Varroa mite (Varroa destructor) management for the small-scale beekeeper: exploring drone brood removal and other alternative treatment options

Beekeepers who maintain 50 or fewer hives experience far more severe damage than do their large-scale colleagues. Indeed, a national management survey indicated that last year backyard beekeepers lost on average 52% of their colonies, while commercial beekeepers lost on average only 33%. Most large-scale beekeepers use chemical treatments to keep mite populations below critical thresholds. One reason that small-scale beekeepers may be having trouble keeping bees alive is that their management decisions are guided by different constraints than larger-scale beekeepers, which may make dominant chemical mite control options unappealing or even inappropriate. However, there has been little research addressing the constraints or preferences of small-scale beekeepers, or exploring culturally appropriate mite management options. I took a novel mixed-methods approach to explore this gap: I conducted semi-structured interviews with beekeepers in Ohio about their mite-management practices and preferences, and used those interviews to craft an ethnographic survey that was distributed to bee clubs throughout the state.  Simultaneously, I collaborated with three beekeepers to conduct a field experiment testing a non-chemical, labor-intensive varroa control method – drone brood removal – which may be particularly suited for use by small-scale beekeepers.