On my hives they are covered in these iddy biddy creamy tanish orangish bugs that bite. Id say they are about the size of a no see um, maybe a dab bigger. But itch just the same. Im pretty sure they are thrips. Last year and this year my hives are literally covered in them. The bees dont seem to mind them. But I wonder, are they causing any harm? Other than getting on me and making me itch like crazy when Im around.
could they be chiggers
Pretty sure they were not, and after a google search Im positive they are not. Still pretty sure they are thrips.
I looked up thrips and everything I see says they are plant eaters. They do talk about them being a nuisance to man due to eating crops, especially in green houses due to lack of predators but nothing about biting us.
Jim
Attached are photos of what Im calling thrips, all over my hives. They are worse on hotter and humid days. Today seems to be a better day. They are about 1/32"-1/16" long. On bad days, they'll be a dozen or more in a square inch. And they bite, itch, whatever you wanna call it. Feel just like a no see um. Bees dont seem to mind them, but Im just wondering If they are harming in anyway.
Look like small grass hoppers to me.
Thrips loves themselves some clover. They live in clover flowers. They attack fruit trees the same way aphids do. Hope you don't have any fruit trees. They should not bother the bees.