It is acknowledged that mites will reach the Kapiti/Wellington area in 1 - 2 years, so we need to begin our preparations for dealing with it now. The outlook is rather bleak for the first one to two years of mite presence until the initial shock of infection has passed. During this period feral bees will all but disappear, and many colonies will succumb as beekeepers learn new management practices.

Practical steps you can take now to minimise the impact when the varroa mites reach your hives include:

• Making up mesh screen boards and associated hive bases. These will allow you to observe natural or induced mite drop, to can provide early identification of infection, and can be used to guide the timing of treatment with apistan or alternative remedies.
• Replace as much of your brood comb as possible to minimise the amount of drone brood. If your bees insist on building drone comb, then get all of the drone cells on one or two frames. These can be continually removed from the hive just prior to hatching (and replaced with an empty drone frame), Manually uncap and remove the pupating drones plus any mites in order to keep the mite population suppressed.
• Change your management practices so that you don't carry bees (and mites) from one apiary to another. Keep a can of insect spray in your vehicle to kill all bees coming with you when you leave your hives.
• Increased use of pollen traps will assist in mite removal from field bees. (don't forget to empty the pollen trap regularly.
• Use artificial swarming to manage your colonies and prevent mites being carried to other locations. Treat every swarm captured as soon as possible.
• Take honey off your hive immediately after the flow so that treatment for mites can be undertaken. This will give the hive the best opportunity of going into the winter strong and relatively mite free.
• Keep an extra vigilant eye out for foulbrood, as the focus on mites may allow this to be neglected. The presence of mites will weaken hives, and may cause existing low (non-clinical) levels of foulbrood to suddenly become visible.

Remember, mites represent opportunities, as there will be fewer bees but the demand for honey and other bee/hive products will not necessarily reduce.

James Scott