On 29-Nov-10, at 11:14 AM, allen wrote:
>
> I intend to change my floors to screens with a place for a drop  
> board this year
> so I can monitor by observing drops whenever I like.  Drops tell me  
> what I need
> to know if I don't try to push to the very edge of safety before  
> acting.


Hi Allen and all

All of my hives are on full size screened bottom boards (except  
nucs).  As the screens are open to the ground, mites and hive debris  
fall out of the hive.  The bottom boards are designed to to allow a  
restaurant tray,  holding the sticky papers, to slide in from the  
back.  I normally (this past summer I suffered from lazybuggeritis  
and didn't get it done) do mite counts every 2 weeks from June till  
October.  Bi-weekly counts help to predict if and when a given hive  
is going to hit the threshold ( the exponential rise is very  
obvious).  I understand why many do 3-4 day counts( to get a more  
precise average), but I find separating the mites from the hive junk  
is almost impossible if the sticky boards are in more than 24 hours.

Bob Darrell
Caledon Ontario
Canada
44N80W

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