May 2026
By John Edmonds
The weather in the start of April has been cooler than average, causing the bees to begin reducing brood and back filling around the brood to get ready for winter. When looking at the brood nest it is deceptive as the bees have fresh nectar but the hive scales around Geelong region have consistently recorded less weight day by day.
At the end of April, we have enjoyed nice sunny autumn days with temperatures of low to mid 20s and little wind. Where the bees are able to find flowers, they are still breeding and have strong clusters of bees. Some hives have little or no brood and have thrown out drones but other hives in areas with more pollen available still maintain drones. The future predictions are for more of similar weather for the next 10 days.
It is disappointing that varroa has been found around Geelong, as I hoped we would have a longer time before it becomes a problem. The news is that it appears another varroa incursion has happened in NSW and Southern Queensland with varroa resistant to the four synthetic treatments that we are allowed to treat the bees. I am reliably told that in the first few years of varroa infection oxalic acid will not eliminate varroa, just maintain the levels. The problem being reinfection causes huge increases in varroa levels.
Kris Fricke pointed out that spread of varroa around the world has been mostly due to queen transfer. Purchasing queens from known infected areas is bound to result in infection. At present the varroa levels are low but spring will require treatments. Fortunately, Aluen Cap is now available. This treatment will not contaminate honey and will be easy to use. Beekeepers wishing to not use synthetic chemical treatments will have the oxalic acid treatment and along with brood breaks will be successful. Beekeepers must be careful, as I have seen on YouTube a clip recommending purchasing oxalic acid from Bunnings. This may contain heavy metals and nasty poisons. 100% clean oxalic acid is required.
A beekeeper that has reported finding two varroa at Inverleigh believes they came from drifting drones. The first one was in a wash and the next week he applied oxalic acid vapour and one was found on the sticky mat. His hives on the outskirts of Inverleigh did not have drones or drone brood when shifted to the red gum [Eucalyptus camaldulensis] honey flow as they had suffered heat damage previously, but he noticed many drones appeared in his hives, possibly transferring the varroa.
A beekeeper when hearing of the varroa being found at Bellbrae shifted his bees to Torquay and inadvertently transferred varroa to a new area.
I am glad the Geelong Beekeeping Club is taking the varroa incursion seriously and the subcommittee is working well to educate members. I am still amazed by the number of beekeepers or new beekeepers that have very little knowledge of varroa. The first two to three years will need constant attention to your bees.
Washing bees for varroa detection is a time-consuming operation for beekeepers with many hives. Marking queens is very important as I expect many unmarked queens will be killed in the washes (as I discovered). I have found a piece of heavy white plastic works well for me as I place it near the hive and have another look for the queen and after the flying bees have departed, give it a shake so the bees group in the centre and the poor young bees are tipped into a spray paint lid, the extra bees overflow into the brood nest over the open brood box frames the required number of bees tipped into the wash bottle. I prefer using detergent, as it is not a fire risk and does not damage the seals of the wash bottle. Alcohol damages the seals and they leak. I have been surprised at how much debris can be in a wash. I found my first varroa and was in disbelief at hives located south of Ballarat. Small specks of debris confused the wash results. Magnification is required to make sure of what you are seeing. I resorted to using a blue veil and my offsider‟s coffee mug to strain the liquid and take a photo with the mobile phone at 5 times magnification and still could not work out what the debris was. I could not find my 100mm round make-up mirror which would have been a help [previously John has noted this good idea that placing a magnifying make up mirror on a flat surface can enable you to inspect your varroa shaker from underneath without having to actually get underneath it yourself, as you can look in the mirror from your comfortable standing position -ed.]. The varroa are very small. I cannot keep hives in this location over winter as it is too cold and the ground boggy, so I have other bee sites in areas already infected with varroa so they will over winter there. Since I have improved my wash technique I have found varroa. I have used windscreen wiper wash and found it works.
I wrapped up varroa mites in a serviette to take home for inspection with magnification. At home I discovered they were still alive!!!! And walking around.
At a bee site that has a lot of wild mustard [Sinapis arvensis] I was surprised to find seeds in the wash. I don’t know if they came from the plants during the shaking or if they were attached to the bees? I have found a Pseudoscorpion and a miniature fly about the size of a varroa, which unfortunately we dropped while examining it.
When I bring honey home for extracting, I keep it locked up in the big shed until any bees that have remained on the frames are dead so they don’t transfer the possible varroa to home area.
Consulting my commercial beekeeping friends who have had varroa for 12 months: When using brood uncapping only on drone brood have they seen varroa mites. They conducted tests and found that Bayvarol treated hives had no varroa in test washes after treatment. Oxalic acid strips initially had only one mite but since all mites seem to have been killed. The bees chewed up the oxalic strips over 10 weeks to almost nothing. Where their hives are located the varroa is only in the initial phase and no mite bombs.
A Mildura beekeeper is getting 200 varroa in washes because another commercial beekeeper placed a large number of hives near him. He went for a walk around the area and found a large number of hives in an apiary that were riddled with varroa. It was obvious that zapping the hives with oxalic acid was not stopping the varroa infection. Worse was his bees were robbing the weak hives.
As a result, his bees have been robbing the dead outs and returning with reinfecting varroa. I am getting told that reinfection is rife in central Victoria with bees dying.
Already some of the larger beekeepers are having problems as they try to maintain more beehives than they can reasonably manage with the intention of making money from almond pollination.
I have been told that an almond farm has offered the same price as last year ($225 per 8 frame hive, increasing $5 per additional frame strength up to a maximum $250 for 12 frames or better). NSW beekeepers get a fuel levy added but almond farms want a 3-year contract to supply hives and if the beekeeper cannot supply beehives of the agreed strength, he has to get replacements from other beekeepers. (Good luck with that.) I predict the almond farms will discover beekeepers are not going to take their bees to the pollination event due to the cost of fuel, the unknown strength of the hives and possible infection of diseases from other bees.
Another offer from the almond farms is they will purchase beehives, keep the pollination fee and after the pollination beekeepers can take them and use them for honey production but return the beehives in suitable condition for the next season almond pollination. The cost of fuel, Varroa treatments, uncertain honey flows and low prices being paid by packers for honey makes this a very poor deal.
The almond farms and brokers have been in Western Australia purchasing beehives for $400 each. By the time the hives are placed into the orchards it is expected they will have cost $600 each including the freight etc.
I have been told of an excellent NSW beekeeper that has had a truckload of beehives destroyed due to the hives robbing feral hives that had American foulbrood. This is a real possibility in Victoria.
Small hive beetles are proving to be a real pest as they attack beehives weakened by varroa. The north coast of NSW and south-eastern Queensland are having a battle with both varroa and small hive beetles.
The hot weather last summer may be the reason that some hives have failing queens or have slight EFB infections. Requeening or feeding the bees with sugar syrup will help.