Varroa Mites

Varroa mite is a problem for bee colonies and something bee keepers all become aware of really fast. Their actual name is Varroa Destructor which gives you a bit of an idea of just how devastating having Varroa can be. Everywhere in the world, except Australia, has Varroa, and it first appeared in Devon, UK. If colonies have Varroa they will die if you don’t treat it.  The mites hide in an uncapped cell and then feed on the brood food and then begin to nibble the larvae itself transferring disease and causing defects. The defects caused are most commonly deformed wings but could also be stunted growth and other problems.
Varroa mites emerge with the new bee, hanging on to its back. The mites then  begin the cycle again by entering a new cell and laying eggs there.

This is Varroa Mite on a larvae. Photo copywrite Zach Huang http://cyberbee.net

This is Varroa Mite on a bee. They look pretty obvious and easy to spot.

I haven’t seen any on our bees. However we have bees with deformed wings. This is really worrying so despite the fact we should have dealt with them in August (but of course we were away) we are only thinking about it now.

Bee keepers choose to treat Varroa with a treatment – of which there are lots – to deal with them. Some of the treatments are only recommended when the ambient (ie outside) temperature is above 10 degrees. Remember the temperature inside the hive will be around 30 degrees as it is kept warm, even in the depths of Winter. The reason for not treating when the temperature is too low is that the bees are less active and simply won’t move the treatment around the hive. So nearly October is not the best time to think about it. We have decided to treat with something called Apistan. This is not temperature dependant and sounds less scary than some of the options which had lots of warnings about what they might do to us! It arrived today and we will put it in at the weekend, ballet, gymnastics and homework permitting!

Oh, and the builders are in.