Sunday, November 3, 2019

"Modern methods of beekeeping - are the main enemy of bees and the helper of Varroa mite" , or "The Collapse of Bee Colonies, was arranged by people"


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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