I made some drone frames this season and learned allot about mite placement 
in cells as I picked open the pupae. I would have to pick randomly to find 
the area of mites on the frame and when I hit the hot spot I could open 
adjacent cells and find mites. It was not predictable where the mites would 
be on the frames but they did congregate in one or two areas. I also noticed 
allot of times I would see no mite on the pupae but if I watched the cell I 
had pulled it from the mites would crawl out. I expected to see them on the 
pupae but more times the mite evacuated the cell after the pupae was 
removed.

I also have an OB hive and see the mites congregate on the bees too. I will 
see a bee with two, three and four mites on it but then see hundreds with no 
mites. They seem to all want to be on the same bee which to me doesn't make 
since you would think the feeding would be better if they distributed 
amongst the many. But that is not what I see, they like to be together for 
some reason.

Karen Kimball
Maine 

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