To all beekeepers.
Varroa mite showed up around the world 40 years ago, and it is not stoppable. It is treatable with up to 90% success – we can save the bees and get on with our lives. The DPI and Bio security approach is wrong, and they accelerate the spread of the mite, while burning hives. Due to the varroa mite it will be very hard to recreate again. As a beekeeper who experienced varroa 35 years ago overseas, we lost most of the hives, as THERE IS NO WAY TO STOP THE VARROA MITE!!! The Varroa mite can be easily treated, CONTROLLED AND MONITORED as lots of knowledge and solutions has been developed in the last 30 years.
The cycle of the varroa mite makes it Impossible to Eradicate. The Varroa is a mite – like a flee, it can’t fly but jumps from one bee to the next. The Varroa will attack all bee colonies – feral and farmed – eradicating the bees completely, and can bring bees to complete distinction. It is very very very!!! important to save every beehive we have under control, to enable ourselves to bounce back after the first wave of the varroa, and the waves coming seasonally every year. By burning hives we help the varroa to eradicate the honey bees completely.
Let me explain further: While burning hives, reminder bees will survive from every hive, this reminder bees will go on a flight to feed themselves, they will fly next to other bees or even will try to find their way into feral or other hives. While bees park on flowers, the mite jumps from one bee back to the other. While lost bees from burnt hives try to enter other hives, the mite jumps on to the guard bees of the uninfected hive at the entry, and spread into the hive. Burning hives can create super spreader at high speed!! It’s a mistake and it comes from very low beekeeping knowledge and approach. If we want to prevent the full impact of the varroa, we must treat the bees with existing spray and fumigation systems that get used world wide over 25 years. By killing bees, a super spreader storm is created, and it will be much harder to recreate bees – pollination – honey, after loosing so many thousands of hives.
It is a very big task to save the bees now. Good luck to all the beekeepers, get geared, get ready.