As you know, in 2021, our Apivox Varroa Eliminator project start testing a method of removal of sealed brood to combat Varroa mites. In our experimental apiary, 5 families of bees have been allocated for this. Four of them are in various modifications of our new hive, the fifth (T1) is intended for collecting infected sealed brood, removed from the rest of the colonies. Testing of the technique began in early April, when there was no brood in the families of bees which we use this season at all.
One of the questions we face in the spring is the question of determining the best time to remove sealed brood ... And this is what our observations have shown ... An interesting trend has been noticed ...
In the E1 hive in which we removed the only frame of sealed brood 6 days ago, the old mites continue to fall from the worker bees, as it was during the winter and early spring. But in hives E2 and T1 there was a sharp decrease in mites drop to almost zero ... in E2 already within 11 days, and in T1 already within 6 days !!! But in E2 we did not remove the brood, and in T1, on the contrary, we collect all brood removed from the other hives ... It would seem to be a paradox ... but it is not! Exactly in the E1 hive, in which there is no brood left for reproduction, the mites end their life on flight bees and fall down at about the same rate as when there was no brood at all! In the hives, in which 2-3 frames of brood remained, which were eventually sealed during these days, there was a sharp decline in the fall of the mites ... The graph clearly shows that the brood in the E2 hive was sealed approximately 11 days earlier, and on examination we saw that young bees would begin to hatch soon, while the brood in the T1 hive was sealed 5-6 days later. This can also be seen in the color of the lids ... they are still quite light.
Everything is correct! Apparently, all the old female mites went into the first mass brood for reproduction, and there are practically no mites on the bees !!! There is no one to fall down. Old females that will die off during the breeding process will be thrown out by the bees when cleaning the cells only after the young bees emerge from the brood and will end up on the board under the frames with the brood, again sharply raising the average number of falling mites per day !!!
Thus, a sharp drop, almost to ZERO, of the mites falling on sticky board in spring, when the bees set the first mass brood, indicates that practically all Varroa mites are in the brood cells and the best time has come to remove all them from the bee family !
The only question is the strength of the family, which will be left without sealed brood for about 10-14 days .... But if this happens in mid or late April, then in spite of removal of the sealed brood, which will be restored in about 10-14 days, for family development will remain the whole May with the best weather and food supply. At the same time, the maximum possible number of Varroa mites will be removed from the family. As we can see, they are practically absent on the bees at all. This is evidenced by the absence of the mites falling on sticky board for almost a week or two ...
So, in
essence, we have found the marker that should help practical beekeepers to
define the best time in spring, for
removal of sealed brood, in order to
clean the colony from Varroa mites without the use of chemicals.
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