Thanks for feedback and support, Keith.

Thanks, Clinton. Yes, Randy’s scientific curiosity and real world bee lab is inspiring. Proven methods that take too long to catch on. I’ve even heard government scientists criticise his work. It would be good if they just reproduced his methods to see if his results also repeat. That would be actual science instead of just criticism.

Thanks, Shad. Randy is very generous and has so much information to share.

Randy has a view, a reasoned perspective one should respect. Myself _i_ do consider his scope of comments here most helpfull to those who would listen closely, whilst I myself hold the view for the greater population of beekeepers setting a line of supply for particular specialised lines of queens is just not realistic. For mine the problem of numbers as a controlled environment is solved through "mechanical" means as mite reproduction mated to a passive phoretic eliminator. And yes, for Australia maybe ran every 4th VD brood cycle, whereas for the Americas at mid spring, summer solstice and lastly, late autumn. Such is though one student's build in contrast to another's... all it can be in a World really running on Hope, not science. 🫡

I hear you. There are so many beekeepers that still are unaware of Varroa in Australia or just don't care. I put them in the box right next to the ones running on hope. I expect they'll eventually drop out of the game as sustaining viability will become near impossible or too painful. In the mean time, I'll continue to learn from those that are coming up with real alternatives to the synthetic chemical bandwagon. I'll work toward being one of the beekeepers driving a new pickup. I have a few very interesting scientists lined up for a chat over the next couple of months.

Thankyou Mike for that insight. You own a catching approach, one which encourages referral. Thus the podcast is linked to as a topic in Honeybee Beekeeping Challenges, a FarceBouke forum. Cheerio. Shad

Thanks Shad. I appreciate your support. I have more guests lined up to learn more bee insights.

Thanks for your kind words. Some luck and good education will see us through.

Yes, good advice. The free one day varroa training workshops offered to all beekeepers include various forced brood break methods. There’s huge parts of Australia that have nectar flows and brood year round, so we’ll be including forced breaks in the mix. At least, us hobby beeks will.

I'm on an Croatian island in the adriatic sea between Italy and the Balkan peninsula. Here too l have brood all year but no flow in couple of the summer months. It's the same 35- 40c like there but no humidity. It's then when I cage over 100 queens for 25 or more days. It can be less with a different method but we realised that queens come out without problems and l don't have to feed... and that is the time when l have a lot of new young queens made in spring to replace the old caged ones anyway.. actually it's the ideal time to go on vacation. When i come to release the queens the brood box is full with pollen and bee bread where was brood.. the hives are full of bees that never fed nobody.. fat long living bees at the end of summer. And they are really ready to raise a lot of healthy fat winter bees. So it's not just caging for varroa. It's all the other things you get with it too. With my father l'm in beekeeping over 50 years and in my opinion the cages as bad as they may sound are the best way to keep bees healthy. You still don't know how lucky you are down under. Now when you finally got varroa the rest of the world has all this experience to share. I strongly suggest to watch Ralph Büchler...

Thanks again. That’s very interesting about the other benefits to queen caging. I’ll definitely study it more and apply it to my bees. I’ve found the Ralph Büchler videos and started watching from the first. Yes, we are very lucky here. Without viruses yet, we have time to learn from all of you that have dealt with Varroa for decades. My wife and I are heading to Europe next year during your summer. We’re planning to stay in Croatia for a week or so. Maybe I can visit you and your bees.

Maybe we could arrange something. But I'm on an outer island so you probably need two days for it. Island Vis. My father has his hives above a beach with a bar/disco and any beekeeper who passes can't resist. They see him in shorts, dark as he can be, 80 years old and working bees in the middle of the day. He has friends all over Europe thanks to those hives. And that's how he learns if something new comes out. He made hand made cages before they were available to buy, thanks to an Italian friend. Anyway I sub. to your channel now. Just watched professor Božić . We'll be in contact...

Welcome Alan. I hope I can offer more content that’s useful to you. I’ll be at the AAA conference in Perth next month. Maybe we can catch up, I’d like to learn about the WA beekeeping experience from a local.

Thanks for commenting. There have been bees with deformed wings, but so far the lab results are all negative for DWV. If your friend had confirmed he found DWV with lab tests, it would have raised the alarm nationwide. It’s a notifiable disease here. It probably is here somewhere, but with no real consequence until varroa reaches it.

@@AussieMikesBees yes, wax moth larva can't spread it.. maybe on 10 bees and then the adult bees catch it and it's done. If it still exists Ivan Brndusic had some very old videos on YT showing it. But I'm not sure if it is still there. He's an old beekeeper in New Zealand. I found him. Brndusic has two channels.. my mistake he was talking about bald brood and the possibility of deformed wing virus... the videos are still there 15 years old on the channel he doesn't use anymore.. with a bee on a flower in the circle. The other one has his face. Hahaha. Good luck to all of you, and l hope you learn about it before you get it

While Apis cerana is good at coexisting with Varroa destructor, it’s not much good for anything else. Difficult to manage, low honey production, prone to absconding and a spicy disposition. I’ll stick with my Europeans thanks.

Sure. Email me mike@aussiemikesbees.com

Sorry to hear that, Chris. There were many beeks brought to their knees during eradication. I haven't heard of anyone not being reimbursed. What reasin have they given?

Hi mike just down the hill from you east kurrajong they did not process my rego last year local members state and fed have being getting more complaint about lost paperwork I is a bummer but we have started again