Its quite easy to  see that allen has real experience in monitoring the mites


>. For non-scientists, this isn't rocket surgery. Once you get a
>feel for it, it is very simple and easy, and needs nothing fancy in the way
>of equipment or technique. Unless you have a heavy mite load, and are doing
>research, a checkerboard is simply an unnecessary distraction from the
>simple decision a beekeeper must make, and that is; are there a lot of
>mites, or only a very few?

It really is simple. A practical beekeepers needs to know reliable approximate of the amount of mites. I always tell at courses that when a beekeeper is spending after first trials  more than 30 seconds countig mites from one hive  he is doing scientific research, not beekeeping.

In Finland we consider natural downfall of 1 mite / day to bee the limit for starting treatments in August. Reading Bee -l posts I know that it is much lower that what you others normally do. When more than 15 / day we recommend more intense treatments.  Normal treatment in August would be formic acid ( 65 % about 120 ml/ langstroth hive, slow evaporation for  about 10 days) or 12 g of thymol in a pad. I recommend oxalic acid tricling to all hives later in about November when there is no brood.

Oxalic become totally leagal in EU this year ( or was it already late last year) Beekeepers come up together with the money to do the necessary research. The associations from each country paid it's share based on the number of the hives. Or almost all paid, for example the Spanish with their 2 million hives didn't bother  .  In the end the bill was less that we tought it to be. Don't remenber exact, but much less that 1 euro / hive.

In my studies I have now beekeepers who have used only single oxalic acid tricling for 3 years in a row because the mite counts have been small. We just did August monitoring. One  beekeeper did not find any mites from 10 hive apiary in 2 weeks of natural downfall. Several others reported less than total of 5 mites from 10 hives in 2 weeks.  The same beekeepers  killed  in same yards about 1000 - 3000 mites / hive   when they joined research 4 years ago (5 - 15 / day as natural downfall in August).  I can say that oxalic is a mighty tool in situations where there is a broodless period and no reinfection from other hives.

Ari Seppälä

Finland

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::