Australian authorities destroy bees to stop varroa mite infestation.

Australian authorities destroy bees to stop varroa mite infestation.
To stem the spread of the fatal varroa mite parasite, which may cost Australia $70 million annually if it is not prevented, bees are being eradicated in NSW.

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The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has issued an emergency order that prohibits the transport of bees anywhere in the state, although some hives will also be destroyed.

Following the discovery of varroa mites in sentinel beehives close to the Port of Newcastle on Wednesday, a biosecurity control order with a 50 km radius was issued for the area on Friday.

In addition to eradicating hives inside a 10-kilometer emergency zone, bees at a site near Trangie in the Central West will also be euthanized due to possible contamination.

Due to its location in the 10km zone, a tiny beekeeping business called Urban Hum in the center of Newcastle will lose all 90 of its hives.

"Letting go of our bees is currently the most effective method to safeguard the Australian honeybee business."

"We want to put an end to beekeeping in Newcastle," wrote Anna Scobie, one of the owners of Urban Hum.

"This is painful and difficult.

They will destroy the host, our lovely honeybee hives, and all feral or wild European honeybee colonies in order to starve the parasite.

When Ms. Sobie and Kelly Lees began keeping bees in their backyard more than ten years ago, Urban Hum was born.

It quickly became a well-liked neighborhood business among local residents and schoolchildren.

While Ms. Sobie stated that she would have honey to sell at the Olive Tree Market the next month, she did not know what was ahead.

For a number of years, Newcastle won't be able to have beehives, she said.

"I'll say goodbye while sitting with my bees. The health of the honeybee colony as a whole, not just each individual bee, is what matters most.

We must assist the nation's bee network. It is not just about our particular hives; it is about the entire Australian honeybee business.

The government is taking these "quite severe" steps, according to NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders, because the mites may cost Australia more than $70 million annually if they spread.

He stated, "We are taking every precaution and step necessary to limit the parasite and protect the local honey sector and pollination."

If the varroa mite establishes in the state, it will have catastrophic effects.

The world's most dangerous pest for honey bees, the varroa mite, is absent from Australia, the only significant honey-producing nation.

We're collaborating with organizations and stakeholders in the apiary industry to make sure beekeepers are knowledgeable and capable of continuing to support us in this crucial response.

On Monday, containment and control operations will take place close to Trangie, where the bees will be put down and their hives will be destroyed.

Even though no varroa mites were discovered at the property, Mr. Saunders explained that due to the potential harm the parasites could do, precautions were being taken.

Although no mites have been found in those specific hives, the decision has been made to shut them down immediately and take no chances because they were owned by the same person as the Newcastle area find.

"It's a message to all beekeepers—both hobbyist and professionals—that they are needed to help monitor the situation and ensure that the varroa mite doesn't spread throughout the state."

When it was revealed that a cargo of bees near the first detection site had been transported there, the property next to Trangie was labeled a "dangerous contact premise."

Despite the absence of mites, the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council stated that the chance of parasite detection is still "very high."

Beekeepers in that area still need to report the locations of their hives to the DPI because a 50-kilometer biosecurity zone still surrounds the Port of Newcastle.

Along with the 10km emergency zone, there is still an active 25km surveillance zone surrounding the facility.

The most dangerous pest to honeybees on the planet is the varroa mite. Colonies are weakened and killed while viruses are spread.

These little reddish-brown parasites are visible to the human eye.

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[williamsummers]

If you change the hive environment by changing its design features you can be varroa treatment free. You just need to make an environment that reduces the varroa replacement value over each generation. This is not so hard. Forget chemicals. Honey bees in Cuba and South America have apparently learned to deal with it. The reason is likely to be that the climate is hot and humid. The question is how far north will it go in Australia. The propensity for varroa to die away in a humid hive was found out by accident when a laboratory hive was accidentally left at a higher humidity than others and that one lost its varroa. The precise mechanism of varroa destruction by humidity remains a mystery. A standard bee hive entrance at the floor level with ventilation at the top causes a cooling stack (or flue) effect internally. This cools the hive in winter and takes away its humidity all year. The temperature difference in winter between inside and out is greater as is the ventilation, when it is not needed, but less so in the summer when it is. Trickle top cross bee entry and ventilation in a beehive causes it to be more humid and also appears to be controllable by the bees, because when the outside ambient temperature falls at night the humidity rises by up to 20% points in a top entry hive. The propensity for varroa to die away in a warm hive is due to the time that a bee pupa takes to hatch which varies between 10 days (35C.) and 15 days (31C.) which depends on when and where it is in the brood nest. A highly insulated external hive envelope serves to keep the brood temperature up throughout the hive and over time, allowing the bees to hatch quicker and therefore for the varroa to not have enough time to mature in the cells. Winter in the UK is varroa breeding heaven, but insulation confounds them and reduces the winter stores consumption to about half, as a bonus. Unfortunately in Australia and USA you have a timber framed housing system generally and do not have an aerated concrete block manufacturing process as we do in the UK. The ZEST hive is made from aerated concrete blocks which have 39 times more Resistance (R) to the passage of heat than a thin walled wood hive has and consequently is functionally free of varroa. If you want to know more about varroa free hive design go to the ZEST web page, and read the free E-Book going to pages 21 to 24 and 50 where the mechanism for varroa free will be revealed. There is a U-tube that you may also want to view titled “Build your own bee hive-heathy bees-zest hive”.