Good timing is one of the keys to controlling Varroa mites in honey bee colonies. Knowing the life cycle of the parasite, and its population growth through the season, will help beekeepers to treat in a timely and effective manner, and keep the Varroa mite populations down to levels that the bees are able to tolerate.

There are three common methods of monitoring the population of Varroa mites in honey bee colonies:

1. Drone brood sampling
2. Natural drop on sticky board
3. Powdered sugar roll

Here is a brief explanation of each of those methods.

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Beekeepers looking for a role model could go further do no better than the extraordinary life of Dr. Eva Crane, the British beekeeper who founded the International Bee Research Association and was for 35 years its Director.

Eva (Widdowson) Crane was “a towering figure in the world of apiculture,” as Richard Jones described her in The Guardian. Other tributes published on her death at 95 years of age, in September 2007, described her as “one of the most prominent ‘bee persons’ of the 20th century” and “responsible for turning the study of bees into a scientific subject.”

A brilliant student, Eva Widdowson was one of only two women to study mathematics at King’s College, London, completing her her degree in two years and going on to a Master’s degree in quantum mechanics. She received her PhD in 1938 and moved on to teach Physics at Sheffield University.

The beekeeping world might never have known Dr. Crane — who was clearly destined to a world-changing career in nuclear physics — except for her marriage to James Alfred Crane, RNVR.

One of their wedding presents was a hive of bees.

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