News
Secrets of the honeybee bite revealed
A previously unknown honeybee defence weapon against varroa and a potential new natural anaesthetic for humans
Researchers have discovered that honeybees can bite as well as sting and that the bite contains a natural anaesthetic. The anaesthetic may not only help honeybees fend off pests such as wax moth and the parasitic varroa mite, but it also has great potential for use in human medicine.
The surprise findings discovered by a team of researchers from Greek and French organisations in collaboration with Vita (Europe) Ltd, the UK-based honeybee health specialist, will cause a complete re-thinking of honeybee defence mechanisms and could lead to the production of a natural, low toxicity local anaesthetic for humans and animals.
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Vita’s new online videos show that treating honeybees for varroa is easy
Vita videos now online
A new series of online video clips just launched by Vita (Europe) Ltd, the honeybee health specialist, shows that treating honeybees for varroa and other ailments can be very straight-forward.
The eight product videos, each between 1 and 3 minutes long, show beekeepers how easy it can be to treat bees to control the varroa mite (Apiguard and Apistan), to control wax moth (B401), to test for European and American foul brood (EFB and AFB diagnostic tests), to boost honeybee health (Vita Feed Green and Gold) and how to catch those elusive swarms (Swarm Attractant Wipe).
Vita launches 2012 honeybee and beekeeping photo competition
Anyone with an interest in honeybees and beekeeping is invited to enter a photographic competition run by Vita (Europe) Ltd.
There will be cash prizes and beekeeping products for the winners, and the best pictures will feature in the Vita 2013 Calendar.
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Vita celebrates its 15th anniversary
From one product to the world’s largest dedicated honeybee health specialist in a decade and a half
Vita helps fund new research to halt honey bee killer
A major investment from public and private sector organisations is helping scientists to develop completely new ways of tackling the biggest killer of honey bees worldwide – the bloodsucking Varroa mite.
Researchers from the University of Aberdeen and the National Bee Unit, part of the Food and Environment Research Agency, have worked out how to ‘knock down’ genes in the parasitic mite causing it to die.
So far the work has only been done in the lab but now the team can take their work a step closer towards developing a product that could help beekeepers thanks to funding worth over a quarter of a million pounds from Biotechnological and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Vita (Europe) Ltd.