
spring later, and start to fly for nectar and for pollen later too.
Accordingly, it does not differ by rapid spring development as Carnica breed
... Under these conditions, a gradual increase in number of brood, limits the
speed of mites development.
Secondly,
natural swarming, which prevailed as a species of breeding of bees, introduced
natural factor, that additionally weakened mites. The fact is that the swarm,
leaving the family, takes with it the fetal queen and 20-30% of all mites that present in the
family. In addition, when a swarm leaves, occurs a natural loss of the mites.
Bees spend a certain amount of time, building combs for the nest. And the queen, after her flight with swarm,
lay eggs with reduced speed. This, in its turn reduces the rate of reproduction
of the mites, which left in the swarm.
Thus,
it can be said, that the swarm has a level of mites presence from about 20 to 25% of the initial amount in
the maternal family. That is, compared to the maternal family, at the end of
May, the swarm is practically almost clear of mites. Until the fall, the amount
of mites will grow, but will not be able to absolutely destroy the family. A
single spraying of bees with formic or oxalic acid before hibernation, will
further reduce the amount of mites on bees, which will start hibernation. So,
in spring, the quantity of mites will not be significant, and the development
of the family will be better than that of the maternal family.
Thirdly,
the part of the family, which remained after the departure of the swarm, loses
20-30% of all the mites without any treatment. This result can't be achieved
even after the most modern chemical treatment. In addition, the family does not
have a fertile queen, and guaranteed three weeks without brood, once again
drastically reduces the amount of the mites in this part of the family. After
all, mites have no place to multiply, but they die with the same speed, as they
always does .... Thus, the quantity of mites in maternal family also significantly
decreases without any treatment. The situation is almost alike as with a swarm
.... A single spraying of bees with formic or oxalic acid before hibernation
will further reduce the amount of mites that will go into winter. So in spring
its quantity will be significant less, and the family will suffer significantly
less too.
And
what are we doing, while using the "modern methods" of beekeeping,
which help the mites to kill our bees?
Firstly,
the early build-up of a large amount of brood, helps to multiply the quantity
of the mites, which, by the beginning of the honey-gathering season, will gain
such strength, that without chemotherapy the family dies already in late
July-early August ...
Secondly,
methods of preventing swarming by dividing families into parts, lead to uniform division of brood infected with mites,
and do not imply a reduction of the quantity of the mites in any part of the
family. The number of mites does not decrease during such kind of process of
increment of the number of bees' families.
Thirdly,
inserting in offshoots of fertile queens, aimed at enhanced development of the
family, including build-up of the
quantity of bees, up to the very beginning of honey collection, also does its
job, depriving the family of three weeks without brood. It also does not lead
to a decrease in the number of mites, but on contrary, leads to a radical
increase in their number ...
Fourthly,
chemical treatments, acting only on the mites, which parasitizing on adult bees, reduce the quantity of mites
not more than10–20% for each treatment, which the mites immediately compensate by a powerful yield of females,
and by increasing resistance to the chemical substances !
All
this shows, that the pursuit of profit, instead of keeping of bees, in
accordance with Nature, , causes more
damages than brings profit ... Such kind
of keeping, kills bees and destroys us,
forcing to eat honey with the remnants of toxic chemicals. Only manufacturers
of chemical drugs remains in profit ...
What
should beekeepers do? If you will ask
us, then we will say the following ...
At
first, we would suggest to amateur beekeepers early diagnosis of the swarming
state using Apivox Smart Monitor device. After this, we would suggest the
family division by analogy with natural swarming. This means - without adding
brood in the swarm and without inserting the fertile queen in to the maternal
family, but to use thoroughbred
non-fertile queens, introducing them into the family, after the bees have
sealed new queen cells, after they loss of old queen! This means the
preservation of close to natural, period
in the family when the brood is absent. It is possible, that this will reduce
honey collection, but will help to avoid the loss of bees ....
By
the way, very similar methods are used now by German beekeepers, who use only
formic acid diluted with water for control of mites. And only once a year ....
They do not use any chemical preparations. This is why they have clean honey,
and more or less healthy bees' colonies.
We
hope, that very soon, we would suggest new methodology of keeping bees, which
will radically suppress the development of mites without the use of any
chemicals. Now Apivox Varroa Eliminator
project works hard on this theme...
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