This week I ordered two three-pound packages of Carniolan bees for spring, 2012, delivery.
Should I expect them to have mites?
If so, would I have been just as well off, mite and/or disease wise, to have caught a swarm and replaced the queen with a new Carniolan queen?
Most packages, if not all, are treated for mites, so don't expect to have a mite problem the first year. Between being treated and a brood break, the first year normally has no mite issues with packages. This is often the root of new beekeepers believing they have a panaceas for whatever mite treatment method they come up with.
Swarms also have a brood break, but the nice thing about swarms is they come ready to rock & roll. Their bellies are full and they are anxious to start building comb. The queen is already accepted and starts laying almost immediately.
Quote from: Robo on August 14, 2011, 04:35:04 PM
Most packages, if not all, are treated for mites, so don't expect to have a mite problem the first year. Between being treated and a brood break, the first year normally has no mite issues with packages. This is often the root of new beekeepers believing they have a panaceas for whatever mite treatment method they come up with.
Swarms also have a brood break, but the nice thing about swarms is they come ready to rock & roll. Their bellies are full and they are anxious to start building comb. The queen is already accepted and starts laying almost immediately.
Thanks, Robo, that's really good to know and a
real relief. When I had hives 30 years ago, before I became deathly (literally) allergic, no longer am, beekeepers did not have these mite problems. What's frustrating is that I used to be well read about beekeeping; now because of time (or possibly senility), I've forgotten so much. Now I have all this new stuff to face... ARG!
New stuff to learn is always fun. :)
>Should I expect them to have mites?
Yes.
>If so, would I have been just as well off, mite and/or disease wise, to have caught a swarm and replaced the queen with a new Carniolan queen?
Yes.
Quote from: Hoosier on August 14, 2011, 07:25:41 PM
Quote from: Robo on August 14, 2011, 04:35:04 PM
Most packages, if not all, are treated for mites, so don't expect to have a mite problem the first year. Between being treated and a brood break, the first year normally has no mite issues with packages. This is often the root of new beekeepers believing they have a panaceas for whatever mite treatment method they come up with.
Swarms also have a brood break, but the nice thing about swarms is they come ready to rock & roll. Their bellies are full and they are anxious to start building comb. The queen is already accepted and starts laying almost immediately.
Thanks, Robo, that's really good to know and a real relief. When I had hives 30 years ago, before I became deathly (literally) allergic, no longer am, beekeepers did not have these mite problems. What's frustrating is that I used to be well read about beekeeping; now because of time (or possibly senility), I've forgotten so much. Now I have all this new stuff to face... ARG!
Out of curiosity, how does one go from being deathly allergic to not allergic?
.
A swarm may be full of mites like a mite porriage, but it is easy to clean the swarm with what ever mite stuff. Oxalic acid is absolutely the best.
Trickling is easy.
To join a swarm and a package is very good because colony will be big and its ability to nurse a big brood area is better than with two separate small colonies.
Question is not about queen's ability to lay but it is mathematics conserning the volume of the ball and ball radius.
Was doing some reading on tracheal mites recently and ran into this article relevant to the topic:
A study from the Journal of Economic Entomology looked at 48 packages from 4 different suppliers (2006). There was variability in the varroa mite counts, drone percentages, and nosema infection when the packages were evaluated. Tracheal mite infection was not detectable in any packages (which makes me a bit concerned about their methods for evaluating this, although standard methods for doing so were referenced in methodology section, and even at only evaluating 25 bees per package for tracheal mites I am surprised they didn't find any)
But varroa mites they did find and at levels that "would exceed the spring treatment threshold in some regions in at least 50% of packages" . . . overall an average of about 5-6 mites per a standard 300 bee ether roll count (They quote 3 mites per standard ether roll count in Washington state as the threshold for treatment).
Severity of nosema infection was variable among packages, but 31% of packages had some level of nosema infection.
Percentage of drones in packages was quite variable from 0% (20 packages) to over 20%.
Data from Strange et al. What's in that package? An evaluation of quality of package honey bee (hymenoptera: Apidae) shipments in the United States. J Econ Entomol 2008;101(30):668-673.
Out of curiosity, how does one go from being deathly allergic to not allergic?
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Luvin Honey, after being hospitalized for the third time following passing out from one sting, I was tested and the doctor said next time I would have seconds to get the shot, not minutes, or I would be dead. After not having been stung for ten years, I was tested again 15-20 years ago. I was/am still allergic, but no longer have to have the shot if stung, I only have to take a pill; however, I still have to have the shot nearby just in case...
Thanks, ALL, for the replies and suggestions.