Published - 9 January 2025 By Michael Holmes and Nadine Chapman How can pollination dependent industries help with varroa? Pollination-dependent industries play an important role in honey bee health. While this may not be directly linked to varroa management, growers can take steps to … Read More nutrition, pests and diseases, pollination Nutrition, Pests and diseases, Pollination
Published - 6 January 2025 By Nadine Chapman and Jody Gerdts Naturally varroa surviving populations The Australian Government predicted that 50-60% of beekeepers, mostly recreational and small commercial, would leave the industry should varroa become established in Australian honey bee … Read More Grooming, swarming, uncapping, varroa resistance, varroa sensitive hygiene, virus, VSH Breeding, Pests and diseases
Published - 20 December 2024 By Nadine Chapman and Jody Gerdts Varroa resistance: low mite population growth Selecting colonies with low mite population (LMP) or reduced mite population growth (MPG) to breed from will result in decreased mite loads. Measurement is quick … Read More breeding, Pol-line, varroa Breeding, Pests and diseases, Plan Bee
Published - 12 December 2024 By Michael Holmes, University of Sydney Chemical treatments for varroa – synthetic or naturally derived? When managing hives that are carrying varroa, it is inevitable that beekeepers will, at some point, have to use chemical treatments. But where possible, treatment … Read More acaricide, miticide, varroa Agrichemicals, Managing your hives, Pests and diseases
Published - 9 December 2024 By Nadine Chapman and Jody Gerdts Varroa resistance: mite non reproduction and varroa sensitive hygiene Mite non reproduction (MNR) or suppressed mite reproduction (SMR) is a suite of traits, and factors, that work together to limit successful mite reproduction. Some … Read More breeding, mite non-reproduction, suppressed mite reproduction, varroa, varroa resistance, varroa sensitive hygiene Breeding, Pests and diseases
Published - 27 November 2024 By Nadine Chapman, NSW DPIRD Breeding for virus resistance As worried as we may be of varroa, deformed wing virus (DWV) and other varroa associated viruses are the true killer. Australia doesn’t have DWV … Read More breeding, varroa, virus Breeding, Pests and diseases
Published - 20 November 2024 By Emily Remnant, Michael Holmes, John Roberts Varroa and viruses Viruses are common in honey bee colonies but tend to exist as covert infections with only sporadic disease outbreaks. The emergence and global spread of … Read More varroa, virus Biosecurity, Pests and diseases
Published - 13 November 2024 By Nadine Chapman and Jody Gerdts New tools for selecting varroa resistant bees: unhealthy brood odour and varroa volatiles Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) occurs when workers recognise that the brood has been infested with varroa and uncap the cell. They may then recap the … Read More breeding, hygienic behaviour, varroa, varroa sensitive hygiene Breeding, Pests and diseases
Published - 4 November 2024 By Nadine Chapman, NSW DPIRD and Julia Grassl Varroa and small hive beetle Current small hive beetle distribution Small hive beetle (SHB) (Aethina tumida) originated in southern Africa and has spread across the world (Figure 1). SHB is not … Read More fipronil, small hive beetle, varroa Pests and diseases
Published - 28 October 2024 By Nadine Chapman, NSW DPIRD Varroa resistance: short development time African and Africanized bees tend to have greater natural resilience to Varroa. One mechanism associated with this resistance is that these bees have a shorter … Read More breeding, Brood, varroa Breeding, Pests and diseases
Published - 25 October 2024 By Jody Gerdts, Bee Scientifics Varroa resistance: grooming and biting What is grooming and mite biting? Grooming is a behavioural resistance mechanism where bees remove mites from themselves (autogrooming) or nestmates (allogrooming). Bees have a unique … Read More breeding, Grooming, varroa Breeding, Pests and diseases
Published - 17 October 2024 By Michael Holmes and Nadine Chapman, BEE Lab, University of Sydney Chemical free management of Varroa: brood breaks and drone trapping Many beekeepers will be wondering how to best manage varroa in their hives. A well equipped Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tool kit will comprise of … Read More Brood, Brood cycle, Drones, Grooming, integrated pests management, varroa Managing your hives, Pests and diseases
