Why Do You Need a Sticky Board?

[The15thMember]

Why is it that the board needs to be sticky for mite counts?  Will the varroa crawl away, or back up into the hive?  Is it so the mites stay where they dropped, so you can see where they fell from in the hive?     

[paus]

Back to DSBB and oil pan.  I think I see mites in the oil ,never looked with a magnifier They sure look like mites with my worn out eyes.
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[van from Arkansas]

Member the plastic is slick, without sticky, one little bump and all the mites would slide off, a gust of wind would do the same.

Your hands are most likely very steady as opposed to my somewhat shaky hands that occurs with age.  So sticky board works very good for me.

[The15thMember]

Member the plastic is slick, without sticky, one little bump and all the mites would slide off, a gust of wind would do the same.

Your hands are most likely very steady as opposed to my somewhat shaky hands that occurs with age.  So sticky board works very good for me.

Ah, I see.  Thank you for the clarification, Mr. Van.  It was one of those things where I was doing something just because everyone else does, and I didn't even know why. 

[Bushpilot]

I use the plain board, it works for me.

[The15thMember]

I use the plain board, it works for me.

I'm going to stop stickying (hehe) my boards as well.  It's just greasy busy-work for me, especially since I normally only do board mite counts after a sugar dust, and with the sugar on the board, the board is already kinda sticky.