I watched a bee pull a dead pupa out the hive and once she flew off, I picked it up for inspection. It had a hole in its head with one eye missing, being part of the hole. I looked for varroa mite and saw none. If you have a bad infestion of mites will all pupa have mites?
The bees probably did the damage pulling the pupae out as mites do not cause such damage. No the colony crashes before all the larvae are mite ridden. If it was a drone larvae the bees may be eliminating the males from the hive. The larvae could have been otherwise dead or defective. I would suggest you do a sugar roll if mite infestation is on your mind. Mite infestation should be on all our minds most of the time. I am behind on my sugar rolls myself.
Good to know Vance, I put Vaseline on my I pm boards and try to look on there backs when doing inspections, and yet to see one. A sugar roll test is on the to do list as I just cut a piece of hardware cloth the size of a mason lid, but haven't done it yet.
Quote from: rookie2531 on August 26, 2014, 09:01:28 PM
Good to know Vance, I put Vaseline on my I pm boards and try to look on there backs when doing inspections, and yet to see one. A sugar roll test is on the to do list as I just cut a piece of hardware cloth the size of a mason lid, but haven't done it yet.
Rookie,
I have been looking for mites on my bees in my observation hive fro almost 4 years now. I have never seen one. I do see the mites in the clean out tray from time to time. Usually one once a week now and usually it is real light in color, the male. Most of the time they are dead.
What I see the most are bees grooming other bees, making sure there are no mites.
I do not do sugar roll test any more. I just keep an eye on the oil trays when I clean them.
Jim