APIMONDIA 2022 !!!!

Comparative control of three families in one of which the queen is in an isolator on 2 frames.

 In the evening, it was  carried out control procedure in E3, E4, E5 hives in order to find out the difference in brood care between E3, in which the queen is in the isolator, and the other two hives. It was already dark outside at that time, and the temperature was about + 14-15C.

It can be seen that brood care signal in E3, although red, is closest to the zero line. Which corresponds to the fact that it has the least brood. And in E4 there is much more brood than it the other hives, which is noticeable even on the graph in General State Control mode.

Early removal of brood and its influence on the state of Varroa mites population in bee colonies.

In our works, we have repeatedly said that one of the best zootechnical methods for combating Varroa mites without the use of chemicals is the method of removal of sealed brood of worker bees. This method, applied at the right time, allows you to remove from the colony up to 85% of mites and suppress the development of Varroa mites population at the most important moments. Two years of experiments confirmed this fact.

During beekeeping season, there are two critical moments when removing of mite-infested worker brood can significantly improve the health of the colony and slow down the growth rate of the Varroa mites population:

1. The first and main moment is early spring. The efficiency of brood removal at this time has been tested by us for two seasons and is fully confirmed. By removing of 1-2 full frames of sealed brood in April-early May (for rather northern countries), we sharply reduce the possibilities of the Varroa mites population for a sharp increase in future. But two clarifications need to be made here.

• First - it is necessary to remove exactly the complete frame of sealed brood. Our attempts to remove or destroy the earliest sealed brood in the form of small spots on the frames in mid-late April did not give any effect. Apparently too few mites enter this brood to reproduce, and most of the mites were still on bees on other frames away from this small brood spots.

• Second - brood destruction is a poor alternative to brood removal. We have tested this experimentally twice. Having destroyed the cells of the combs with brood, we observed how the mites, which were under the covers of sealed cells, after their destruction, began to spread in all directions in order to climb the bees again later. And although this method will surely kill the second generation of mites in the combs, but the first will be preserved almost completely. We received the second confirmation when in the colony in which in April we destroyed all the early brood that was present on the frames in the form of small spots, by July we got a mites infestation, not much less than in colonies in which no manipulations with brood were made. Thus, it can be argued that removal of brood at the moment it reaches the size of 1-2 frames and is completely sealed, gives the best result for the fight against Varroa mites.

2. The second moment is the summer time after or in the second half of the main honey flow. At this time, the population of mites already had time to increase quite strongly and approximately 85% of it is in the sealed brood of worker bees and drones. At this point, sealed brood removal can cause a significant impact on the mites population. At this time, the number of brood in the colony partially decreases on its own due to the filling of part of the nest with nectar, but, nevertheless, its number is still quite large. When we checked the brood infestation using the method of alcohol wash, we often saw that the infestation of brood was much higher than that of the worker bees. We believe that this concentration of mites is not only due to their number as such, but also due to the reduction of the place suitable for their reproduction. If there is a lot of brood and it is impossible to completely remove it, then it is possible to limit the queen in an isolator with Hannemann bars on 1-2 frames and keep it there until all the brood will come out of the other frames and there will be no other brood in the hive except the brood in isolator. And then, this sealed brood, containing all the mites that were ready for reproduction by age, can be removed. After that, the queen can be released from the isolator to continue laying eggs and prepare the family for wintering. This will clean up the colony before rearing of young generation of bees, which will overwinter and become the basis of the colony in spring. Their infestation will be much less, and wintering will pass without complications.

It should be noted that during the whole summer season it is desirable to have a building frame for the drone brood. Regular removal of drone brood can significantly reduce the number of mites without compromising the working capacity of bee colony. But, this is a classic recipe.

Further, as we wrote earlier, it is important to switch to cold wintering, stopping the late brood rearing. This will not give the mites opportunity to breed an additional young generation which will overwinter on bees, which will endure winter better than old individuals, and which will give much more young mites in spring. Cold wintering will not allow the bees to start brood rearing at the end of winter, which will further increase the interval for mites during which they cannot reproduce, but only die off. If it is possible to keep the bees from brood rearing till the flowering of the first pollen-giving plants, then the bees will start brood rearing in concert and in big quantities. This will allow beekeeper to move on to the phase of first spring removal of sealed brood in the next beekeeping season with much less mites population.

Another factor that is important when applying this method is the egg-laying qualities of the queen. This parameter depends on many conditions, both pedigree and climatic, as well as on the nutrition of the queen and the possibilities of the colony to heat the brood. It should be borne in mind that when applying this method, the best breed is Karnika, whose colonies are characterized by explosive growth in spring, and the queens are able to lay up to 1900 - 2000 eggs per day, that is, almost two full frames. Caucasian queens have the worst egg production, their average productivity is 1600-1700 eggs per day, although this is not unambiguous and depends on various conditions. Egg-laying of queens is maximum with good nutrition and the presence of fresh pollen and nectar, which is consistent with the fact that cold wintering should last until the first pollen-bearing plants bloom. Families of bees in such conditions make up the loss of brood in just a couple of days. Family size also has an effect. It is large families that are able to heat the brood and feed the queen, allowing them to dramatically increase the output of brood and compensate the loss of first sealed brood.

Thus, we are confident, and experiments confirm this, that the timely removal of sealed brood, especially in early spring, can significantly reduce the number of mites and interrupt the chain of their reproduction. That will allow, with the use of our new hive, to reduce the reproductive activity of Varroa mites and stabilize their population at a low level. This will allow, if not completely abandon the chemical treatments of bees, then significantly increase the interval of their life even without minimal chemical treatments, and it is possible that the duration of such intervals can be up to several years.

Quick control of 3 beehives using Apivox Smart Monitor eng

 

An example of monitoring the state of bees during the beginning of the main honey flow

 An example of monitoring the state of bees during the beginning of the main honey flow. The device determines whether the bees use brought honey for their needs or whether it is marketable honey, which they put in honey stores. The control was carried out from the top of the frames. All three families are different in strength and quantity of brood. The result of personal inspection showed that the most honey quantity is in E3 family, in second place was the E4 family. There was no store on the E5 family, which is an offshoot from E3 family.  Inspection showed that the bees fill with honey all free from brood place in the nest.  In addition, the E5 family showed a high degree of mobilization, which confirms its readiness to improve the production of honey.According to the results of control, honey super was installed on the hive of the E5 family.

THE STATE OF QUEENLESSNESS AND SOME FEATURES OF ITS DIAGNOSIS USING ACOUSTIC CONTROL.

As a rule, all beekeepers are interested in diagnosing a condition in which there is no queen in the family. We call this state - the queenlessness of the family. But in fact, not everything is so simple. The fact is that in reality, under normal conditions of life, a family of bees remains without a queen for no more than half an hour or an hour. And only in the case when the queen dies during the period of the absence of brood, usually after wintering, it is possible that in the family can appear worker bees, laying unfertilized eggs.

At first, we will consider the first option as the most characteristic and as the most difficult to diagnose using acoustic control ...

For some reasons, it seems to everyone that when we do not see a queen crawling over the honeycombs and laying eggs, then the bee colony should be excited and the work process in bee colony should be completely destroyed. But really it is not so. Bees are in this state only for about the first half hour or hour after the loss of the queen. They run around the hive and the landing board trying to find her, after which powerful ventilation begins with Nasonov gland open. This is the bees setting up a pheromone "beacon" that should help the queen to find her hive if she is lost when returning from a nuptial flight. If this does not help, then the bees move on to the next stage - the restoration of the queen. We can observe and use this stage when dividing a family or replacing a queen using our Apivox Smart Monitor. On the graph in the mode Readiness to Accept New Queen, we can see how the open brood care signals appear. These are the bees preparing open brood for laying queen cells. They try to prepare all available brood for this. That is why the signal is so strong. Apparently, at this moment they do not yet know which larvae will be selected in order to become new queens. After a while, after about an hour and a half, sometimes after two hours, the signal subsides. The bees chose the larvae and laid the queen cells. The queenless state of the family is over. There are future queens in the family.

Further, as time passes, the signals associated with caring for open brood subside in the bee colony, as the quantity of open brood  becomes less and less. The bees gradually seal the brood. The heating signal usually remains approximately the same, because the total number of brood does not change.

But there is one small feature that can be noticed, especially at a time when the main honey harvest has not yet begun. A stable ventilation signal appears in the family, which can usually be observed during the honey collection. It looks quite characteristic - in the form of a ladder rising from left to right. That is, the peak of the signal is in the range of the most active ventilation. At the same time, exists not very strong heating of the nest, and there is practically no care for open brood. Approximately such a picture is kept until the queen cells are sealed. After that, ventilation abruptly disappears, and the picture becomes the most common without any characteristic signs of the absence of the queen. Let's try to explain it.

We assume that this picture has two components - firstly, the future queens apparently need more air due to the powerful processes that take place during its formation and the growth of the larvae, and secondly, the open brood that needs to be fed almost completely disappears in the colony , and all brought nectar turns into honey. This is what causes the appearance of ventilation very similar to ventilation during honey collection. But when the first factor disappears, that is, after sealing the queen cells, ventilation becomes less intense and stable.

The second variant - the presence in the family of worker bees that lay unfertilized eggs, looks something like this ... 

At first, there is no open and sealed brood in the colony, so there are practically no signals of heating and caring for open brood. The air supply to the nest area, which is not present, also disappears. When some worker bees begin to lay unfertilized eggs throughout the hive, while others begin to care for and feed them, a signal of open brood  care appears. The amoumt of such brood is small compared to the usual state of a normal family, but in the absence of other intensive works, the signal manifests itself in the diagram. This signal is characterized by the fact that, with its low strength, it is very stable and is visible day and night until the family eventually dies.

Thus, we can say that no specific or special signals associated with the absence of a mature queen in the family were observed. This situation can only be indirectly determined by the change in the general background of works in the bee colony.

 

LATE EVENING VENTILATION OF THE NEST BY THE BEES. What is the essence of this phenomenon.

 We all had the opportunity on summer evenings, especially with a good honey flow, to observe how a mass of bees begin to ventilate the hive. A powerful rumble fills the entire apiary and does not subside until the morning. We have always believed that this is the bees remove moisture from the nectar. Not a bad idea... But why don't they do it during the day, at the hottest time of the day, when water from nectar evaporates better? At that time we don't see strong ventilation! It would seem to be a paradox, but no. Everything is logical if we turn to the statement that bees are able to maintain optimal humidity in the hive for hatching brood. We do not know what "sensors" bees have, but we can assume that they sense humidity in conjunction with temperature, that is, they respond to effective temperature, which is the derivative of absolute temperature and humidity.

So, what is actually happening in our belief in the hive and why powerful ventilation begins only in the evening?

During the day, the bees perform their usual work of bringing nectar, which they lay out first of all near open brood. And not because it needs to be fed with fresh nectar, but because water evaporating from it, raises humidity of air around the tender young brood - eggs and young larvae. After all, it is known from the works of scientists that the best survival of eggs and young larvae is observed at a relative humidity of about 90%. At the same time, we assume that the honey collection takes place during the warmest, if not the hottest time of the summer season.

So, what is the reason for this powerful evening ventilation ... And here's what! During the day, at the hottest time, water evaporating from nectar raises the absolute humidity in the hive, but the bees do not notice this yet, since the phenomenon is that they apparently feel not absolute, but relative humidity, and the higher the temperature, the less it gets! The same amount of water vapor dissolved in the same volume of air will show different relative humidity at different temperatures! At high temperatures, it will be much lower than at low! If you cool any room containing water vapor in the atmosphere, then sooner or later dew will occur! The temperature at which this can occur at certain humidity is called the "dew point". That's what bees are afraid of!

In the evening, as the temperature drops to the cold of the night, the bees feel how the relative humidity rises, which can cause vapors to condense into dew. It is this increase in relative humidity that causes the bees to intensively remove getting colder and colder moist air from the hive. That is why there is no need to ventilate the hive during the daytime - after all, at high daytime temperatures, the relative humidity of the air in the hive is not high at all, no matter how much fresh nectar is brought by the bees!

So, it can be argued that the powerful ventilation of the hive in the evening is directly related to both the supply of significant volumes of nectar and a significant decrease in temperature in the evening and at night.

ERRONEOUS CONCEPTION ABOUT COOLING THE NEST BY THE BEES DUE TO HANGING WATER DROPS ON HONEYCOMBS IN THE NEST.

Based on our scientific researches and materials of the works of famous scientists, we believe that the classical theory of cooling the nest by the bees by hanging water droplets on honeycombs is completely untenable!

Insects, being cold-blooded, become active at higher temperatures and therefore "like" hot weather. The fact that the bees ventilate the hive during the day can only mean that in conditions of heat and the corresponding reduced concentration of oxygen in the air, the bees simply need more efficient ventilation! What about water droplets?

It is known that for high-quality hatching of queens in an incubator, a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius is maintained at a relative humidity of 70%. Everyone knows this... But why should one think that some other conditions are needed for the brood of worker bees?

And what does the parameter "humidity" mean? Absolute humidity is the amount of moisture contained in one cubic meter of air. Absolute humidity is used when it is necessary to compare the amount of water in the air at different temperatures or over a wide range of temperatures. Usually measured in g/m³. But due to the fact that at a certain air temperature it can contain only a certain amount of moisture as much as possible (with an increase in temperature, this maximum possible amount of moisture increases, with a decrease in air temperature, the maximum possible amount of moisture decreases), the concept of relative humidity was introduced. Relative humidity is the ratio of the mass fraction of water vapor in the air to the maximum possible at a given temperature.

For us, this means that as the temperature in the bee nest rises, the relative humidity of the air in the nest drops !!!! Thus, when the temperature rises, it becomes necessary, no, not to cool the nest ... The bees need heat, but to humidify the airin the nest!

Water, evaporating, only increases the humidity, which is necessary so that the open brood, with its delicate skin, does not dry out and turn into "dried fruits". That's what the water in the hive is for! That's why the bees begin to carry it in early spring ( when relative humidity can be only 20%) as soon as the first mass brood appears, and not to cool the nest when it's already cold enough in spring!

It seems that this is also the reason why the bees accumulate freshly brought nectar around the brood in summer, and only after a certain amount of water has evaporated, they transfer it to honey supers! Moisture from nectar evaporating creates the necessary humidity around the brood during hot and dry summer days!

Thus, it can be assumed that in springtime, bees carry water not only, and not so much, in order to moisten sugar or soak crystallized honey, but in order to create conditions for growing brood in the absence of a nectar flow, which, drying up, could humidify the air in the nest! Therefore, when we see bees near a puddle, or on a drinking bowl, we can say for sure that an enhanced spring brood hatching has begun!

In summer, bees carrying water into the hive in hot weather become an indicator of the absence of a significant honey flow in nature. The secretion of nectar is weak and its influx into the hive cannot provide natural moisture maintenance in the nest. Additional humidification of the air is required due to the water brought into the hive.

This is what the phenomenon of hanging water droplets on honeycombs by the bees looks like in reality!

 

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WINTER FALL OF VARROA MITES, AND SURVIVAL OF BEE FAMILIES IN THE NEXT SEASON.

As you know, almost all beekeeping societies in Europe and the USA receive recommendations from specialists in the fight against Varroa mites about the quantities of Varroa mites, falling down on sticky board in bee colonies, which can be acceptable in spring time and in summer.

Figures vary from country to country, but in general, free fall of Varroa mites in spring and summer up to 5-10 pieces per day is considered to be acceptable. A mites drop of 25-30 pieces per day is considered to be critical. In our opinion, these figures are too optimistic. In addition, summer is not the most critical part of the season. Beekeeper has the opportunity to reduce the number of mites in one way or another by treating the bees with acaricidal preparations.

Winter season is a completely different matter ... The beekeeper does not have the opportunity to influence the condition of the bees and mites because of rather low temperatures, especially in regions with cold winters. At the same time, mites begin their breeding season in winter in the first, not yet mass, bee brood, which can appear as early as February-March in cold regions. At this time, the beekeeper can neither open the hive, nor carry out the treatment of bees against the mites. But, despite this, all the same, the beekeeper would like to know in what condition his bees are and what he should prepare for with the advent of spring.

In this, he can also be helped by counting of the mites falling on sticky board.

Our studies of free fall of mites in different seasons of the year and fixing what happens to bee colonies after that, showed the following patterns:

Families in which free fall of Varroa mites in winter did not exceed 0.5 mites per day did not experience serious problems until autumn. They gave honey, but approached autumn already with a large number of mites and were rather weak.

Families in which free fall of Varroa mites in winter was in the range of 0.3-0.6 and in any case did not exceed 1.0  mites per day, also experienced the summer season normally, although by autumn they came more weakened and with a big number of mites. Some of them died in winter.

Families in which free fall of Varroa mites in winter was in the range of 1-3 mites per day experienced serious problems already during the main honey flow and often died in July-August after the completion of the main honey flow due to the lack of an influx of young bees, which  died from viral diseases transferred by Varroa mites.

Families in which free fall of Varroa mites in winter exceeded 2.5-3.0 mites per day received serious problems already in April-May, that is, already at the beginning of the summer season, and often died or abandoned brood and scattered in several swarms.

Thus, we can say that control of the mites, falling on sticky board in winter and early spring, can help the beekeeper in assessing the condition of bees and the prospects for their development in future. This can also help to predict how a particular family will use the early and main honey flows. Moreover, such control does not disturb the bees, and can be carried out at any outdoor temperature and weather.

The number of falling mites must be counted for a certain time interval, which can be quite indicative - 14-21 days. Then you need to get the average number of crumbling mites per day. With this averaging, the results will be quite reliable.

 

RECOGNITION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF APIVOX PROJECT IN THE WORLD.

 Apivox Smart Monitor is a unique application for acoustic control of bee colonies, which allows to find out the state of bee family without opening the hive. Thanks to the method, used in the app, it allows not to open the hive of bee colony if it is not necessary, and not to disturb the bees if you do not need to make something inside the hive.

The application by itself, and methods, used in the application, have received the approval and support of a wide variety of communities and organizations in the world.

 

The very first to recognize the importance and significance of our work was the Spanish Beekeeping Community AEA (Asociación Española de Apicultores https://www.aeapicultores.org/), which awarded us third place in the Idea Apicola competition.

Another organization, in which we are honorary members, is the Association for the Conservation of the Caucasian Bee in Georgia. Our work should become an integral part of the system for monitoring beekeeping resources in the country. https://amcinternational.org/apivox_smart_monitor.html

Our articles on the basics of acoustic control, new methods of keeping bees and controlling Varroa mites have been published in various online and print media.

On the European resource for science news and significant projects - CORDIS. https://cordis.europa.eu/search?q=%27glebskij%27&p=1&num=10&srt=Relevance:decreasing

In the USA, our device was mentioned in the section of new developments in beekeeping of one of the most significant magazines Bee Culture. https://www.beeculture.com/product-reviews-4/.

In addition, the US government agency USDA / NIFA / Institute of Food Production and Sustainability has assessed our work as a worthy and much needed project.

  Besides this, we were offered participation in the government project USDA NIFA SBIR. But, unfortunately, we are not an American company and cannot take part in this project and receive grants for it. If only we have a representative office in the United States.

 

Thus, the leading organizations and communities recognized our projects as useful and important for the whole world.

A LITTLE REMARK ABOUT THE USE OF THE MESH BOTTOM IN THE HIVE.

From some time, beekeepers began to use hives with an open bottom, covered with a mesh. Initially, this mesh belonged to the hygienic bottom of the hive, whose task was to collect Varroa mites falling from the bees and to prevent them from returning on the bees.

Then, for some unknown reason, someone decided that the bottom of the hive should be opened. Then, it will be will become cooler in the hive in summer, and in winter the condensation from the inner lid of the hive will drip not to the bottom, but simply to the ground. It would seem like a sensible idea. And many beekeepers decided to try ... Someone started to produce hives with mesh bottom. This is especially true for polyurethane foam hives.

But, dear friends, let's take a look at the life of bees….

Firstly, the bees, like all insects, are cold-blooded. In order to work actively, they need to warm up by doing physical exercises. Bees need to shake and flap their wings, in order to reach their working temperature close to +32-36C. Any cooling of the nest leads to the fact that all vital processes of both bees and brood begin to fade. Bees have to spend time, energy and honey on maintaining the temperature in a holed pipe! And we know how bees do not like it. They try to cover all possible holes which prevent them from maintaining the desired microclimate with propolis.

Secondly, as we know, bees also need a certain moisture to rear brood. When you rear queens in an incubator, you keep the relative humidity up to 70%. Why do you think the rest of brood doesn't need it? It has been scientifically proven that the survival rate of eggs and larvae increases with increasing humidity in the hive. We, by opening the bottom of the hive to all winds, prevent the bees from maintaining the desired humidity.

Thus, by opening the bottom of the hive, we distract the bees from doing work that is useful to them and to us. Instead of collecting honey, they will warm the brood, try to seal all the holes in the hive, and try to keep moisture and heat around the larvae by covering them with a crust from their bodies.

It is scientifically proven that old bees that fly in the field for nectar can bestly heat the nest and warm the brood. This means that instead of flying for honey, they will create a crust from their bodies that protects the brood from cold, wind and dryness.

So is the imaginary coolness created by the open bottom worth the loss of honey and the lag in the development of families?

 

First measurement of autumn 2021 using Winter mode of Apivox Smart Monitor

 

Apivox Smart Monitor. Check of two bee families in the fall.

Cold weather. The temperature is about 12C. Bees don't fly. Ventilation is slightly open in all hives. Most of the bees are inside the "streets" ( between frames). Above the frames there are individual bees. We made control of 2 bee families using Apivox Smart Monitor - families E1 and E3.          

In E1, the bees are calm and busy with in-hive works. When trying to see signals in the Monitoring mode, I had to increase the gain so that a yellow warning icon appeared on the screen. This suggests that diagnostics can sometimes be erroneous due to a very weak signal, but in principle it is still possible to work with the device. In the E1 family, the upper ventilation window is open, while it is quite cold outside. Therefore, we see an increased level of emergency heating, although it is not described in the diagnostics, since the increase is not significant.

In E3, the bees are much calmer and the diagnostics indicate the absence of significant works. It's right. The bees are very quiet. The results of brood control in this family in which we destroyed the rest of sealed brood and slightly opened the upper ventilation window  indicate that there is no open brood at all. The picture absolutely clear and unequivocal.

Acoustic control in the family, in which queen cells were deleted, and in which the worker bees started to lay unfertilized eggs.

 Acoustic control was carried out in the T1.2 family, in which queen cells were deleted, and in which the worker bees started to lay unfertilized eggs. The result was expected. The activity level is very low, although it is present. Brood control in the daytime showed the presence of brood care equal in power to other work in the hive. The center of the graph is near zero. This speaks of weak in strength, but constantly present signals of brood care, which in this situation is scattered over all frames and requires heating and ventilation ... This fully confirms what is written in the book ( Manual) about signals of brood care ...

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Diagnostics of Apivox Smart Monitor device, in the family from which the queen was removed, and a part of brood was taken for making offshoot.

This is a common situation. We made an offshoot with an old queen. The main family was left without a queen and after a while laid queen cells. And this situation is very similar to pre-swarming situation ... There is also a lot of brood in the family and the queen cells are also laid. Everything is very similar. The brood and especially the queen cells require constant intensive heating and despite the excellent work on honey collection, maintaining the temperature regime for rearing of a healthy queen becomes one of the main jobs in the family ... If not the most main one ... After all, the family will die without a healthy queen ...

This situation can be seen if you suddenly decide to get diagnostics using Apivox Smart Monitor in Swarming Control mode ...

Thus, Swarming Control mode can theoretically be used to monitor the conditions for rearing of the queens in family-nursery or in an ordinary family in order to understand how intensively the process of rearing the queens is going and what are - good of not so good they presumably will be...  This mode is differential, and shows what prevails in work inside the hive - brood care, or works related to honey. Accordingly, the longer both arrows are in the red zone, the more time the bees devote to caring for the brood and queen cells.

SMALL PEAKS OF REPRODUCTION OF VARROA MITES AND THE GENERAL TREND IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR POPULATION IN THE FAMILIES OF HONEY BEES.

In early spring of 2021, when we began experiments on suppression of the development of Varroa mites in honeybee colonies, we noticed characteristic trends associated with the reproductive cycles of mites and bees. We called them small peaks of the mites reproduction. These peaks have a negative shape and an interval of about 16-20 days between the negative peak and the positive peaks of the mites drop, and they are associated with the maturation of the bees brood and the gradual release of young bees from the cells. We consider these negative peaks to be the moments of mass entry of Varroa mites into the brood for reproduction.

This statement may raise some doubts. After all, it is theoretically possible that these cycles are associated with the cyclicity of the mites entering the brood for reproduction and, accordingly, leads to the cyclicity of  peaks of the mites mortality... But this is too correct for wildlife ... Even being born almost on the same day, it is unlikely that all the mites will die also in one day. It is not for nothing that scientists talk about the lifespan of the mites equal to 2.5-3 months or about three reproduction cycles in their life ... And again, "approximately"! And there are always exceptions, both in one and the other direction. But most of all, we are convinced of the correctness of our statement by the fact that, according to the graph, at the same exact moments, there are the same minimums in free fall of a young immature mites ... And they are definitely not connected with any previous cycles of reproduction... They die and are thrown away by the bees when young fully matured individuals leave the cells and old females that have lost their strength die. And these peaks ( death and fall of old females and  fall of immature females) are clearly linked to each other. The the dips are also related and are strictly the same for both categories of the mites!

That is why we believe that the dips or negative peaks are associated with the mass entry of founding females into the brood cells, and the following positive peaks of the mites drop are the result of natural death of immature females, as well as old founding females who have lost their last strength in the process of reproduction.

The same peaks are clearly visible on the mites drop plot for 2019-20. They are characterized by a temporary complete, or almost complete, cessation of the fall of old females. This is apparently because they are all in the brood cells for reproduction, and only some of the mites which are feeding on adult bees  unexpectedly die and fall down on sticky board.

 

But besides this, it was noticed, that these peaks, so characteristic in spring, begin to blur and disappear in summer and winter, turning into an almost flat line ... At first this puzzled us, but after thinking and analyzing the data of 2019-21, which we received in our apiary and in the apiary of our partners, we understood the reason for this phenomenon.

The source of this phenomenon, most likely, lies in a fairly simple phenomenon - the lifespan of the mites, which, according to scientists, is 2.5-3.0 months. We have already written, that free fall of the mites which we see at the moment, reflects the process of their birth that took place those same 2.5-3 months ago. Usually, the mites fall,  dead from natural causes. While the mites are young and full of strength, they live, multiply and feed on bees and do not fall down dead or exhausted ... But each reproduction process takes away their vitality ... And after 2-3 months, having worn out enough, they can already die and fall down. Weaker and because of this earlier dying mites make up the small and even drop, which we can see in summer and in winter. And the main, mass death of the mites occurs 2.5-3 months after their birth, and exactly this we observe in the form of two peaks of the mites drop - the spring pre-swarming, and the summer post-honey harvest peaks of the mites drop! Let's see how it happens ...

 

If in the autumn the bees were treated against mites and the wintering was cold, then from January to early April there is a slow and unobtrusive process of mites reproduction in a relatively small amount of brood. The result of this process is the death of a limited number of old mites, plus a small number of mites dying from other natural causes. This creates a small, more or less even mites drop  onto the sticky board. April, May, June, due to the rapid increase in the number of brood in bees, become the months of rapid growth of the mites population ... But it is difficult to notice this from the fall on sticky board ... If in the first half of spring we see the growth of the fall of old females, which have lost their last strength in the process of reproduction , then in the second half of spring season, the fall stops abruptly and drops to almost zero values. This does not mean that there are no mites in the bee colony! This means that the last females of the previous year of birth died out and only young females of Varroa mites, born this year during the winter and early spring, remained in the family of bees! They are full of energy and will not die and fall on sticky board for another 2.5-3 months! This means, that their death and fall will occur only in July, August, September ... Moreover, in the interval between mid-May and July, the fall of the mites will be insignificant, since these mites die before their due date ...

If the wintering was warm and the bees begin to actively grow brood in January, February and March, then the peak of their death and fall will occur in April, May, June, and the peak of the rapid reproduction of the mites and their population growth will occur during the same period. In this case, a dip in free fall of the mites may not occur and, on the contrary, immature individuals will appear in it, which are the sign of a peak in the process of the mites reproduction! In fact, the winter peak of the mites reproduction and the early spring peak will merge into one powerful peak in the mites reproduction, which in practice will most likely lead to the death of the bee colony in late spring or early summer.

Thus, if during the control of free fall of the mites in May, June and July you will see the average values ​​of the number of mites falling per day close to zero, this, unfortunately, does not mean that your bees are free of Varroa mites. This means that the peak of active reproduction of the new generation of the mites has passed and a period of smooth and imperceptible increase in their number has begun. And this will continue until the summer post-honey harvest peak of their reproduction.

Unfortunately, in temperate latitudes this is the time of the main honey harvest and the fight against the mites at this moment is practically impossible. Therefore, the main moments suitable for suppressing the development of Varroa mites are, firstly, the moment of the appearance of the first mass brood in the amount of one, but not more than two brood frames of sealed brood (the end of April), and the end of the honey collection when there is a minimum amount of brood in the nest (August). In the first case, the brood can be removed, and in the second, it can be removed or destroyed. In both cases, the bees have enough time to recuperate the colony both before the main honey flow and before hibernation. The main thing is that new generations of bees will be healthy, and no chemicals will be used.

 

NUMBER OF SMALL PEAKS OF VARROA MITES REPRODUCTION, ALLOWING TO REMOVE SEALED BROOD WITH THE GREATEST EFFICIENCY.

ANALYSIS OF DATA OF THE MITES DROP ON STICKY BOARD DURING THE SEASONS 2019-2020

 Analysis of data obtained during observations in 2019-20 unambiguously confirms the undulating nature of the mites fall, which is directly related to the reproduction process of both the bees and  the mites.

The graph of the average number of Varroa mites falling on the sticky board per day in the E1 family without regard to age - blue graph, and  the average number of immature and young unfertilized Varroa mites falling on a sticky board per day - yellow graph.

 

When analyzing the graphs, it can be seen that periodically,  there are sharp dips in the fall of the mites. This indicates, that the mites have entered the brood cells for reproduction. The deeper the dips, the stronger the mites drop splash will be after that ... The more female mites have entered the cells, the larger the next  waves of the mites drop will be .... Although, as we know, this connection is not direct ... The death and falling of the mites on sticky board occurs 2.5-3 months after their birth, and during this time the female mites  manages to produce 3-4 reproductive cycles ... The cycle looks like this - about 12 days of reproduction in the brood, 12-14 days of feeding on worker bees ... When these cycles coincide in a large number of females, and they all enter the brood together, then the fall decreases sharply by about the same 12 days, and as the young bees start to emerge from the brood, it slowly increases to its peak...

Simultaneously with the growth of free fall, the population of the mites also grows. After all, the larger the population becomes, the more mature females will begin to reproduce and the more they will die off in 2,5-3 months ...

It is also clearly seen on the graph that the fall of immature mites appears only at a high level of infestation, approaching the conditionally permissible maximum. According to the recommendations of the European and American Beekeeping Associations and scientists, up to 5 mites  falling on a sticky board  per day are permissible, and 10 mites per day are considered to be a critical tmount and such a family of bees require urgent treatment. These are more observational than real scientific data, but this is accepted in Europe, England and the United States ... The graph shows that with a small mites drop, we will not see immature individuals on sticky board, but when approaching the upper limit of the permissible range,  you will find on sticky board deutonymphs, immature females and young unfertilized females ... And this is the last warning that it is high time to urgently take action. And it is especially effective at such a moment to remove all sealed brood, immediately after the nearest sharp dip in the everage number of the mites falling on sticky board , which tell us, that  the mites already entered the brood cells for further reproduction! Although, with such a warning, it is already possible to take additional, less environmentally friendly measures such as the use of acaricidal drugs.

For example, let's look at the chart again. We see that in the first year (2019) after receiving the packeges with bees, which were treated with acaricidal preparations in 2018 and had a fairly low quantity of Varroa mites, the family reached the critical point in the size of the mites population only before the beginning of August. This was also helped by the creation of a brood-containing offshoot  from the part of this family. But, if the bees had not reduced rearing  of brood in the fall, then death of the bee family could have occurred already in 2019. Death did not occur and the mites went to winter together with the bees ... The population of the mites successfully overwintered and began to recover imperceptibly in late winter-early spring ... And as we can see, it showed the first massive entry into the brood around April 4, and the warning about the need for urgent action appeared already around April 21 ... The first immature mites  appeared in the mites drop! This means that  the amount of the mites entered the brood cells  on April 4, was very serious !!! A huge number of young mites came out of the cells together with young bees! And indeed, the next generations of the mites finished off this family in May !

Thus, it can be stated that if the beekeeper controls the mites drop on the sticky board, then he has an excellent tool for determining the moments when it is the best time comes to remove sealed brood and remove up to 80% of mites or more from the bee colony ... He is no longer blind and helpless in front of these hidden parasites, and can quite clearly see all the ideal moments for inflicting the most painful blow on them. In addition, it can be stated that there are a lot of such moments, and the beekeeper only needs to choose the moment to strike the mites population, which corresponds to the strength of the bee colony. If the moment of mass entry of the mites  into the brood in spring has come, but the strength of the colony is still insufficient for removal of the brood, then the beekeeper will have to continue controlling the mites drop in order not to miss the next opportune moment. But now we understand that there are several such moments, and having missed one of them, we can always wait for the next appropriate moment. It is always important to know what lies ahead and what we can count on. And this is the path to success in any struggle!

So, what a beekeeper-practitioner should know ...

If, when controlling free fall of the mites on the sticky board, after successive growth, there is a sharp drop in the average number of mites falling on the sticky board per day, then we can say that there has been a massive entry of the mites into the brood for reproduction. With low quantity of the mites population and in springtime, the dip can be up to zero, or to values ​​close to it. In summer and autumn, with a high values of the mites in bee colonies, the drop may not be up to zero, but to values ​​significantly different from the previous trend ... And this means that the best moment has come for removing brood from the colony (or destroying it) in order to sharply decrease the mites population in a colony of bees ...

The duration of such a dip is about 12 days, and if you control the mites drop once every 7-10 days, then you will never miss it!

 

REMOVAL OR DESTROYING OF THE BROOD OF WORKER BEES - WHAT IS THE BEST METHOD OF COMBATING VARROA MITES.

Today we will consider two methods of Varroa mites control, which are based on the destruction of mites that are in the process of reproduction in the brood of worker bees.

One of the methods, namely the sealed brood removal method, has its roots in the beekeeping traditions of Germany. This method is fairly well known for removing drone brood during the pre-swarming season when drone brood is exposed to mite raids. Removal of the frames with drone brood is already a classic of the method. The brood removal method we are working on this year is somewhat more complicated and has 2-3 stages. But it is based on the same actions as when working with drone brood.

The second method came to us from Spain and is practiced by some professional beekeepers who believe that it is faster and more convenient than the brood removal method ... This is a method of destroying the sealed brood of worker bees in the period before honey harvest. This method consists in the fact that the beekeeper, using honey fork or similar, quickly destroys all cells of infected by Varroa mites sealed worker  bee brood on all frames in the nest. The damaged brood is not removed, but the frame is placed back in the nest. It is believed that the mites and all their offsprings will also die in the destroyed cells. After that, a strip impregnated with a slow-acting preparation of amitrase is placed in the nest to treat worker bees from the mites feeding on them.

Let's consider the pros and cons of both methods, which are so close in essence, and so different in execution ...

The brood selection method is somewhat longer than the method of its destruction and requires more resources. If the process of working with nest frames is completely the same - you need to inspect the entire nest and to select all frames with sealed brood, then further actions when shredding the brood are easier and faster. You need to take a fork and quickly destroy the cells and to  damage the brood of bees. When removing brood, it is necessary to select technical colonies for collecting brood and to move the frames with the sealed brood in them. After that, it is necessary to ensure the emergence of young bees from the brood in technical colonies in the absence of new brood, and to treat them with natural acids or acaricides. At the same time, the main families of the apiary will  remain free of chemicals. When the brood is destroyed, the procedure does not end there either ... Strips with amitraz are placed in all hives with destroyed brood, which slowly evaporates and kills some of the mites parasitizing on the bees.

 

Destroyed brood mixed with polen from neighboring cells becomes protein feed for worker bees, who will clean and restore destroyed cells, simultaneously throwing out dead mites ...  But, there is a high probability that the founding female mites in the destroyed cells will not die completely, but will climb on worker bees, who will come to restore these cells ... That is why it is impossible to talk about the real effectiveness of this method. Ideally, it should be equal to the effectiveness of using amitraza in a family without brood, that is, about 80-90 %% ...

The efficiency of removal of sealed brood for families from which it is removed, is approximately 80%, but it can be even higher when removal of the  brood is made at the moment of the first mass entry of the mites into the brood cells for reproduction, when almost all sexually mature wintered females and young females born in winter and early spring if the winter was warm enough ... For technical families, the processing efficiency is also 80-90 %%, depending on what medicine was used .

It is advisable to use both methods on bee families with sufficient strength after leaving wintering. Destruction and removal of sealed brood shifts the development of colonies by 10-15 days, depending on the number of removed or destroyed combs with brood ... Therefore, in both cases, it is important that bee families have enough food, bee bread and bees to accelerate the rearing of a new generation of young bees.

But these two methods have one significant difference ... If during the destruction of the brood you lose a huge number of future bees, then during the removal of the brood, all these bees will be saved and new colonies can be created from them or the very colonies from which we selected them, can be strengthened.  This way the apiary will be more efficient and will collect more honey and give more packages. In addition, when rearing queens, such powerful prefabricated families can be used as a families-rearers for new queens! The removal of the old queen, the exit of all young bees from the cells with their subsequent processing with acids or acaricides, in fact, without any additional operations, turn these technical families into the families-rearers of the queens!

It is important to add here that both of these methods, according to our calculations, will not be effective in a one-time applying and will be only more or less effective in a two-time applying ... This is what we see in practice. Varroa mites from apiaries do not disappear, and at best they only subside until next spring. Let's show this with a simple arithmetic calculation ...

If in the spring of this year there were 100 mites in a family of bees, then processing them in any way with an efficiency of about 85% will reduce their number to 15 pieces. For 6 months of active reproduction, the mites population will grow 2 in the sixth degree times (doubling every month according to scientists) or in 64 times, and if you are not lucky, then in 128 times. Thus, by the end of the season, there will be from 1000 to 1900 mites in the bee colony. With a one-time treatment, 5% per month will die during the winter, or an average of 30%, and in the spring there will be from 700 to 1200 mites in the family, and this will result in death for the bee family in the spring or in the beginning of summer. With a double-time treatment with an efficiency of about 85%, only from 150 to 220 mites will remain by winter, which, after a decrease of 30% during the wintering period, will ensure in spring the presence in the bee family  from 100 to 150 mites. Basically, we're back to where we started ... even a little worse ...

That is why we say that any of the currently existing methods ensures only the preservation of bees and mites in such a way that the bees more or less survive, and the mites continue to feed the manufacturers of chemical preparations! Thus, we believe that the only way to win this battle without watering the bees with bipin ( amitras-based preparation) seven times per season, as some Belarusian producers of packages and honey do, is to reduce the rate of mites reproduction between spring and autumn treatments - that is, in summer! And this is the main goal of our Apivox Varroa Eliminator project.

AN IMPORTANT TENDENCY IN THE STATE OF VARROA MITES FALLING ON THE STICKY BOARD, WHICH CAN BECOME A MARKER OF THE MOMENT, WHEN IT IS THE BEST TIME TO REMOVE SEALED BROOD, WITH THE GOAL TO ELIMINATE VARROA MITES POPULATION IN BEE COLONY.

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.

Control of brood quantity in the middle of April

 In previous article, you saw the results of diagnostic readings of Apivox Smart Monitor, used in brood control mode when no brood was visible in the family, neither open nor sealed.

Today the diagnosis is radically different. In all colonies 1-2 frames of brood, moreover, mostly open. There are not too many sealed brood. 

Pollen appeared in nature and the bees began to actively hatch the brood!