>Joe, I am very curious about how the bees in your area "handle" the mite!
 Do mite levels remain low through the season?  Or do the bees simply
survive despite high mite levels?>

During visual inspection, I may see an occasional mite 
on a bee.  Few years back Dennis Van,,, commented during
my queen permit inspection that he could not understand why 
the colonies had low mite counts,,,, He had to spend several
minutes before spotting a mite,,,, He said that he wanted
me to count mite drop,, but had his budget for mite boards
tied up with other beekeepers.  I suppose he suspected I
may have treated,, which I never have in 10 years.

>And do you have any actual numbers as to
numbers of mites per 100 bees, so that we can 
calibrate our discussion?>

Tell me how you want me to do a count, and I will
conduct counts to your specs. 

>The reason for my interest is that I'm curious as to the various adaptive
mechanisms by which bees control varroa.>

I have a feeling its more resistance in the population 
keeping mite levels low rather than anything special at the 
colony level.  I feel I do not experience mite pressure
from the local ferals as once was the case in the past.

Joe

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