varroa mite in hawai'i

hoku · August 23, 2008, 06:57:43 PM

Bad news today.....Varroa mites have just been found on the Big Island of Hawai'i in Hilo. They had only been on the island of Oahu previously. I guess I will be reading up on the pest posts very soon! There is an article about it in today's online Hawaii Tribune-Herald newspaper if you are interested.

Anyone know how fast I can expect them to spread (I live 25 miles away from Hilo)? Of course, the dept of Ag is taking measures to kill feral hives within a 5 mile radius of Hilo, but I dont have much faith that they has been caught in time.

annette · August 23, 2008, 11:35:12 PM

I am so sorry about this. I cannot answer your questions, do not know. Someone will come forth with the answer soon.

Annette

JP · August 24, 2008, 12:54:20 PM

They're killing all feral hives within a 5 mile radius???!!!!

That is a travesty, there is no way this can be helpful, feral stock a lot of times is regressed stock having been regrssed for quite a while and generally handle varroa, naturally, just fine.

I would be outraged!!

...JP

eri · August 24, 2008, 01:15:05 PM

That's a shame.

More in the article: http://starbulletin.com/2008/08/24/news/story05.html

Kliks, president of the Hawaii Beekeepers Association, said the state should have killed all the bees on Oahu to rid the islands of the pest.

hoku · August 24, 2008, 02:19:05 PM

Yeah, Hawai'i doesn't really have a very good track record of dealing with invasive species in a timely or sensible fashion........here we go again........

TwT · August 24, 2008, 05:00:12 PM

Hate to hear that but with all the free trading going on and 10's of 1000's of cargo ships it was bound to happen sooner or later, just think this might just be the start, SHB's was the last to arrive here, wonder what will be next!!! no place is safe anymore, a ship leaving California or Mexico headed to Hawaii could have a swarm of AHB on it, probably happen one day thats how they got to Florida they think, you just have to be ready mentally to deal with it.

JP · August 24, 2008, 07:18:10 PM

Quote from: eri on August 24, 2008, 01:15:05 PM
That's a shame.

More in the article: http://starbulletin.com/2008/08/24/news/story05.html

Kliks, president of the Hawaii Beekeepers Association, said the state should have killed all the bees on Oahu to rid the islands of the pest.

That's it, hand out sticky traps BUT give all the local beekeepers miticides SO they can help the mites to begin their journey at BECOMING MITICIDE RESISTANT!!!

Where are the organic beekeepers input????

They need to import Michael Bush and fast!!!

...JP

Brian D. Bray · August 26, 2008, 01:23:06 AM

Australia's next.

A recent report in The Varroa Times states that by the year 2012 they will have conquored the world. There will not be a place larger than a postage stamp where bees are not host to Varroa. Varroa, aka the Al Queda of the insect world, has global symbiotic takeover as their goal.

Learn to live with, learn to deal with it in ways that doesn't harm the bees further.

SgtMaj · August 28, 2008, 08:07:54 AM

I hate to agree that killing the bees is the best solution... but in an island situation... I really think it is the best solution... kill all mite host bees on any island infected, and re-colonise with clean bees from the remaining islands next year. Works until the next ship carries the buggers there again.

Definately a tragedy though.

Pi · October 09, 2008, 10:14:23 PM

What's The Varroa Times? Do you have a link?

Michael Bush · October 10, 2008, 07:09:50 AM

The theory is that you can kill all the bees on an island. I think it's very doubtful even on a small one, let alone a big one. One ship in the harbor with an unknown swarm hiding and all your work is undone anyway.

bugleman · January 11, 2009, 10:35:54 PM

Guaranteed the mites didnt' come from a ship. They came from a breeder.

Michael Bush · January 12, 2009, 07:17:05 PM

>Guaranteed the mites didnt' come from a ship. They came from a breeder.

That may be, but the AFB in Florida came from a ship and swarms do come in on ships and the rest of the world is infested with Varroa...

BjornBee · January 12, 2009, 08:02:12 PM

Quote from: Michael Bush on January 12, 2009, 07:17:05 PM
>Guaranteed the mites didnt' come from a ship. They came from a breeder.

That may be, but the AFB in Florida came from a ship and swarms do come in on ships and the rest of the world is infested with Varroa...

Foulbrood, varroa, ships,......what's next? :? I bet someone will throw in some comment about African honey bees next... :-D

rdy-b · January 12, 2009, 11:12:11 PM

nope its not AHB-that we here in cali fear -its the cussed SHB-RDY-B

bugleman · January 13, 2009, 12:03:22 AM

Good Point Mr. Bush.

BjornBee · January 13, 2009, 07:56:42 AM

It's going to be a long winter.... :needhelp:

tlynn · January 30, 2009, 12:08:17 AM

They should have killed all the bees on Oahu? What pay grade do you have to get to come up with genius ideas like that? I can't even get rid of the rats in my attic!

orvette1 · January 30, 2009, 01:42:06 PM

I live on Oahu and have 2 hives. I am just a hobby beekeeper, but I work with some guys who do it as a business. It may seem strange to people who don't live here to hear they want to kill all the bees. The mite didn't come from a breeder, we aren't allowed to import bees, or used equipment here. The mite spreads as fast as the bees in the area. In Hilo they want to kill the bees in a 5 mile circle. However there is a beekeeper who is bringing his hives into that circle and then will move them out when the mac nut has been pollinated. Kona side has very large queen rearing businesses. If the mite gets there, that will be very bad. It may even put some of these guys out of business. They like to be able to say they are completly mite free. They can ship anywhere in the world so far, not so if the mite gets there. I use Apiguard for my hives and it works great since we don't get really cold weather here.

JP · January 30, 2009, 05:46:50 PM

I just don't like the sound of killing all of the feral bees, I guess they are trying to find the cheapest alternative. What about placing swarm traps out and mapping out known feral hives, then removing them. I guess after they bomb the skies these could then be reintroduced.

I experimented with a hive once that had a high mite count. I sealed the hive for 2 weeks or more, can't remember the duration exactly.

They had sbb and feed. The queen stopped laying, any brood had hatched out, mite problem solved. When I opened the hive there were no eggs nor brood. That hive is alive today.

...JP