Al mentions a pollen collector and wonders if mites might get mixed in with
the pollen.

I presume Al is considering what is termed a "pollen trap", which removes a
portion of the pollen from bees, and not a device that would collect pollen
directly from flowers.

Pollen traps work by "stripping" some of the pollen from the baskets on the
legs of incoming bees.  They generally do this by forcing the bees to walk
through a 5-mesh screen in order to get to the brood nest.  (Bees can pass
through a 6-mesh screen, so a 5-mesh does not remove all the pollen, leaving
plenty for the bees to use for brood production.)  The stripped pollen then
falls into a collection area, generally a drawer with 14 mesh screen on the
bottom.

I have never heard of mites being stripped along with the pollen.  I kind of
doubt that they are, as they tend to place themselves in areas not readily
accessible, and hold on tight to feed.  However, most bottom-mount pollen
traps (the best kind) have a stripper screen that is open to the brood nest.
This means that natural mite fall (several hundred a day in a heavily
infested hive) will end up in the pollen tray!  Worse yet, they are visible
(barely) and travel reasonably fast!  However, freezing is thought to kill
them.  Commercial pollen producers freeze their pollen before cleaning and
presume that the mites are removed during the cleaning process.

The 2000 catalogs for all US bee supply dealers will feature the new
Sundance(tm) pollen trap introduced at Apimondia '99.  This bottom mounted
trap is designed so that brood nest debris (including mites) do not fall
into the pollen collection area.

Lloyd
Lloyd Spear, Owner, Ross Rounds, Inc.  The finest in comb honey production.
www.rossrounds.com