Frank’s answer to “Is Varro as bad or about the same for bees in the wild (not being kept)?” > Likes and Comments
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Thank you for answering so many of my questions. I was really wondering about this because your book details the cell size of worker bees as 4.7 mm in nature and 5.4 mm when beekeepers provided a starter foundation (I think!). However, the bees will construct the Drone cells to be slightly larger and the Varro prefer conducting their lifecycle business in the drone sized cells. I watched a talk by Palmer of French Hill apiaries. He suggested a method of control that aimed to attack and interrupt the Varroa‘s lifecycle by pulling the queen. The idea was if there weren’t any open larvae cells for the mite to do its thing, they would then just die out. I didn’t understand everything he was saying but I recall wondering that such a tactic would also impact the bees because the queen would be able to lay eggs for a period of time. Even then, since a worker lives around 6 weeks, I questioned the efficacy. Have you had any experience with this approach?
He was referring to a "brood break," which is when you stop the queen from laying eggs to limit the amount of larvae in the hive. Less Larvae = less mites.
It's possible to do this AFTER the honey crop and before the fall, which is when the queen starts to slow down anyway.
Also, in many cold climates with long winters, they have natural brood breaks in the winter, which acts a mite limiter. (For example in Sweden where the winters are long, dark, and cold.)
It is one of the many weapons that can be used to fight the mite. The best thing to remember is that it you have to use many methods to keep the mites in check, and there is not one method that will work on its own.
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Kato
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May 04, 2021 05:12AM
Thank you for answering so many of my questions. I was really wondering about this because your book details the cell size of worker bees as 4.7 mm in nature and 5.4 mm when beekeepers provided a starter foundation (I think!). However, the bees will construct the Drone cells to be slightly larger and the Varro prefer conducting their lifecycle business in the drone sized cells. I watched a talk by Palmer of French Hill apiaries. He suggested a method of control that aimed to attack and interrupt the Varroa‘s lifecycle by pulling the queen. The idea was if there weren’t any open larvae cells for the mite to do its thing, they would then just die out. I didn’t understand everything he was saying but I recall wondering that such a tactic would also impact the bees because the queen would be able to lay eggs for a period of time. Even then, since a worker lives around 6 weeks, I questioned the efficacy. Have you had any experience with this approach?
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He was referring to a "brood break," which is when you stop the queen from laying eggs to limit the amount of larvae in the hive. Less Larvae = less mites. It's possible to do this AFTER the honey crop and before the fall, which is when the queen starts to slow down anyway.
Also, in many cold climates with long winters, they have natural brood breaks in the winter, which acts a mite limiter. (For example in Sweden where the winters are long, dark, and cold.)
It is one of the many weapons that can be used to fight the mite. The best thing to remember is that it you have to use many methods to keep the mites in check, and there is not one method that will work on its own.
