Hi All,

I finally got around to formally calibrating Topalska's "field of view"
method of estimating nosema spore counts compared to the standard Cantwell
method.  I found that in my previous rough estimate, that I was off.

Here is the actual conversion ratio confirmed by tedious counting of spores
in the same samples by both methods:
For every 10 spores in the field of view at 400x, you get a standard count
of 2.86 million spores (2.86 x 10^6).

Of course, significance to three figures is illusory--neither method is that
accurate.

Another way to calculate is that for every 3.5 spores per field of view,
your bees have a spore count of about a million spores per bee.

The big question is, at what level should you worry?  My test yard is
thriving untreated with pretty uniform spore counts (I  now know) of about
5M spores per bee (about 20 - 25 per field of view).

I've seen apparently healthy colonies with 300 spores per field of view in
the spring (in another operation)!

Bob H (and anyone else who has counted), can you tell us what level of
spores the beekeepers are having problems with in your area(s)?

Randy Oliver

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