New way to help honey bees to fight Varroa mites 

I forgot to leave the link to the article. here we go. academic.oup.com/jinsectscience/article/21/6/4/6414651?login=true

I've come to find that feral bee swarms are already varroa resistant, if you live in a rural area and can catch early spring swarms that have branched off from wild feral hives meaning hives untouched by humans living entirely on thier own for years, they are way more hygienic ,diligent at the entrance and create many swarm cells in early spring yet they remain docile unless threatened I believe that thier they key to survival of the domesticated honeybee

Love your approach towards discussing these issues. Science, time, discussions and open minds 👍

I thought the title was " New way to help honey bees to fight V.mites", I was expecting that someone show us one new way of Hygienic behavior to fight Varroa mites . For example to make bees do Autogrooming or Allogrooming. Even though these two methods are not answering the need to fight against Varroa mites, Purdue University came up with another stock which is Ankle biter. I think this type of stock will answer to some extend against varroa mites. The method that it was shown in this video to evaluate the hygienic behavior by chemical compound spray is very unique and better than liquid nitrogen method. In liquid Nitrogen method , we should wait 24 hours in order to count the number of broods which were removed from freezing area. Nice video

The study is, of course, interesting and enriches our knowledge about the life of bees and their parasites. But the method, in my opinion, still leaves a place for the tick to live in the nest of bees. We can press time and pass in a few years what insects go through evolutionary for thousands, but as observations show, parasites love their hosts and do not part with them so easily. Most likely, the ability to separate Varroa mites and bees will appear in third generation apiaries. In this connection, I would like to ask a question to Dr. Wagoner: "Does the Varroa mite have a specific odor by which it could be identified?" If you have the opportunity to ask such a question as the presenter (participant) of the conference, then I will be grateful to you. I cannot do it myself due to the language barrier. Best wishes and greetings from St. Petersburg!

UV light tunnel at the entrance is very effective as well. Although it only deals with foragers, overall mite level drops significantly.

I like your explanation of science. It’s a forever exercise in searching for the truth.

I'm going to try planting thyme in front of my hive in the spring. Saw somewhere to use a mixture of thyme oil and coconut oil on cheesecloth also.

Very well received Dr. H. Science not politicized is just as you explain. A stepped approach to finding a solution to the issue. I believe the ultimate overcoming of Verro will be developed and administered by the bees. As long as we learn to set the conditions in their favor. I have a hunch that uninsulated over ventilated hives are contributing to the problem. Just on overventilation itself the communication and smell system is adversely effected by abnormal and increased air transfer of the hive. Making the detection mechanism more difficult. Even the levels of wanted carbon dioxide by the bees is hampered. Just a thought for consideration. I do appreciate your quest for proven long term solutions.

Paul Staments resource on bees finds that mushroom are a key factor in gut heath mycelium is the key to heathy bees .

Thank you Humberto, it is so important to understand what science is and how science works. I hope everyone gets it!

The varroa mite is easily dealt with by hive design. If you keep your bees in thin walled hives with all the environmental integrity of a cardboard box the varroa mite will thrive. Change that and the mite will fade away. It is well known that the varroa mite does not do well in a humid environment. (The precise mechanism is not known to me). If you put the bee entrance at the top of the brood chamber immediately below the queen excluder a VIBEZ (Ventilated Integrated Bee Entry Zone) is formed and this will serve to make the brood chamber a humid bucket. The only hive type that has this top entry and ventilation is the ZEST hive. If the pupation time of the bees can be reduced this will reduce the time available for the varroa mites to mature in the brood resulting in the exponential collapse of the varroa population. Individual pupa temperature varies over time of day and brood position. Above 37C. the pupa die. Below 29C. the pupa die. At 35C. it takes 10-11 days to hatch. At 31C. it takes it takes 14-15 days to hatch. 35C. is ideal. Winter time is varroa breeding heaven. Ideally the colony external enclosure will be of an insulated material that also has a thermal weight that carries the heat of the day into the cool of the night and the cool of the night back into the heat of the day. Aerated concrete blocks are ideal having a 39 times better R value than a thin walled hive and 19 times that of a polyhive. The ZEST DIY hive is functionally free of varroa together with the maladies and morbidities that it carries. It enables in honeybees diseases such as Nosema, Acarine and DWV. EFB and EFB have never been reported, but that may be because it is relatively rare. As a proof of concept you can adopt these hive design management techniques to see for yourself the truth of them.

Sorry to say but Ontario Canada has been breeding hygienic bees for over 10 years now. This is not new just most countries are not doing it.

I appreciate all the work you and other scientists are doing. As a treatment free beekeeper, your studies are extremely important to me. Were you at the bee summit in Tsukuba, Japan at the end of 2019? It looked like one of your shots in this video was from there. I was there that year. It was a great fellowship of scientists and beekeepers like me.

This is a good tool for select uncapping-recapping behavior that we see in the brood of resistant strain!

I always let nature do it's thing. I never use chemical treatment. The bees will adapt and overcome if I let them and don't try to get in the way. Thus breeding tougher stronger bees over a few generations. Sort of a acclimated brood and colony. Remember it's not the keeper who has the most honey. It's the keeper who has the best sweetest quality of honey that is best. Quality not quantity you can taste the difference.

I'm glad you explained what science is and how it works

Fun fact: my last name “Imming” actually translates to “Son of a Bee Keeper” in German

Some wild hives are more resistant due to more agressive cleaning, but wild hives tend to not yield as much. We use tea tree oil in food grade petrolium jellie and wiped thin layer on plastic sheet snd slid in enterance, or mixed into canola oil as a spray when the hive is open (light sprits).

How about controlling/eliminating Varroa through (sound) frequency? This would be a very interesting research project.

Liquid nitrogen, I was wondering what I would do with the container of liquid nitrogen I had in my shed ??

Question to beekeepers: did someone make a link between the age of a queen and the mite resistance? I mean, a young queen is she more resistant to mite than an old one?

It is too narrow to only approach hygienic behaviour from the perspective of varroa. Hygienic behaviour is also a good defender against AFB, chalkbrood, sacbrood, etc

What do we know about varroa in feral colonies. What are the varroa levels and how do they affect the bees? How do feral colonies persist without treatment? I have built my apiary through swarm trapping and am curious about varroa in feral bees. Thanks

Love the info. Love your accent. Looking forward to follow up info tonight... even if it will be a couple days late to the party for me.

The problem is that the queen can have multiple genetic sperm partners. She can use different sperm to fertilize her eggs. Each bee will have the genetics of both the queen and the drone. So, each hive population will have multiple combinations of genetic based behavior. You could have a hive with a higher proportion of highly defensive (African defensive genes) or hygienic bees. The hive population is in constant flux as new genetic combinations are born and older combinations naturally die off. The tests performed could have widely varying results depending on the ratio of genetics from particular drone at any given time. Being unable to control who the queen mates with makes breeding for specific characteristics almost impossible.

Another great video Humberto 👍

In 2018 Dr. Jeff Harris was talking about the long research towards finding the response trigger. His talk at the Beekeepers Palm Beach County ran down the hunt. Also you might find Bjørn Dahle's talk "Varroa resistance - experiences from Norway" (WeBInar Danmarks Biavlerforening) interesting. Along with uncapping behavior he mention some resistance bees that maybe be missing an enzyme the mites require to feed/survive. Hence staving the mites as a control. I have no idea how in depth or valid the enzyme research is. But yet another avenue. I have seen none of Dahle's observations elsewhere. But what do I know.

Good stuff my friend!

Honey bees congregate on my spicy oregano blooms. Oregano is a medicinal herb, like maybe a fungicide or something. I think the bees are possibly using it to help with their survival.

I read somewhere about beekeepers putting a thin strip of copper at the entrance of the hive. The minute amounts of copper that the bees picked up when entering killed the mites. Has anyone else seen data on this? It seems like a simple solution if it works.

To date, no one has established a line of truly or meaningfully Varroa-resistant bees. And no one has an answer for how to keep them that way in the normal apiary, which depends on wild mating of queens. The average beekeeper is either buying commercial packages or raising his own bees and does not have large numbers of colonies to screen, nor enough money to ditch the hives that fail the test.

Interesting video. Looking forward to the live feed

I was wondering if the bees that are eating the "diseased larva" are actually Inoculating themselves from whatever disease the larva was infected with.

plant lavender works well i understand mites don,t like it and will jump off , if you plant alot you may windup tasting lavender in your honey

A hive design that results in a high Relative Humidity would do the trick

Verry good

at the end of the day, as colony fitness is increased...

Mites love acidic environments. Perhaps something can be done to make the beehive more alkaline.

I'll beeee❤ there to listen and learn gratefully

Very important work. Thank you.

As a scientist myself I appreciate this video. Let’s keep an eye out for the best evidence.

I've lost a bunch of hives from hive beetles. Will take over a hive and lay maggots that eat bee larva. Have the traps between the frames and also swiffer sheets on top. That's about the only defense we have found that works...err helps the bees

Thanks for this Channel. I just discovered it 👍. I'm a french non-professionnal passionnate beekeeper.

Very good ...

Please ask if this is also relevant to afb, chalk brood and other brood disease's. Of special interest to Australians. Thankyou for your great show never failing to be of interest.

Beekeepers continue asking ,how can they distinguish between Robbers and resident bees? I have an article at American Bee Journal 2018 about " How honey bees fly and steal'. I went through Aerodynamic of honey bees and discover the pattern bees produce are different than resident bees. My point is to discover robbers at the SCOUT stage not at the robbing stage. If anybody need speaker, I will be happy to arrange it. I will pay my expenses.

the mites develop immunity to chemicals.

Great information, thanks!

Grow garlic near the hives.

Aren't solitary bees the most important pollinators. With an almost 100% pollination rate after visiting a flower opposed to honey bees 30%? And rapidly increasing in popularity due to low maintenance?

I wonder in yours and my life time if science will find a way to eradicate varroa for ever ,I hope so , take care Peter Australia 🇦🇺

I have a question for the live. What about the pin test we do in Europe ? Opinions. And l see it every spring.. the hives that keep the bottom board clean as new, when l open them for the first time after winter.. those always end up being the most hygenic, varroa sencitive bees on the pin test

Super interesting. Thank you!

What about thermal treatment for Varroa where you heat the hive up to about 42C-43C for 2.5 to 3 hours to kill the mites?

Am I missing the link to tonight's live? I'd like to join. Thanks!

In Europe we use the so called „Book Scorpions“. Those very little ones kill the Varoa milbes and we need no chemistry to kill them. Greetings from Linz🇦🇹Austria 🇦🇹😎👍🐝🥳🌞✌️😺💪💙 Europe!

Great video! Thanks a lot.

May God help and bless in this work

New spray compound? Of what …..New and safe sounds cool, but do you know what she uses?

The problem isn't the Varroa mite. It's how beekeepers these days hold the bees. The current beehive setup is far from ideal for bees. Bees live in trees and there you have natural predators for the varroa mites.

On science ,perhaps we should be wise and consider the probable motivations behind the financers who pay somtimes large amounts of money to centres of education , we see today more and more conflicts of interest ,however not to throw the baby out with the bathwater I agree on your definition of science and ,yes you have the best u tube channel thank you.

"I am the science"

Essential Oils.

What about disease resistance? People talk about treating to kill mites or bees controlling mite populations, but could a hive have a high miteload and still be healthy because it is resistant to the diseases that varroa spread?

Just make them call help from stick bug lol

where is the link to research papers?

Interesting

We as beekeepers can do VSH testing without liquid nitrogen. VSH has been going on for decades, it just needs to be embraced and enough beekeepers with the discipline to do it.

Fun stuff! Thank you!

I would like to know what is inside the spray that you use in this video and what can I use as beginner for this test?

Thanks so very much for all the information so clearly explained! I live in Santiago, Chile, and I must learn about this craft since my son, who brought the hives, will be away for a couple of years. Question: how come you only protect your face? I got stinged 7 times once, wearing the full gear ( I was careless for just a couple of minutes)!

What spray bottle solution is used?

How do we obtain the spray to test this method?

Although they are aggressive, Russian bees are the best for grooming each other for mites. IMO.

Fungi is what they need

Nice video my friend 👍🤝

Good stuff!

Hi , thanks from France for your chanel ! Do you know if during the first steps of experimentation , they spray a solution made of a frozen larvae in a solvant ? If they did , do you know the result ?

Muito bom esse video.

Moi je vais essayer cette année de planter des plantes répulsives, les produits chimiques, c’est pas top. J’ai déjà installé de la rue, au printemps, je mettrai de l’absinthe, tanaisie et un peu plus tard, de l’artémisia. Là où j’ai ces plantes habituellement, je n’ai pas eu de pucerons, ni cochenille, rien du tout. En revanche, les escargots continent à œuvrer. Mais ça, c’est pas grave.

Will there be a recording of this livestreams presentation you mention. I missed it.

i want work with beekeeper and lrarn beekeping

Selecting bees reduces genome variety. Breeding a lot of queens from the same mother is unhealty for the species

I still don’t understand what you mean 😭

The best brother

Use more native bees. They do a great job.

Brazillian bees are very higienic bees, but defensive too much.

Дуже гарне відео, я слідкую за VSH saskatraz Оліваресів з Орланд. І сам теж буду селекціонувати бджолині лінії таким методом

Best option is to isolate queens for 2 weeks than use Oxalic Acid in the begining of August

Famoso internacionalmente por alguns segundos 6:27 kkk, Parabéns pelo trabalho Humberto, seus vídeos estão melhores a cada dia.

Apple Cider Vinegar .

Já me escrevi no canal blz, legal...

Beekeeping face big challenge , I lost my 750 bee hive last two year , only 100bee Hive remain

I bet ya got

I first saw the freezing of brood to identify bees with good hygienic behaviour at the University of Sussex LASI about 14 years ago with Norman Carrek. Liquid nitrogen is a little difficult to get hold of. Is there something else that we can use?

No paso nada..

Cool

Seems like a lot of trouble when we come just import Asian honey bees

Bee sauna