it is always informative to see exactly who follows along with authority even if there is no clear evidence to suggest something actually exist.  




After studying Randy and Dennis's math and Idea's,   I suspect strongly that there are 2 things going on at the same time.  To Randys point,  in areas with crowded bees  a few "mite bombs"  can have major effects.

But  I still contend that the math does not even come close to working out.   When you calculate the number of possible mites in a collapsing hive and then the ones that would be phoretic and possible transfer to other hives, the math fails.   

I suspect that since it always seems to be about the same time of year,  that something happens to either the bees brood cycle,  or the mites breeding rate success that changes the ration from say 1.3  to 2 or even more for a short window.  Some sort of tipping point.

When you do the Math that works out a lot better.


Again,  this is based on what a lot of the country has which is much more remote and smaller numbers of hives, and may not apply in larger yards or with real close neighbors.


Either way,  any hives with out of control mites is bad,  so in the end its kind of moot.


Charles

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