One idea is to engineer micro robots with similar size and use image recognition to find these mites near nests and they go in and kick ass. Like how a few hornets can take care of thousands of bees. This is a future todo
Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
21–30 of 31 posts
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would guess that a small amount would get in the honey the bees were making at that time, but beekeepers would not harvest that honey. When many flowers are blooming, a second box is added to the hive just for honey( a super). At this time the beekeeper does no additional feeding.
Most treatment see the honey supers removed to avoid contamination. There are a few exception which don’t require this, like oxalic acid. When the honey flow starts, you need to add boxes fast - I’m up to 7 and 2 of those have been removed, extracted and put back on.
Where are your bees? I am just getting started in South Florida.
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#23While this is exciting, I can't help but notice- Under the conditions of the common beekeeping practice in non-tropical regions, which are characterized by high colony densities, prevention of swarming and periodical mite control, it seems difficult to achieve a more balanced host-parasite relationship. Thus far, a long-term survival of A. mellifera colonies without any control measures is nearly exclusively reported…
> Varroa mites have evolved resistance to all available synthetic acaricides
My understanding is that synthetics are a specific category of treatment. Oxalic doesn’t fall into that group and I don’t think lithium chloride would either, but someone more expert may have a better idea.
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most treatment see the honey supers removed to avoid contamination. There are a few exception which don’t require this, like oxalic acid. When the honey flow starts, you need to add boxes fast - I’m up to 7 and 2 of those have been removed, extracted and put back on.
Where are your bees? I am just getting started in South Florida.
New Zealand - quite possibly a better bit of the season here!
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#25While this is exciting, I can't help but notice- Under the conditions of the common beekeeping practice in non-tropical regions, which are characterized by high colony densities, prevention of swarming and periodical mite control, it seems difficult to achieve a more balanced host-parasite relationship. Thus far, a long-term survival of A. mellifera colonies without any control measures is nearly exclusively reported…
All of life and evolution is a never ending arms race. I don't see what the problem is in applying human intelligence to that arms race. An important part of being human involves using our intelligence to manipulate nature in a way that is beneficial to us. If lithium chloride helps us with the goal of healthier honey bees by decreasing parasites, we should do it. We should also be researching and thinking of what to do if/when resistance evolves in the parasite. But, just because resistance can evolve, doesn't mean we despair of using chemicals to fight parasites.
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#26While this is exciting, I can't help but notice- Under the conditions of the common beekeeping practice in non-tropical regions, which are characterized by high colony densities, prevention of swarming and periodical mite control, it seems difficult to achieve a more balanced host-parasite relationship. Thus far, a long-term survival of A. mellifera colonies without any control measures is nearly exclusively reported…
All of life and evolution is a never ending arms race. I don't see what the problem is in applying human intelligence to that arms race. An important part of being human involves using our intelligence to manipulate nature in a way that is beneficial to us. If lithium chloride helps us with the goal of healthier honey bees by decreasing parasites, we should do it. We should also be researching and thinking of what to…
Saying we need to keep fighting does not mean we need to fight as stupidly as possible.
With care we can prevent antibiotic resistance becoming significant for decades, or we can get it to show up in the first week an antibiotic is introduced. While parasites are slower to develop resistance we still face similar issues with Lice and other pests and we really should consider both the short and long term impacts of any approach which is directly fighting evolution.
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
>It would be nice to see more attention paid to the well-being of native pollinators, which already take care of themselves in regards to parasites & diseases. There's a second avenue which is the treatment-free solution practiced by some beekeepers. The idea there is to keep the selection pressure and just out-evolve the parasites. Given that managed bees reproduce much more often than natural populations there's a…
Thanks for that link, lots of interesting stuff on there. For anyone interested, (one of?) the way that this selection pressure manifests is in grooming behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWMSIbeKoFQ The trade-off is less honey production and slower comb building.
Alive bees make more honey than dead ones though.
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#28While this is exciting, I can't help but notice- Under the conditions of the common beekeeping practice in non-tropical regions, which are characterized by high colony densities, prevention of swarming and periodical mite control, it seems difficult to achieve a more balanced host-parasite relationship. Thus far, a long-term survival of A. mellifera colonies without any control measures is nearly exclusively reported…
All of life and evolution is a never ending arms race. I don't see what the problem is in applying human intelligence to that arms race. An important part of being human involves using our intelligence to manipulate nature in a way that is beneficial to us. If lithium chloride helps us with the goal of healthier honey bees by decreasing parasites, we should do it. We should also be researching and thinking of what to…
[deleted]
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#29One idea is to engineer micro robots with similar size and use image recognition to find these mites near nests and they go in and kick ass. Like how a few hornets can take care of thousands of bees. This is a future todo
Not robotic, but a similar hunt/kill strategy is is being tried here with a relative of the scorpion. They coexist with bees and and eat varroa. Plenty of discussion happing among the bee geeks.
https://www.nzbees.net/forums/topic/1465-beekeeping-and-the-...
Re: Lithium chloride kills a honey bee parasite by a systemic mode of action
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for that link, lots of interesting stuff on there. For anyone interested, (one of?) the way that this selection pressure manifests is in grooming behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWMSIbeKoFQ The trade-off is less honey production and slower comb building.
Alive bees make more honey than dead ones though.
This is true but misses the point. Beekeeping is done for the sake of pollination: flowering fruit and crop pollination is where the money is at and the focus of the beekeeping industry. The vast majority of managed bee colonies in the US are used for this purpose. Bloom times are region and species specific. California almonds, for example, are usually the earliest bloom. Hives will be moved around based on those patterns. We're not talking 5, 20, or 100 hives, we're talking 10,000 to 250,000 hives at the high end. As blooms end the hives are moved to new orchards through out the growing season. Think bee hives on flat beds crisscrossing the country. At that scale replacing queens gets very expensive (and the hive may reject her anyway) due to veroa mite stress and the loss of the hive is common. Any honey not used by the bees along the way is sold to third parties which in turn sell it to consumers.