I'm watching, in real time, swarm scouts inspect a super on a stack of empties in my drive (best swarm trap ever). One feature that is noticeable as the scouts move in and out the entrance hole is even the scouts have very distended abdomens. Swarms are known to "tank up" on honey before leaving the home nest, but it is interesting that the scouts that much fly further and faster are also recruited to carry the payload.
This observation led me to a further thought.
1. I find the majority of phoretic varroa on dissection deeply embedded between the overlapping ventral scales of the abdomen.
2. Distended abdomens do not provide this refuge for the Varroa
3. Newly hived swarms have a halcyon period of virtually Varroa free existence.
4. Varroa are displaced by the physical process of "tanking up" exposing them to grooming behavior.
--- So ---
I wonder if heavy smoking and blown or shook bees could be used to virtualize a swarm. Generating the displacement by smoke-induced gorging and increasing the opportunity of grooming off the pests. I wonder if some of the folk Varroa remedies (Creosote smoke from Larrea, Walnut smoke, Juniper smoke) are a echo of this principal.
Pix shows the "scout" congregation inspecting the entrance hole. Abdomens (as illustrated by color bands) are distended. Swarms not my own -- satisfying feeling knowing that bee's are flying over the fence into your yard.
This observation led me to a further thought.
1. I find the majority of phoretic varroa on dissection deeply embedded between the overlapping ventral scales of the abdomen.
2. Distended abdomens do not provide this refuge for the Varroa
3. Newly hived swarms have a halcyon period of virtually Varroa free existence.
4. Varroa are displaced by the physical process of "tanking up" exposing them to grooming behavior.
--- So ---
I wonder if heavy smoking and blown or shook bees could be used to virtualize a swarm. Generating the displacement by smoke-induced gorging and increasing the opportunity of grooming off the pests. I wonder if some of the folk Varroa remedies (Creosote smoke from Larrea, Walnut smoke, Juniper smoke) are a echo of this principal.
Pix shows the "scout" congregation inspecting the entrance hole. Abdomens (as illustrated by color bands) are distended. Swarms not my own -- satisfying feeling knowing that bee's are flying over the fence into your yard.
