Author Topic: Deformed Wing Virus  (Read 2234 times)

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Offline Jen

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Deformed Wing Virus
« on: April 05, 2022, 12:27:02 pm »
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/


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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Deformed Wing Virus
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2022, 12:03:37 pm »

https://mountainsweethoney.com/what-is-going-on-when-you-see-honey-bees-with-deformed-wings/
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. 
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Offline Jen

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Re: Deformed Wing Virus
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2022, 12:18:50 am »
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.
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Deformed Wing Virus
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2022, 11:30:37 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!

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. 

Offline The15thMember

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Re: Deformed Wing Virus
« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2022, 01:10:54 pm »
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. 
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. 

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. 
 
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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Offline Gypsi

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Re: Deformed Wing Virus
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2022, 09:02:45 pm »
I use OAV but there are very few beekeepers near me so my hives are kind of isolated.  Good quarantine, this not having much flow stuff.
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Offline Jen

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Re: Deformed Wing Virus
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2022, 02:31:29 pm »
I love my OAV Heilyser vap wand. Just bought a new one last year after the old one finally went kapoop after 15+ years.

Two years ago I had the mite explosion from hades happen to all 5 of my hives. I had to go in with double guns to kill off thousands of mites. The OA treatment, for the first time, just didn't cut it with the mite bomb. So I double treated with Apivar and OA.

One of my bee besties said that the mites are probably getting resistant to OA. But when I started using OA vap 15 years ago it was said that the bees will not become resistant to OA because it is already an acid that exists within the hive and many of our foods.

Does anyone know any different on if OA is getting less effective?
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Offline RAST

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Re: Deformed Wing Virus
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2022, 07:43:25 am »
Not resistant, just takes more per dose and increased frequency to be successful with it studies have shown.

Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Deformed Wing Virus
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2022, 10:32:05 am »
Not resistant, just takes more per dose and increased frequency to be successful with it studies have shown.
Yea, what RAST said.  OA has only been legal here about 5 years so we are still learning the fine details in Kansas.  From everything I have learned, timing is critical for OA to be the most effective. Also, they are learning that the dosage of OA needs to be increased from 1 gram to possibly as high as 4 grams. The legal dosage is still 1 gram per colony.  Dr. Jamie Oliver and Dr. Cameron Jack, both from the University of Florida, have researched and written about the potential for higher dosages.