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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
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Sun, 28 Nov 2010 10:52:33 -0800
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> ...I am surprised to see as many callow (light-colored) mites in some 
> alcohol washes as I do.  This shows that female mites do not need to be 
> fully sclerotized  in order to hitchhike on adult bees.

I notice this in some hives and not others.  Odd.  I really don't know what 
to make of it.

> In answer to your question above, Dr. Spivak's student, Katie Lee, will 
> soon be publishing a massive amount of data that she  painstakingly 
> assembled from samples from numerous hives, of mites on bees, in brood, 
> etc...

Excellent!

> The gist is that her data support the mite wash or sugar shake as the most 
> accurate practical determinant of colony mite levels.

I have never questioned this.  My questions are more subtle: For starters, 
do "colony mite levels" matter most, or are the mite demographics more 
predictive of forthcoming events?   We have to ask, "Why are there sometimes 
few mites dropping when we know that there are many mites in the hive?". 
Are the known mites younger, more tenacious, being carried out on adults, 
immortal...????

Washes show numbers, but maybe drops show the age distribution and general 
health of the mite population if we learn to read them.  Since they can be 
down with minimum effort and intrusion if the proper hardware is in place 
they seem to me to be the best way to X-ray the hive processes..

People tend to think that a mite is a mite, but we know that is not true. 
An old mite ≠ a young mite, yet they count the same in a wash, even though 
some observant beekeepers note differences and say, "Huh" 

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