Hi Medhat
Thanks for the contributions, they are always welcome!

RE:  Monitoring earlier would have provided more info about potential causes and colony survivorship.

This is my pet peeve. Monitoring earlier ... how about monitoring at all? 

I remember when Medhat gave me his mite washing jar. He said beekeepers were telling him that monitoring takes too much time, so he invented this quick method, using two quart jars with a common screened lid. You put some bees and wiper fluid in, shake it and separate out the mites from the bees. Takes a minute or two. 

But a lot of folks get weirded out about the dead bees. A hive loses about 5-10 times that many bees on an average day in summer. Remember: "penny wise and pound foolish." Or how about: "spare a handful and lose the colony." As far as taking too much time, good grief.

PLB

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