Subject: INFO NEEDED ABOUT VARROA MITE!

From: Kath <[email-masked]>
Date: 24 Apr 1996 05:37:56 GMT

Hi there,
          does anyone have the latest on the situation in the USA 
concerning the varroa mite's impact on beekeeping there?  Has any 
effective means of combatance been found?  

Can somebody please help me.

Thanks heaps

Kath

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From: A. J. deLange <[email-masked]>
Date: 24 Apr 1996 12:04:13 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> Kath,
[email-masked] writes:
>concerning the varroa mite's impact on beekeeping there?  

A disaster.

>Has any 
Fluvalinate, sold in the US under the trade name "Apistan", does the 
job but is expensive and, if you believe all the warning material
that comes with the product, rather dangerous. Honey from a hive
treated with Apistan must not be consumed, etc. Lest that last
sentence be confusing, honey that is in the hive when the Apistan
strips (it comes on a plastic strip about 8 cm wide and 25 cm long)
are placed in it must not be taken. Honey collected after the strips
have been removed is OK.

AJ
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Damon R Hudac)
Date: 25 Apr 1996 05:11:39 GMT

>are placed in it must not be taken. Honey collected after the strips

Apistan strips are placed in the brood chamber for 54 days-two 
life-cycles of the honeybee.  After 54 days, the strips are removed and 
are no longer good.  When honey flow starts, the strips are not used.  
After the flow the strips are replaced into the brood chamber-2 strips 
for every 10 frames.  If you have a double brood chamber, that makes 4 
strips.  However there are some beekeepers that are using apistan strips 
year round.  They replace the 54 day old strips with new strips.  In 
other countries, like Brazil, the beekeepers are permitted touse 3 
different types of poisons, 1st apistan, then formic acid, and some other 
kind I can't remember.  that way the mites can't build a resitance to any 
one poison.  The honey that is produced in those countries is shipped to 
the US with exposure to those different types of poisons and is not 
regulated.  people consume that all the time.  Maybe that's the cause of 
Mad Honey Disease.

If you want any info on mites in the USA, check the Beekeeper Homepage on 
the internet.

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From: [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein)
Date: 25 Apr 1996 11:27:20 GMT

Steps are being taken, both publicly and privately to select and breed for
lines of bees that are V.mite tolerant.  Research is also being conducted
to determine exactly what is happening to the colonies that suddenly
"crash" and dwindle, obviously not from the mite infestation, but from a
pathogen or pathogens vectored by the mite.

Progress is slow as there is _not_ much money available to fund apicultural
research.

Adam

-- 
_________________
Adam Finkelstein                    
[email-masked]

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From: "Federico Berron A." <[email-masked]>
Date: 30 Apr 1996 15:45:48 GMT

[email-masked] writes:
Varroa just appeared in Yucatan and is decimating hives, because of 
two reasons:  government insists on biological control and beekeepers
are 7000 with average of 25 hives each, unorganized and very poor.
Help is wanted on articles (like Journal of American Beekeeping-april
or may 96) and experience.  
Visitors interested to help, welcome, we can arrange
unexpensive stays.   Too much on this mayan beekeeping peoples, since
the spaniards 5 centuries ago, the mexican PRI government with 70
years in power (pale you soviets), africanized bee, chinese influence
in world market prices, and now just when the latter were rising... 
VARROA.   We need urgent action.  All help must appreciated.
FEDERICO BERRON A.