Recently there have been two articles in Bee Culture mag. on making summer/fall splits that would provide a break in the brood cycle and then result in a vigorous queen that can "out breed mites." I have purchased 5 nucs, picked up June 15. Do to my poor double nuc design, I had to requeen two of them on July 1,... I'll be checking for acceptance this Tuesday, the 15th. My question is, should I be concerned with the mite count at this point or just blissfully let them alone?
DB
The nucs you picked up have queens that mated before June 21, which is earlier than directed by the article. However, your nucs should have been treated and relatively mite free before you purchased them. It probably wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on your counts, but you should be ok.
I concur with Moonshae - you should be alright.
Mites ramp up in an exponential curve over the summer and fall.
The later into to summer (without hindering fall/winter brood cycles) you can be the better.
You just may face a higher mite load, but it does not mean that your hives will fail over the winter.
One thought is you could do some powdered sugar shakes to minimize early mite loads.
That would bring you closer to the normal curve that the Mags reference.
-Jeff
>My question is, should I be concerned with the mite count at this point or just blissfully let them alone?
If the count is high you should always be concerned about it. If it's not, then ignore them. :)
Quote from: Michael Bush on July 19, 2008, 07:44:57 PM
>My question is, should I be concerned with the mite count at this point or just blissfully let them alone?
If the count is high you should always be concerned about it. If it's not, then ignore them. :)
I took a fellow pigeon racer/beekeeper out to my bees today and showed him my bottomless, froundationless, bottoms for tops hives and my hive stands built out of salvaged 4X4s. I pulled out a mite board and showed it to him--neither one of us could find a single mite in either hive.
Off course my 2 hives are a lot less than his 50. He had more but lost a bunch to our late winter with no spring just like most of the bee keepers around here. The president of our pigeon club, a professional beek, lost 500 out of 800 due to our long winter.
Must say one thing for losing hives (or almost losing them), if you had mites, you don't afterwards.