Hello all. I performed both late summer (August 25th) and mid-October (last weekend) mite counts on my 6 package-reconstituted hives this season, to see if there was indeed a late influx of mites. That would be an unequivocal “yes.”
In the August sample—all alcohol washes—the counts were 1 and 2 in my backyard sentinel (Russian) hives, and from 7-10 in my Buckfast hives on a local farm. I left the backyard hives alone, treated the farm hives with MAQs, and dropped 2 supers on all in anticipation of the fall goldenrod flow; the goldenrod had just begun to bloom (sparse and intermittent) the week prior, and whatever knotweed we have in the area was hitting its stride.
When I went to pull those same supers last weekend—crappy yield, as it has been an extraordinarily wet Autumn here in mid-NJ—my mite counts had remained stable on the farm, all in the 7-8 range, so I pulled the supers, put on the feeders, and initiated a second treatment with amitraz (well, third really, since the packages all received an empirical installation treatment with a weak [2.5%] oxalate dribble). They were all looking pretty good, with the exception of #5, which had swarmed, and had a low census. With temperatures now in the 50s for the next week, that new queen won’t be mating anytime soon, so I’ll likely be calling for a local queen, if I can find one. Stupid bees.
However, the home hives were a different (well, probably similar since I did treat the farm hives) story. While stores were again disappointing in the supers, the real story was in the mite counts, which were 9 and 17 in the two hives. And hive 2 (the 17 count) looked sick, with a relatively low population and deformed wings in evidence. So again, feed and treat. We’ll see.
Also, as a side note, I ran across an article today noting that tick infestations have been responsible for high winter moose calf mortality in the northeastern US. So it ain’t just bees. Link below.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181017080814.htm
S
Skillman, NJ
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