Whatever direction the MAF and the Government take, from now on beekeeping has changed. No longer can we just leave our bees to do their thing and collect honey when we feel like it. Hives will have to be monitor more closely and those not going ahead will have to be investigated. Disease checks in the spring and autumn will now have to include checks for mites. We will have to pay closer attention to those hives that die out during the winter and determine why they died. Whatever happens, we will all need further education and ongoing practical advice to assist us to live with these mites.

Some of you will be directly affected with movement controls and may be asked to depopulate your hives if the likelihood of eradicating the mite is feasible. Killing a hive that has been a source of wonder and a good family provider is not an easy thing to do. We can all remember the first hive we killed and burnt with AFB. It does not sit easy in the stomach. Then there could be a long wait until you can start again. A very hard and trying time.

If the infestation is too great to be controlled, then we will have to live with it. If this is the case then the rest of the country will, in a few years, have to adopt beekeeping practices that include the use of chemicals to keep their bees alive. From overseas experience, those that don't, soon loose their hives.

I have read the articles circulated to NBA branches and picked out of few points of interest. But before we all go racing off and making changes, we will have to learn about the mite's life cycle and an easy way to measure mite numbers in hives. We will also need information on the population dynamics of this mite for each part of New Zealand. Normally a single mite can reproduce itself 10 fold in a year.

An extract from "Managing Varroa" by MAFF (UK).PB2581 When mite numbers are low, there is no obvious effect on the colony, and infestation is often unnoticeable. But heavily infested colonies may show severe reductions in brood rearing and foraging. Mite populations will increase in poorly managed apiaries until they reach levels that the colonies can no longer tolerate. Colonies then seem to loose social organisation and disband (referred to as colony collapse). The size of the mite population that causes collapse varies greatly between colonies (the reason for this is not fully understood) but may be as low as 2,500 mites.

Mite Invasion The movement of mites in large numbers from heavily infested or collapsing colonies into others nearby, spread by bees plays a key role in rapid mite build-up. It can occur at any time of the year when bees are active.

Colonies rob collapsing colonies in the apiary, or in nearby apiaries. Bees from collapsing colonies abscond from their hive with the robbing bees causing the mite population to increase very rapidly in the robbing colonies.

In areas of high colony density with heavily infested colonies, the rate of mite invasion can be extremely high, and populations may build up to damaging levels within a season.

Not a nice thought considering the outbreak is in a heavily bee populated area. What we require is an inexpensive test that can accurately determine mite numbers and with this information, predict the best time to initiate control methods. Several methods are used overseas to identify mites in hives. These range from removing 100 drone brood pupa with a cappings scraper, Puffing in pipe tobacco smoke and closing the hive for 15 minutes. Mites drop on to a paper sheet or sticky board, Apistan strips with a sticky board, essential oils for detection and control as practiced by the Connecticut beekeepers, A shake method. 200 -300 bees from off the brood frames are shaken in a jar containing a tablespoon of icing sugar for a few minutes to dislodge the mites. The jar is covered with a mesh and the contents tipped on to a piece of paper and examined, and the bees are returned to the hive.

Mites are hard to find when they are in very low levels. The most effective method being strips and sticky boards, (our present system of checking) however this method is quite costly. (A sticky board consists of a card or sticky plastic insert covered by 3-5 mm mesh which, slides in the front of the hive covering the existing floor. The mesh prevents the bees from removing debris so an accurate count can take place. Mites drop on to these and are examined in 24 hours and again after several days).

The UK Ministry recommend to their beekeeper they use either, strips and sticky boards, drone brood uncapping or counting natural mite drop over a period of time. They have had a few years to work out the population dynamics and with computer modeling have produced charts and a handy monitor disc that given a certain population of mites, determines the number of days in which treatment must take place.

While we wait for a decision, there are things that can be done to prepare for a possible mite invasion. Varroa prefer drone brood to breed in, and as part of the initial control, we should endeavor to replace our brood frames, (except for one or two frames) with beautifully drawn worker comb. During the summer the drone comb can be inspected for varroa. Once numbers increase, every week or once a month, depending upon your situation, remove a drone comb frame, cut out or remove the brood, (or freeze for 48 hours). Then return the frame for the bees to clean out/ rebuild so the queen can lay in it again.

If you have been following a management practice of replacing 2-3 frames each year in the brood nest, no change, however for those that haven't, perhaps they should consider ordering replacement frames and get them drawn out above the brood nest this summer.

Another recommendation is to designate which, are your honey supers. No longer should these to be interchanged with those in the brood nest, for after a while, brood nest frames could contain a residue from the chemical treatments.

Honey will have to be removed earlier so strips or other control methods can be used to keep mites at manageable levels.

For those with only a few hives, there are a number of control methods one can adopt. You have the advantage of observing your colonies a lot more frequently and therefore will notice changes in them. Hence, an integrated biotechnical control method (inexpensive but time consuming) can be practiced on them.

One research article from the UK indicated that apparently 40 % of mites are not initially killed when the strips are put into the hive. These mites fall to the bottom board and wait for a bee to come along to catch a ride back into the brood nest. Another article suggested that beekeepers could change the design of the bottom boards to give a 50-mm deep, screened off section at the bottom for the mites to fall into. Putting a ring of Vaseline around the edges can further increase the efficiency of the bottom board as a trap.

One German beekeeper has planted a bed of Nasturtium around his hives and has had no further problems. This is known to work for codlin moth on apple trees, so he tried it for varroa mites and apparently it works for him. Sounds too good to be true but might be worth scientifically checking.

None of the methods mentioned here kill all the mites in a hive. They control them leaving 1 - 10% of mites to repopulate the hive again so it's important to vary the treatments to prevent any chance of the mites developing resistance. The best treatment method is a combination of biotechnical methods and varroacides.

The second year after mites arrive, feral colonies, unmanaged and abandoned hives will become a potential source for re-invasion. Where possible these hives should be destroyed, given away or sold. Thereafter re-invasion is reduced if the same treatment methods are used over a wide area.

This is only a sample of what we will all have to look at if we cannot stop the mite. Fortunately we can call on the research of many other countries to help us. There still will be beekeepers. Lets not get too carried away just yet and concentrate on bringing our hives through to the spring.

Things to do this month Winter down. Dispose of the honey crop. Scrape propolis off frames. Grade and sort combs into brood, honey and damaged frames. Fumigate for wax moth, check for wasps and control the growth around hives. Plan for the next season. Sit your Deca competency test.