A Virulant mite that continually collapses hives it inhabits is dooming itself. If those hives collapse mid winter as is typical farther north, the mite bomb theory fizzles.
Charles...mid-winter collapse in hives with too many mites is generally fundamentally due to the viruses, not the mites. No brood, no new mites. However the existing ones continue to spread viruses and that is what weakens the hive and kills it.
Christina
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