Counting mites -- record keeping, just for the fun of it

[Cindi]

I love to keep records, and counting mites is one of my record keeping jobs.  I do not like to count mites, really,  it is a boring job, but it   does give me a good idea of what is going on within my colonies, how my mite control methods are working, and if they are.  I would say so far this year, the mite controls are working.  Even the sugar shaking in the early summer probably assisted with mite control, to a very minor degree though.

These are my records this fall.  The last count, which was yesterday, was the third week after I had using oxalic acid in vapour for mite control.  The numbers of mites were actually beyond what I would ever have believed.

I have put the sticky boards back into the colonies to see if more mites fall, the third week after vapourizing.  I will count the mites again in another week and will post these results.

                                  Nov 6                 Nov 14            Dec 7
Colony                     3 day sticky         O.A.vapourize    mite drop         
                              board mite drop       mite drop
Nuc 3                            28                     215                570
Nuc 4                            52                     164                291
Nuc 2                           246                    600                304
P4 &N1(united)                31                     171                 27
P3                                 64                     350               420
Swarm caught 6 Sept         1                     123             missed         
P2                                 10                     247               232
P1                                 13                      53               180
Old Colony                      35                      53               142
Nuc                               14                      56               136


As you can see with the Swarm, after the three day sticky board count, it only had 1 mite visible.  BUT.....with the oxalic acid vapourizing there was 123 mites.  That really goes to show the numbers.  1 mite to 123 dead.  Hmmmmm.  There was no brood present, so no further mites could have developed within cells.  I recall that there was a post, I think by Michael Bush, that if you see one mite, you can anticipate 100 more that you don't see.  That is a pretty accurate statement and I am sure this has been researched before.  To me, these results corraborate this 100%.

This may seem like a mundane exercise to many, but to me it gives me a really good idea of what is going on within the colony.  Especially how long mites will continue to fall off the bees, after a vapourizing control has been performed.

I noticed that after the oxalic acid vapourizing treatment, the mites were dead on all parts of the sticky board, not just where the bees were clustering.  During the first three day initial sticky board insertion, the natural mite drop was only in the area where the bees were covering the frames.  That to me was interesting.

Have a wonderful day, love our life we're livin', great health to us all.  Cindi

[Finsky]

You shoud stop mite killing, so you have more to calculate.

[annette]

OK I will ask my question again here. Why are you counting mites now in the winter?? Just curious.
Annette

Just noticed that you actually answered this question, Sorry!!!

[tig]

the problem with mites is that for as long as you have neighboring beekeepers with mites, you'll never get your colonies mite free.  i had that problem with one of my sites, my bees kept getting mites inspite of treatment.  the treatment would help for a few months and then the mites would take over agiain.  and i don't like using chemicals in my hive as much as possible, but when you're faced with the prospect of complete colony collapse, you have no choice.  what compounded my problem was the fact that these other beekeepers were treating with herbal remedies that didn't work and no amount of discussion could convince them.  

what i did was to put mite strips on for 45 days.  on the 40th day, i changed all the bottom boards and moved my bees to another location that was mite free.  i let 6 months pass before i moved them back.  they've been there for about 3 months and so far no mites.  i asked about the other beekeepers and it turns out their colonies are no more.

my main site has remainded mite free for almost 3 years and thats because i have no neighboring beekepeers.  it may help for you to find out if you have any neighboring beekeepers and if they also have a mite problem.  maybe you could coordinate your mite treatments together which would be the logical thing to do.

[Cindi]

Tig, it sounded like you have worked hard to get your colonies healthy, good for you.

I live in an area that has only two other beekeepers that I am aware of.  The one beekeeper is my bee pal that assisted with the O.A. vapourizing, and then we went over to do her colonies.  The other beekeeper is not far away and he treats his with formic acid.  We are the only beekeepers in at least a 5 km radius.  I know of two other beekeepers that are close, but no closer than that 5 km radius.

I don't know if we have feral bees in my locale.  Probably, but honestly do not know. We have freezing temperatures right now, it went down to -9 C (15 F) night before last night, last nigh - 4C.  If we have feral bees, they probably have mites, but don't know that either.

Next year will be an interesting year to see how the mite levels go, but I am pretty sure that I am heading into the 08 season mite free.  It will be interesting to see when mites first show up in my colonies, if they do, I will keep track of mites again next year, this is part of my job, to become a great beekeeper.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.  Have a great and wonderful day, Cindi

[tig]

since we don't have feral colonies i guess its easier to control mites here if only the others weren't so hard headed about proper treatment.  i guess they have to loose their colonies before i can convince them.  i just hope i don't get hit again this year.  gl with the mite count lol.

[Finsky]

Tig, mite is not worth "life issue". It is very easy to eliminate harmless.
This whole forum shoud be renamed mite-masters-arena.
Bees have much more harmful diseases, but only varroa has made itself a religion.