> The good thing when all beekeepers treat in spring most of them avoid this
> situation. In some cases if someone did not treat properly, he is a high
> risk to all neighbouring beekeepers. Overall, If mite levels are higher
> than what beekeepers like to see in bees going to winter, they treat fall
> treatment to ensure bees going to winter with 1% or less. It is nice to see
> monitoring has become a good practice to determine mite levels through the
> year and before putting bees to winter.
>

Which is my point. Last year my mite counts from sticky boards after the OA
Vapor treatment were less than 6 max! That would not even have showed up
with an alcohol wash. But something caused a dramatic jump in September
after 3x5 OAV treatments in August. The only thing observed in that period
was major robbing like activity around the hives. That caused me to wonder
if it was actually robbing or invasion. I don't know and I have asked the
experts if there is an observable difference. They did not know.

So your comment " a high risk to all neighbouring beekeepers " is what I
think is happening to my bees from the bees near me coming from
non-treatment beekeepers whose colonies collapse every year. My only hope
is that the cost of buying new packages every year will eventually wear
them down and they will give up.

One additional thing I intend to do this year is install "robbing screens"
in September and see what happens. Also, my normal practice for most of my
time in beekeeping, except when I first started and the last two years, was
to leave the entrance reducer on all year long. I never had an issue with
it affecting honey production, hive overheating or bee health. The past two
years, because of advice I should have ignored, I took them off in spring.
They will stay on all year long again.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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