3 ms·

So, I am assuming that the uptick in the volume of varroa during the August-September time frame might be because of the transition of the summer worker bee to

So, I am assuming that the uptick in the volume of varroa during the August-September time frame might be because of the transition of the summer worker bee to the winter worker bee. The winter bee tends to have more fat, at least that is what I have read. Therefore, there might even be a correlation between the uptick during this time due to the bees developing more fat for the over wintering of the hive and a larger increase of the mite? Could this contribute to less ‘over wintering bees’ and hence the downfall of the hive due to lack of warmth?

lostlogin 8y ago
Where in the world are you - the uptick relates to the season but I’m unsure which season your pointing to. I’ve inderstood it to be as follows: Treatment comes out as honey supers go on. Varroa numbers start to grow as brood area expands and more drones are produced (which they prefer). At the end of the season there are a lot of varroa but the brood area starts to shrink. This is disastrous for bees as the percentage of cells with varroa in them is now very high. Deformed wing virus et al start to become very obvious. This is probably the peak in varroa numbers that you refer to. Late autumn or winter arrive, bees are dying as the virus load is too high. Even treatment probably won’t work at this stage. The brood is now longer all covered and starts to die. Swarms happen as bees try to abscond from the dying colony.