The Mite has Arrived – Life on the Edge of the Red Zone.
Hello Reader,
That day that we did want to come has arrived. The Verroa mite is in Newcastle and it is spreading. As I sit here with the rain pounding on the roof literally hundreds of hives are being destroyed as I type. Yours truly and the much better partner Sharon were on TV this weekend. Here are the links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7ZOfsR78Fc
The sharp observer will note that Booral is due North of Tanilba Bay, which is a new hotspot. There is at LEAST one large producer there with several hundred hives. Sadly, we must expect all hives East of Tanilba Bay to be destroyed at this stage. I know of two producers who are or already have been wiped out. The enormity of the task to contain the mite cannot be under estimated nor can the failings at both the State and Federal levels. I have been told that the sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle were only being inspected monthly. Purple hives that allow instant monitoring and reporting were not purchased, despite several hundred in use in the State of Victoria.
Hive destruction has three phases. Phase one is placing a petrol soaked rag in the top of the hive to kill the colony. Next the frames are heated and laced with a persistent insecticide. The heating encourages robbing behavour by other colonies. They take the insecticide home and it kills that colony as well. This cycle of killing might be repeated anything up to five times. Robbing means that the target hive bees are not ranging widely and if they are infected the chances of mingling with ‘clean’ bees is reduced. In the red zones there are thousands of feral bee colonies and these must be put to the sword as well. The final phase gathering up the equipment and then burning or burying it.
Naturally, there is no compensation for the backyard keeper and piece of string timeframe for commercial operators. Commercial operators face losses in the hundreds of thousands. The Newcastle area was a major honey production area, there is talk of keeping bees being forbidden for several years.
As you may know Technoset hives are designed with the mite in mind. The vented bottom is intended for at least some mites to fall out, a sheet of material covered in petroleum jelly (Vaseline) then sticks the mites in place. With luck some Small Hive Beetles as well. They were number #1 on the hate list, now #2.
We are at the Gloucester Farmers’ Market July 9 from 9am – 1pm. This might be your last opportunity to but miticide residue free honey? We are going to stay in the honey business no matter what and that might mean we will be using an approved pesticide to slow the mites down. Without the pesticide the mites would simply engulf and destroy our hives. I wish there was another way, as the mites need a multilayered approach to combat them if the current control measures fail.
It’s fingers crossed territory now.
Don’t get stung and have some toast with honey on it while you can.
Roland
