Beekeeping > Pests and Diseases
Deformed Wing Virus
Jen:
Good morning :) I'm well aware of deformed wing virus, have had to deal with it several times over the years. When I was first introduced to it in my own hives, this forum helped me understand it and I learned that it 'was' the last stages of varroa mites destruction and leads to very sick bees. But that is all I knew at the time, or maybe that's all the info we beekeepers had at the time.
I steward two hives in town and yesterday I went out to do a oa treatment and low and behold there are dwv bees on the ground in front of one of the hives. I was soo surprised because a fellow beek and I did Apivar late last Fall. I thought that the stick wings came later on the sick bee, but low and behold bees can actually be born with stick wings and only live about 1 week. And it highly transmittable! Here is a real quick read for your information ~
https://mountainsweethoney.com/what-is-going-on-when-you-see-honey-bees-with-deformed-wings/
Bakersdozen:
--- Quote from: Jen on April 05, 2022, 12:27:02 pm ---
https://mountainsweethoney.com/what-is-going-on-when-you-see-honey-bees-with-deformed-wings/
--- End quote ---
I have to question the last section, of this article, entitled Beekeeper Advice. The author suggests that beekeepers take a picture of a frame of bees and do a mite check by looking at the picture and counting the mites. Phoretic Bees are almost always attached to the honey bee's abdomen near the wax glands. To take a picture of the frame of bees to do a mite count is not an effective way to do a mite check. The majority of mites are going to be multiplying in with the pupae under wax cappings. Some of the mites are going to be on the honey bees abdomens. A very small number of mites are going to be on the backs of the bees. If you wait to treat when you see 10 mites in your picture, I think your colony is doomed. Beekeepers need to do sugar roll tests or alcohol washes to know the true number of mites per 100 bees. Alcohol washes are more accurate.
This time of year, an OA sublimation treatment is only going to kill the phoretic mites, not the mites under wax cappings.
Jen:
Hi Baker, totally agree with that bit of information on mite checks. I do an oa treatment to determine if there are mites in the hive. I haven't done an alcohol wash, I just don't see the reason to kill 1 cup of bees or 300 bees to check for mites. When I do an oa treatment it's just for mite count.
But what I was so aghast at was how transmittable DWV is!
I'm new to Formic Pro, but this is a case where I have to get the mites out of the capped brood, so I'm going FP with both hives in town.
Bakersdozen:
--- Quote from: Jen on April 08, 2022, 12:18:50 am --- I haven't done an alcohol wash, I just don't see the reason to kill 1 cup of bees or 300 bees to check for mites. When I do an oa treatment it's just for mite count.
But what I was so aghast at was how transmittable DWV is!
--- End quote ---
Mites are nasty, toxic disease spreaders.
I do a sugar roll test even though the alcohol or ether tests are more accurate. I have seen people use window washer fluid too. The bees survive a powdered sugar roll and when you dump them back into the hive the other bees clean them up. I don't feel I need a precise count of how many mites are present in a 100 bee sample. When I see 3 mites, I know I need to treat. If I see one or two, I test again. The mite count can change with each sample.
For anyone interested, here is a link with instructions on how to do a sugar roll test. https://www.betterbee.com/instructions-and-resources/varroa-mites-sugar-rolls.asp
I am glad the OA vaporization treatment works for you. I found it incredibly cumbersome, dangerous if you accidently breath it, and I went through several battery packs over a years. So, it wasn't worth it for me. The dribble method equipment costs me pennies but is only effective during a broodless period.
The15thMember:
--- Quote from: Bakersdozen on April 08, 2022, 11:30:37 am ---Mites are nasty, toxic disease spreaders.
I do a sugar roll test even though the alcohol or ether tests are more accurate. I have seen people use window washer fluid too. The bees survive a powdered sugar roll and when you dump them back into the hive the other bees clean them up. I don't feel I need a precise count of how many mites are present in a 100 bee sample. When I see 3 mites, I know I need to treat. If I see one or two, I test again. The mite count can change with each sample.
--- End quote ---
I do sugar rolls as well, and I just multiply the mites I get by 1.3 to help approximate an alcohol wash. I can't stand killing that many bees if I don't have to either.
--- Quote from: Bakersdozen on April 08, 2022, 11:30:37 am ---For anyone interested, here is a link with instructions on how to do a sugar roll test. https://www.betterbee.com/instructions-and-resources/varroa-mites-sugar-rolls.asp
I am glad the OA vaporization treatment works for you. I found it incredibly cumbersome, dangerous if you accidently breath it, and I went through several battery packs over a years. So, it wasn't worth it for me. The dribble method equipment costs me pennies but is only effective during a broodless period.
--- End quote ---
I just tried OAV for the first time a few months ago. A friend of mine was upgrading from a wand to a gun, and he gave me his wand since he didn't need it any more. I actually found it to be surprisingly easy for all the equipment needed (wand, battery, respirator, goggles), although I only have 3 hives at the moment, so I could see it being a lot to lug around with more hives. I like that it's a treatment that works well in cold temperatures, as I always seem to have a hive going into winter that I'm concerned about where mites goes. I'm also planning on using it when I do my splits, since the colonies will be broodless then.
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