# The destroyer



## TimV (May 6, 2010)

I was working the bees today and I thought I'd show you all one of the little mites that are the cause of the honeybee population decline over most of the world over the last 15 years or so. This is a baby drone, or male bee, and the mites suck on them like a tick on a dog. They vector all sort of diseases, cause deformities and generally weaken the bees so that they're more susceptible to other problems. It's called Varroa destructor, and it originally fed only on another species of bees in Asia, but somehow or another got over here and developed a taste for honeybees, which don't have much in the way of resistance to it. Something so small has caused billions of dollars of damage, and it just goes to show how powerful the Curse really is.

It's shaped like a little red sea creature, and if you look close you can see the grasping legs they use to attach themselves to bees when they land on flowers. They then get taken back to the hive, and breed during the bee's larval stage.


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## JBaldwin (May 6, 2010)

Wow, Tim, so many lessons in that little destroyer. Thanks for sharing. 

I heard recently that when bees eat GMO foods it also kills them. Is that true?


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## TimV (May 6, 2010)

There seems to be some evidence that hints "perhaps". I'll give an example. Much if not most corn grown worldwide has a gene added from a bacteria that kills butterflies. So no worms in the corn on the cob. But what if bees gather corn pollen (which they do)? Perhaps it doesn't kill bees, but there are lots of other pollinators out there. And what if the corn with that gene crosses to a corn relative? Which is seems to do.

Not bee specific answers I know, but I think you see the point. I'm naturally against GMF for theonomistic reasons. I believe it was a gene from a sheep that was used in a variety of long shelf life tomatoes I grew once for a big export company I worked for. I don't necessarily say it's a sin for a farmer to grow them, any more than I think it a sin (mostly) for people to eat lard or even to drink blood, but I'd recommend against those practices on practical grounds. Health in the case of eating lard and who knows what trouble we are getting into mixing "kinds"?

That's not to say that anything is wrong with lots of inbreeding etc.. with plants. It's really a fascinating subject, and the main reason we have so much leasure time. I'd just like to wait a bit before...OK I'll say it. I think the church should think about the subject and petition the magistrate to consider slowing the process of transfering genes across genus, family and (who'd of thought it 50 years ago?) even Kingdoms.


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## JBaldwin (May 6, 2010)

> That's not to say that anything is wrong with lots of inbreeding etc.. with plants. It's really a fascinating subject, and the main reason we have so much leasure time. I'd just like to wait a bit before...OK I'll say it. I think the church should think about the subject and petition the magistrate to consider slowing the process of transfering genes across genus, family and (who'd of thought it 50 years ago?) even Kingdoms.



I've had some of the same thoughts, but not taken my thoughts to words before. Genetically modified food has really bothered me. The fact is who can do it better than our Creator? I am constantly amazed at creation and how all the ecosystems work together.


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## kvanlaan (May 6, 2010)

How are bee keepers here dealing with it now, Tim? Is it under control, or still doing major damage?


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## TimV (May 6, 2010)

One of the reasons the killer bees (africanized) are spreading so fast is that they can groom these mites, to some extent, off their coworkers. There also seems to be some resistance being built up by European bees. In addition, there are a few pesticides available, one of which is a pythethroid (plant based so not harmful to mammals) and another organophosphate which is much stronger but more dangerous.

Truth to tell, it's not been easy, and I mix and match to try and get the best results while using the safest methods. There's a trick I use to force them to build drone cells, and every few weeks I destroy them, since the mites prefer drone cells to worker cells and you can get rid of lots that way, plus the drones just eat and are as parasitic as the mites when it comes to production, so you kill two birds with one stone.


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## dudley (May 6, 2010)

Tim, thanks for sharing, very informative!


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