04/05/2026
Varroa mites are now here to stay in Victoria.
Here's a timely message about the need to work together if we are to learn to live with Varroa.
If you keep bees within a 10km radius of us in Dunnstown, feel free to drop in and introduce yourself so we can work together to manage the mite.
Https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BkDisLuUt/
Your neighbor's negligence is the fastest way to kill your own bees.
I don't mean to plant the seed of discord inside beekeeping communities (we are already too few to argue with each other), but this topic is really important.
I strongly think that Varroa management must be viewed as a community obligation rather than a personal choice.
The primary reason for this collective failure is the "mite bomb" phenomenon caused by collapsing hives.
When a beekeeper refuses to treat, their colony eventually crashes, and the remaining bees are robbed by stronger colonies from miles away.
These robbing bees bring home thousands of mites, effectively undoing every cent you spent on your own treatments.
The second factor you must understand is the constant movement of drones between different apiaries.
Drones are the ultimate drifters and are welcomed into almost any hive they choose to enter during the mating season.
In my opinion, a drone carrying mites is a biological missile that ignores your property lines and your expensive treatments.
If three beekeepers in a two-mile radius follow a strict treatment protocol but one neighbor does nothing, the entire area remains a high-risk zone.
I believe that failing to treat is an act of biological sabotage against every other professional in your area.
I know this is next to impossible to achieve, but you should coordinate your treatment windows with everyone around you to ensure the local mite population is suppressed simultaneously.
Treating in isolation is a gamble that you will lose because the re-infestation rate will always outpace the efficacy of your treatments (especially during busy periods).
The truth is that you are only as safe as the least competent beekeeper in your flight range.
You must stop viewing your apiary as a fortress and start viewing it as a single cell in a much larger regional organism.
Please don't fight each other and try to educate a less educated fanatic who refuses to treat because 10.000 years ago bees survived without treatments.
Thank you for reading 📖
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic 🧡
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Happy beekeeping and full barrels 🐝🍯
