> I would imagine that a Maine winter would not have many flight days and
> would expect there to be almost no mite immigration during the winter. If
> that were true, I would expect mite numbers to go down during the winter,
> not up, as the bees should be broodless.


Yes on not many flight days.A January/Feb thaw is essential.

As far as mites decreasing, mites just continue to feed on the bee for as
long as the bee is alive if there is nowhere else to go. So the only mites
you lose are from dead bees and that assumes the mite does not just move to
another bee. Meanwhile they only have to endure a November/December pause
and even then there is still some brood.

Build-up can start in late December and January, so you have a period of
late Autumn with brood, a decrease for a while and then a buildup, all in
the middle of winter. Every year observation hives are made up in early
January from an outside hive for our Annual Ag Show.in early January. So
there is brood.

After all, where do all those bees come from in the spring if not from a
buildup toward the end of winter? So you can easily get a late winter
collapse from mites.

That is one reason I prefer Carniolans rather than Italians which are the
bees that come in packages from GA. Italians start their build up early so
are more prone to starvation hence need feed to get them through. The
Carnies build up more slowly and get thorough winters fine with nearly no
additional feed needed.Plus they catch up with the Italians fairly quickly
in spring. Interesting that they may also slow mite buildup compared to the
Italians.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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