Estimating mite load?

[Kathyp]

what i have done:  i am treating my hive with Apiguard.  per instructions, i closed the SBB.  the Apiguard has been on exactly 1 week.

what i have found:  for the first 4 days, i found no dead mites on the bottom board.  the last 3 days i have found - half a dozen dead and living mites on day one, and 3-4 dead mites on days 6 and 7.

question:  is there a formula for estimating mite load during treatment, from the number of dead mites found.

note:  i have 3 deep supers still on this hive.

[denart]

I want to know too

I also want to know how do you estimate hive beetle infestation
dennis

[Brian D. Bray]

Estimating exact numbers is futile unless you have a lot of spare time to count bee by bee.  The numbers keep changing with the hatching brood and mites.  The important thing is that you determine whether or not your hive has mites.  Then it important to do something.  The constant addition of mites with the hatching brood is why it is important to continue a mite suppression treatment for some time or use repeated applications.

I would have removed the 3 box on the hive.  You now have a super that may be full of unedible honey.  Leaving it on will leave the bees with too much space and you'll loose the hive from cold.  It would be best to disperse the frames from that 3rd box to your other hives that might need augmented stores for winter.  Or keep it and share it between your hives in the spring to give them an early boost.

[Zoot]

Tonight I attended a lecture at our beekeeper's assoc. meeting by Dr. Dewey Caron (University of Delaware) who is very much at the "cutting edge" of research into honeybee pests and diseases, pollination, etc.

Obviously, a 2 hour talk barely sufficed to even outline the subjects but  he did spend a lot of time answering questions. With regard to inquiries about estimating mite numbers he emphasized several things such as  taking samples over a lengthy period of time and utilizing various sampling methods. He particularly emphasized the importance of having an accurate idea of a given colony's population so that the mite numbers will have some relevance, especially if multiple hives are present with varying populations.

He demured frequently when pressed for specifics on numbers, citing the huge array of factors that would have to be considered but I did hear him afterwards saying something about a whole colony count (as opposed, say, to a sugar shake of several hundred bees in a jar) of 50 mites a day for a typical, large, established colony would not be unusual.

[Kathyp]

I would have removed the 3 box on the hive. You now have a super that may be full of unedible honey. Leaving it on will leave the bees with too much space and you'll loose the hive from cold. It would be best to disperse the frames from that 3rd box to your other hives that might need augmented stores for winter. Or keep it and share it between your hives in the spring to give them an early boost.

box 3 is on for fall feeding.  i intend to remove it in the next few weeks as the temp drops.  if i had been a little smarter, i would have put honey supers on, instead of another deep, but the good thing is that my queen was a laying fool and i have a very big 1st year hive.  and...i did get two shallows full of honey  :)

the queen excluder is between boxes 2 and 3, so no brood is being put in the top.  it does appear that they are making use of the excess honey.

[Finsky]

I have had varroa since 1982. I have never calculated my mites. If you want to raise "mite resistant bees" it worth calculating. If you have only few hives it is better keep mite level down.

When I give cure to my bees I see about how much I had them. Thanks to oxalic trickling I have few to calculate.

I check along summer from drone combs what is level. I just broke comd and look how many they are.

[Kathyp]

i have Russians.  i'll be interested to see if the type of bee makes any difference in mite resistance.  it is supposed to....

i think, considering how big this hive got, and how few mites i have found, my mite load must be low.  i will check early in the spring and see if i am correct.

i will also try the sugar shake in the spring if that's ok.  maybe someone can give me some guidelines on doing that early in spring?

[Brian D. Bray]

I would recommend a sugar shake now.  A series of 3 spaced 10 days apart will clean out most of what is there and you'll also know how your bees are handling the mites.  Less mites in the fall means a stronger more vigorous hive in the spring.  From what I understand Russians have a tendency to build up slower than other strains so helping them keep the mite count low should help them build faster in the spring.

[Kathyp]

i may try that.  i understand that i am supposed to do a terramycin treatment or two as well.  this will be mixed with the powdered sugar.  same result as a powdered sugar shake alone?

[Brian D. Bray]

Why terramycin?  Are your bees sick?  AFB or EFB?
If not why treat for it.  Indiscrimenate use of antibiotics build resistence in a lot of organisms.  If you're not treating for something specific all your doing is contributing to the buildup of resistences.

[Kathyp]

i understand your concern, however....because this is my first year, and because the majority of the local advice i have gotten points toward the treatment  (also what i have read), i will do it this year.  

while i  understand the logic of your argument.  i also understand the logic of their recommendation.

i simply do not have the knowledge yet to make that decision on my own, so will follow the locals.

question?  isn't it to late to treat if you already have AFB?

[Finsky]

isn't it to late to treat if you already have AFB?

If you have holes in brood cappings and coffee brown tar in cells, it is AFB. If not, you need not to use antibiot.

In USA they use to handle hives as preventive meanig in spring. Follow orders.

Like USA orders say, if you have ABF syntoms, medicine gives short aid. Bees must shake on uncontaminated combs or foundations.

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