Okay, I know, weird question! But I was wondering, for those of you with screened bottom boards and trays, like I have, when you pull out the tray and see that there are mites in there, what do you do with the tray gunk/mites? Earlier in the season when I wasn't seeing any mites, or maybe only one or two, I just dumped everything out in the grass and wiped it down with a paper towel. Now I'm finding 10 or 12 mites and I'm wondering if it's stupid to just be dumping them out on the grass, won't they just find the bees again? I guess I'm basing this on picking garden pests off my vegetable plants. You can't just toss them a few feet away or they'll all come back. Is this the same with varroa mites?
i have a little jar and i pick them off one by one and save them. :-D
just kidding.... i dump mine in the grass. i have heard that the ants like them.
Perhaps you could train them to go after those lovely yellow jackets we all love so well. :evil:
Quote from: VTnewbee on September 09, 2009, 10:18:28 AM
Okay, I know, weird question! But I was wondering, for those of you with screened bottom boards and trays, like I have, when you pull out the tray and see that there are mites in there, what do you do with the tray gunk/mites? Earlier in the season when I wasn't seeing any mites, or maybe only one or two, I just dumped everything out in the grass and wiped it down with a paper towel. Now I'm finding 10 or 12 mites and I'm wondering if it's stupid to just be dumping them out on the grass, won't they just find the bees again? I guess I'm basing this on picking garden pests off my vegetable plants. You can't just toss them a few feet away or they'll all come back. Is this the same with varroa mites?
We build our own screened bottom boards.Ours are open from the bottom down except for the screen and chicken wire on the bottom of the stand to keep coon and the like out,so ours fall onto the ground unless we have a count paper in or the winter closer board.
I just dump them on the ground nearby, I believe they are not capable of finding their way back to the hive, let alone crawling back up through the screen.
You don't have to use the mite counting board. It is for use when checking the hive for mites just to see if you need to medicate. I leave mine off unless medicating or doing a mite count.
Mark
Hmmm, varroa mites dredged in beer batter, fried and sprinkle on ice cream...yummm!
I picked out a dozen or so that looked like they were dead. I put them in a pill bottle to show to my bee school class. A couple of days later I noticed that they were all up on the sides of the bottle near the top. They are tough little buggers!
Quote from: mherndon on September 09, 2009, 07:09:10 PM
You don't have to use the mite counting board. It is for use when checking the hive for mites just to see if you need to medicate. I leave mine off unless medicating or doing a mite count.
Mark
You do a 24 hr. mite count every so offen. If you have less then 2% of the bee population,there is nothing to worry about.
i like to take a magnifing glass and cook the little suckers, sometimes they explode. :evil: :evil: :-D :-D
Quote from: Joelel on September 09, 2009, 10:49:20 PM
Quote from: mherndon on September 09, 2009, 07:09:10 PM
You don't have to use the mite counting board. It is for use when checking the hive for mites just to see if you need to medicate. I leave mine off unless medicating or doing a mite count.
Mark
You do a 24 hr. mite count every so offen. If you have less then 2% of the bee population,there is nothing to worry about.
How do you know what your bee population is?
Quote from: sarafina on September 10, 2009, 12:20:32 AM
Quote from: Joelel on September 09, 2009, 10:49:20 PM
Quote from: mherndon on September 09, 2009, 07:09:10 PM
You don't have to use the mite counting board. It is for use when checking the hive for mites just to see if you need to medicate. I leave mine off unless medicating or doing a mite count.
Mark
You do a 24 hr. mite count every so offen. If you have less then 2% of the bee population,there is nothing to worry about.
How do you know what your bee population is?
Count them,sorry I just had to say that. A strong 2 lg. brood box body will have about 60,000 bees. That's what I go by because I normally have strong hives. One body just growing,figure 30,000.