last week I did my first hive inspection and it
was really cool. I was able to find the queen, see some developing larva and eggs, and I removed
some stray comb. Today I want to talk about one of the most challenging aspects of beekeeping and
it's part of the reason why so many new beekeepers quit. I'm talking about pest management,
specifically the varroa destructor mite. You see, in the late 1980s this pest was
introduced into Florida where it has since spread uncontrollably across the continent. This mite
is specifically evolved to parasitize honeybees but its original host, the Asian honeybee
evolved natural defenses to cope with the mite. Unfortunately because the Western honeybee
did not evolve alongside the varroa mite, it lacks any kind of meaningful defense
and is therefore very prone to infestation. When a varroa mite attacks a bee it attaches
itself to the bee's body and feeds on the host. In order to reproduce, the mite enters into a
cell with a developing bee larva and lays eggs. Those eggs then hatch and the newly
hatched mites feed on the larva as well. However, this act of feeding - while bad for the
bees - is only where the problem starts. Much like mosquitoes and humans, when a mite feeds
on a bee it can transfer dangerous viruses, so the more mites that are in a colony the
higher the virus load in that population which is ultimately what causes the colony to
collapse, not necessarily the mites themselves. If you only treat the mites when their numbers
become too large then you already have an elevated virus load. You're much better off if
you can keep the might numbers low all the time, but you don't want to just use chemical controls
because A) you might accidentally make the mites resistant to the chemical and B) you can't use
chemicals at the same time that the bees are producing honey or that honey will be contaminated
and be considered unfit for human consumption. So on this channel I'll be practicing integrated
Pest Management or IPM which is a technique that while not unique to beekeeping is
a highly effective measure. Essentially, IPM practices involve affecting environmental
factors in order to better control the pest. In practice it means that I'll be using a
variety of techniques and tools which in combination should help keep the mite levels
low. Today I will install green drone comb to help control varroa mites, but first let
me explain what that is and why it works. Firstly green drone comb is green so that
it's easily identifiable to the beekeeper, otherwise the color has no impact on the
bees or the mites. Drone comb frames are made with larger cells than regular frames and
this tricks the queen into laying drone eggs. Drone eggs differ from worker eggs in two ways,
firstly the drone egg is unfertilized and this is what makes it a drone, drones are male while
workers are female. Drones are also larger than workers and take an extra three days to incubate.
It's been well established that varroa mites prefer to reproduce in drone cells and this
is likely due to the longer incubation time which allows the mites to create more offspring
than they would have been able to otherwise. Armed with this knowledge a beekeeper can install
a frame of drone cells which will act as a magnet, attracting the mites to those cells. Once the
frame is mostly capped over but before the drones emerge the green drone comb is removed
and in most cases frozen to kill the mites. The process can be repeated and has been shown to
significantly reduce mite levels within a hive. In order to install the green drone
comb, I'll simply open up the hive remove one frame that hasn't been drawn out
yet and replace it with the green drone comb. I make sure to keep this green frame a few
frames from the end of the hive because the queen is less likely to lay eggs near the outside
of the hive. We'll check on this frame regularly throughout the season because we need to make
sure that we remove it before the drones emerge or we'll actually be helping the mites. Green
drone comb is only one tool that I'll be using as part of my Integrated Pest Management system.
I'm also using a screen bottom board which has multiple benefits for the bees. Firstly with
respect to pest control - if a mite falls off of a bee and onto the screen bottom board, it has a
good chance of falling out of the hive completely at which point it likely won't make it back into
the hive. If instead I were using a traditional wood bottom board the mite would easily find
a bee walking nearby and climb onto its back. Additionally the screen bottom board allows
for increased ventilation which can speed up the honey making process since the bees
need to evaporate the nectar to form honey. Over the course of the season I'll continue to use
an assortment of techniques and tools as a part of my Integral Pest Management strategy and it's safe
to say that pest management is simultaneously one of the most challenging and also one of the most
important tasks that a beekeeper must perform. If you enjoyed this video or you want to
see more like it please subscribe hit that thumbs up or leave a comment down below. Thanks
for watching and I hope to see you next time
