Hello Mike & All,

>I wonder if someone would describe what a dead out would look like due to
collapse from Tracheal Mite infestation.

I saw my first TM dieoffs in 1985. I had read for years about TM but had no
personal experience.

First experience:
All hives in the yard were either dead with no bees or a small cluster of
bees with a queen. I loaded the deadouts on the truck along with two hives
still barely alive and returned to the home yard.

 I sampled the two still alive and sent the samples to my  friend Horace
Bell in Florida to check for tracheal mite ( as I did not have a microscope
at the time). Horace checked and informed me of a tracheal mite infestation.
The two hives at the house died within a couple weeks.

Samples of other yards did not turn up TM . I got a microscope and began
treating for TM. One yard ( 28 hives if I remember correctly) was the extent
of my losses to TM.

Half the commercial hives in the U.S. were reported lost to TM and most of
the feral colonies.

I have looked at other beekeepers bees and the small cluster (handful of
bees and queen) with plenty of honey and pollen seems a common TM sign.
Other than the crawlers etc. and wing problems.

When varroa hit  your strongest and best hives in fall would drop down to
about 4-5 frames of bees. You could ad an apistan strip to check mite drop
and fill a sticky board in a few hours and find plenty of varroa in brood.

My first serious losses from varroa came in hives  I had bought. The
beekeeper had tried to reuse apistan strips a second time. I put in some new
strips but the hives all still died.

 Twice when the mites became resistant to the treatments I was using and no
other legal treatment was available I lost many hives.

My friend Allen Dick said he thinks he never lost a hive to varroa. I wish I
could say the same! Varroa is still causing beekeepers grief!

I have got a copy of the CRS *Report to Congress* on my desk.(order code RL
33938)

On page 7 under the heading

"Possible causes for Colony Collapse Disorder"

The number one possible cause is ( many others also listed)  :

parasites ,mites,and disease  loads in bees and brood

CRS stands for congressional Research Service


Sincerely,
Bob Harrison


-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

******************************************************
* Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at:          *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm  *
******************************************************