> I am glad to write that  I have shaken allot of bees in alcohol from our 
> other bee yards and there is hardly a mite to be found so our severe 
> problem is in one area.

> Numbers would be interesting.  Also, is it possible that a hive or yard 
> were missed in the previous treatment?  Another possibility is that the 
> strips were placed at locations in the hives or time of year when the bees 
> were notn in cintact with them?  This happens more often than many would 
> think, and in the operations of professionals, too.

A common  example is that in the fall, beekeepers note that the bees are in 
the top box and two strips are placed up there since it is easier than 
trying to access the bottom box twice -- once to insert, and once to remove. 
Removal from the bottom would be late in the season, perhaps even in winter, 
and thus hard on bees and beekeepers.  The problem is that on the same 
round, the beekeepers feed the yard, or a fall flow starts up and of course 
the bees fill up the second box and are driven down to the bottom box -- off 
the strips!  Of course the strips cannot work then.

> Whew! I will be gathering bees from the hive with the biggest mite load to 
> conduct a chemical resistance test.

Hope you will post numbers.  Others can learn fro your experience.  Believe 
me, after you do that test you will be counted as one in a hundred 
beekeepers , and maybe one in a thousand.  Most beekeepers just guess, and 
most eventually guess wrong.

> Already thinking about drone brood for control for next year because I 
> would rather not use chemicals.

Well, drone brood removal is not my favourite method of varroa control, and 
probably about the last I would use, ranking just before coumaphos (which 
comes dead last on my list) but many people seem to like drone removal --  
and it keeps them busy.

Glad to see you are on top of this problem, and taking a scientific and 
investigative approach to understanding and dealing with it.  Many resort to 
voodoo and we never hear from  them again.

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