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Townsville Beekeepers Club President Frana McKinstry. Photo credit: Victoria Velton
North Queensland beekeepers were urged to get ready for a pest that could devastate local hives when the Townsville Beekeepers Club brought its varroa mite education program to Ingham.
The workshop gave local hobby and commercial beekeepers a hands-on look at some of the tools available to manage the destructive parasite before it establishes in the region.
Townsville Beekeepers Club President Frana McKinstry said varroa was moving north through Queensland and its arrival in North Queensland was a matter of when, not if.
“It will be coming up here,” Frana said.
Varroa mites reproduce inside capped brood cells, multiplying rapidly before emerging from the hive. Unlike a tick, which feeds on blood, varroa feeds on the fat body tissue of bees, weakening them and potentially wiping out an entire colony.
“One varroa mite can infect an entire beehive,” Frana said.
A key focus of the Ingham workshop was a Varroa Controller, a machine that treats brood frames with controlled heat and humidity to target mites hidden beneath the caps.
Townsville Beekeepers Club Vice President Alan Cooney said the machine heats the frames to around 41.5 degrees Celsius for two hours, replicating the conditions inside a hive. The heat damages the mites while allowing the developing bees to continue their normal cycle.
“The bees will be totally fine. It’s just those varroa that are damaged,” Cooney said.
The treatment can knock out roughly 80 per cent of the mites in a hive, with the remaining 20 per cent being mites living on adult bees.
That means the controller is not a one-off solution, with Cooney explaining beekeepers need to maintain a treatment regime, returning to the hive regularly to keep mite numbers under control. Being a water and heat-based treatment, the machine is also chemical-free.
“It will reduce the amount of chemicals that you’re putting into your hive,” Cooney said.
The machine is adjustable and can accommodate different numbers and sizes of frames, making it suitable for hobbyists with just a few hives as well as larger operations.
The Townsville Beekeepers Club purchased the machine through a Queensland Department of Primary Industries grant, with the funding also supporting education sessions across the region.
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