I hate to ask this question. I might jinx it.
How have the mite counts been going this year? I have been having trouble finding varroa. Not just in my hives, but in other hives in the area. Last year at this time I was working hard to keep mite counts below the magic 3 per 100. This year I have not had a count over three and most are zero.
I generally use a powdered sugar roll. On the possibility that I was just inept with the sugar, we did an alcohol roll on a hive in which I found zero mites. The results were the same.
I find few or no mites with sticky boards and when checking drone brood. I keep thinking the other shoe will drop soon, but we are now half way through the season.
This seems to be a nice problem. I can always hope a mite plague has struck those cute little hemolymph suckers. Any thoughts? What are others finding?
Larry Krengel
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