Baby Mite Question

billdean · July 09, 2016, 02:32:32 PM

I was doing some cleaning of my IPM boards today and noticed lots of little (baby) mites on them. There about the size of a pin head. There kind of light in color. I am wondering if these are baby varro mites that have fallen down from all the emerging brood lately? I have my supers on. I have a OAV but I am not able to use it with the supers on. Is there any other way to control these whatever kind of mite they are?

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Nugget Shooter · July 09, 2016, 02:42:17 PM

Picture?

billdean · July 09, 2016, 03:20:41 PM

Quote from: Nugget Shooter on July 09, 2016, 02:42:17 PM
Picture?

Sorry.........I did post a picture of them on the original post.

Nugget Shooter · July 09, 2016, 08:47:35 PM

gonna go out on a limb here and say that it is a spider mite and likely not an issue as far as your hives go, do a google search and see if any look like yours. I am a newbee here, but have seen my share of spider mites and most would not be threat and the bees will manage them.

Bill

billdean · July 09, 2016, 11:11:59 PM

Quote from: Nugget Shooter on July 09, 2016, 08:47:35 PM
gonna go out on a limb here and say that it is a spider mite and likely not an issue as far as your hives go, do a google search and see if any look like yours. I am a newbee here, but have seen my share of spider mites and most would not be threat and the bees will manage them.

Bill

Well they could be spider mites. I did a sugar shake on 2 hives trying to get a varroa count. First hive had 1 mite and the second hive had zero. I have treated these hives 2 times this spring with OAV.

Nugget Shooter · July 09, 2016, 11:45:01 PM

Yes and Verroa lack the long legs you see in your photo and are heavier bodied.

BeeMaster2 · July 09, 2016, 11:53:07 PM

They are not varroa mites. I would not worry about them. Baby varroa' s are white.
Jim

Michael Bush · July 11, 2016, 02:47:50 PM

Well, I don't see any baby Varroa, but you usually do have a lot of baby Varroa on a tray because of how Varroa reproduce.

A foundress mite enters the cell and hides just before it gets capped. 30 to 36 hours After it is capped she lays a male egg. Every 30 to 36 hours after that she lays another egg. So in total during a typical gestation cycle on large cell comb of 21 days (9 days open and 12 days capped) she has 12 days to lay all of those eggs. If we figure 33 hours per egg that's 8 or 9 Varroa (1 male and 7 or 8 females). Those females that don't make it to maturity and get mated (most of them) die when the bee emerges. So there are often a lot of little white Varroa mites on the bottom of a hive.