Varroa Mite Control?

[CapnChkn]

I've been quiet on this subject as I seem to just make Finski angry.  Hmmm.  Sugar dusting for Varroa was developed by Dr. Kamran Fakhimzadeh, University of Helsinki, FINLAND.  It's a double standard to lay all the foolishness on "stupid merri-cans."

http://www.countryrubes.com/images/Powdered_sugar_dusting_in_bee_colonies_as_varroa_control_updated_9_09_09l.pdf

Introduction
The powdered sugar dusting is a non-chemical approach to the control of varroa
mite in the honeybee. The technique was developed by Dr. Kamran
Fakhimzadeh, University of Helsinki, Finland in 2000. The method has proved to
be an effective means of reducing varroa mites in honeybee colonies and exerts a
significant impact on mite reproduction.

Even more foolish to lay foolishness on a PhD working at a major University.  The guy's name is all over the web.

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/powdered-sugar-dusting%E2%80%94sweet-and-safe-but-does-it-really-work-part-1/

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=153532

http://www.apitherapy.com/index.php/esl/Paises-api/Europe/Finland

Theory is the particle size causes the mites to lose grip.  I suppose you could do it with Talcum powder or Flour if you didn't mind the taste.

[boca]

It takes about 6-8 years to get your bees to the point that they can survive even with a moderate mite load, and learn how to control the mite load

I'm a first year cat keeper so forget my ignorance. I would like to know how many years it takes for my cat to learn to control its flea load.

[rdy-b]

I've been quiet on this subject as I seem to just make Finski angry.  Hmmm.  Sugar dusting for Varroa was developed by Dr. Kaman Fakhimzadeh, University of Helsinki, FINLAND.  It's a double standard to lay all the foolishness on "stupid merri-cans."

http://www.countryrubes.com/images/Powdered_sugar_dusting_in_bee_colonies_as_varroa_control_updated_9_09_09l.pdf

Introduction
The powdered sugar dusting is a non-chemical approach to the control of varroa
mite in the honeybee. The technique was developed by Dr. Kaman
Fakhimzadeh, University of Helsinki, Finland in 2000. The method has proved to
be an effective means of reducing varroa mites in honeybee colonies and exerts a
significant impact on mite reproduction.

Even more foolish to lay foolishness on a PhD working at a major University.  The guy's name is all over the web.

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/powdered-sugar-dusting%E2%80%94sweet-and-safe-but-does-it-really-work-part-1/

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=153532

http://www.apitherapy.com/index.php/esl/Paises-api/Europe/Finland

Theory is the particle size causes the mites to lose grip.  I suppose you could do it with Talcum powder or Flour if you didn't mind the taste.

you have brought up a good point -most people dont understand how powdered sugar dusting really works-yes it is the suction cups on the mites feet that lose the ability to hold a grip when the bees are dusted--most people believe that it is attributed to grooming by the bees to remove the dust from there bodies-I will once again repeat my cation of using anything other than powdered sugar - such as flour or talc -these will only dry out the uncapped LARVE and cause harm to your bees -powdered sugar will not harm the uncapped larvae--  nice shooting with the fact about the guy that developed it being from FINLAND  --RDY-B

[annette]

Interesting because I read here on this forum that powdered sugar dusting suffocates the larvae. I dusted my hives for 2 years with powdered sugar and it worked really well, but stopped doing it for several reasons, one was the thought that the larvae were in harms way.

What is the truth??

Thanks for sharing all the information

Annette

[rdy-b]

 the truth is that there is always a stress when you preform a manipulation to the bees
 mite treatments are no different -interesting point about suffocating the larva-i do not know this to be
 a problem-i do know sugar will dissolve into the bee milk (royal jelly) with out drying it out-and the nurse bees can
 clean and ingest the residue from the sugar with no harm to ether-and i have never heard of damage to uncapped brood
 (developing larvae)-as a side effect of the dusting-I suppose if you used enough sugar you could suffocate the whole hive
- -  RDY-B

[CapnChkn]

Actually this is the first time I've heard of the larvae being harmed.  I looked around and found this publication from the University of Nebraska.  It states there's no harm to immature honeybees unless they're dusted with large amounts directly.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1184&context=entomologyfacpub

Here's the original article by Dr. Kaman Fakhimzadeh describing his findings.
http://www.apidologie.org/index.php?option=com_article&access=standard&Itemid=129&url=/articles/apido/abs/2001/02/fakhim/fakhim.html

Direct link to the PDF
http://www.apidologie.org/articles/apido/pdf/2001/02/fakhim.pdf

As a guess I could suppose the starch in commercial powdered sugar would cause problems.  If you don't know how to make a powdered sugar without corn starch, here's a video.  I found I just turn the blender to it's highest speed.  It takes about a minute.

How To Make Powdered Sugar

You may ask your self, how in the world can this guy read this stuff?  Beer...

[annette]

Actually this is the first time I've heard of the larvae being harmed.  I looked around and found this publication from the University of Nebraska.  It states there's no harm to immature honeybees unless they're dusted with large amounts directly.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1184&context=entomologyfacpub

Here's the original article by Dr. Kaman Fakhimzadeh describing his findings.
http://www.apidologie.org/index.php?option=com_article&access=standard&Itemid=129&url=/articles/apido/abs/2001/02/fakhim/fakhim.html

Direct link to the PDF
http://www.apidologie.org/articles/apido/pdf/2001/02/fakhim.pdf

As a guess I could suppose the starch in commercial powdered sugar would cause problems.  If you don't know how to make a powdered sugar without corn starch, here's a video.  I found I just turn the blender to it's highest speed.  It takes about a minute.

How To Make Powdered Sugar
You may ask your self, how in the world can this guy read this stuff?  Beer...

It could be the cornstarch, I don't really know. Thanks for the video on making powdered sugar.

[Brian D. Bray]

Interesting because I read here on this forum that powdered sugar dusting suffocates the larvae. I dusted my hives for 2 years with powdered sugar and it worked really well, but stopped doing it for several reasons, one was the thought that the larvae were in harms way.

What is the truth??

Thanks for sharing all the information

Annette

After a sugar dusting a hygenic pull of uncapped brood can be observed can be observed.  So, yes, there is a small amount of brood loss as a direct result of a sugar shake.  It can also be surmised that some of the pulled brood might have had mites taking up residence within there cell at the time the shake was preformed.  Mites attempting to move off of dusted bees into open brood cells either fall to/through the bottom board, are caught by the bees and removed, or successfully make the transfer where a given percentage will be removed when the dusted brood is also removed.

The question that must be answered by the beekeeper, is the loss of some brood worth the offset in mite population.

[annette]

Thanks Brian for your insight.