Hello All
 
Allen Dick poses some questions.
 
>What I'm looking at is some easy, quick, non-destructive way to do the job
>without screens etc.
 
I believe you must use a screen to ensure that the bees do not clean out the
debris as is their wont. I understand that it is important that the mite
fall count be accurate, since treatment is dependent on mite fall and time
of year.
 
Maybe somebody can devise a system that does not use a screen.
 
However, using a screen this is what I do.
 
Place a sheet of plywood under the screen to which you have affixed a sheet
of paper (vaselined if you wish to guarantee that any mite which falls on it
is permanently held), (I use computer listing paper), and then fit a batten
and a handle to the end of the plywood board. You now have in effect a
drawer which can be slid in and out and which is moth proof and draught
proof. And you are of course working at the back of the hive.
 
Write the date on the sheet of paper, and then at the next examination, just
slide out the drawer, check for mites right away or else remove and fold up
the paper for later checking, and insert a new sheet of paper. (High winds
are your enemy here).
 
I have only a few hives and no varroa yet, however I am behaving as if I had
the pest, since I do not know when it will appear, as appear it must.
 
I do not know how a commercial beekeeper would view the above procedures, I
am a hobbyist.
 
I shall be grateful for feedback.
 
Sincerely
 
Tom Barrett
49 South Park
Foxrock
Dublin 18
Ireland
 
Hobbyist beekeeper
 
e mail [log in to unmask]
Tel + 353 1 289 5269
Fax + 353 1 289 9940
 
Latitude  53 Degrees 16' North
Longitude  6 Degrees  9' West of Greenwich