Several years ago Erik Osterlund, from Sweden, was staying with us for a bit and over supper asked what we did to prevent mite bombs. It was a phrase I had not heard before. He explained the concept of a late fall colony with brood so infested it could not, or would not cope and it would abscond. The bees that left were not swarming so did not do the house hunting thing and simply (usually) found another hive and made themselves to home. That hive, then, would become infested, or more infested with the adult mites that came with the absconding bees. A beekeeper who had been monitoring the hive would see an incredible jump in mite fall the next day or so. If you weren't monitoring, and many don't in the late fall because they've already handled the problem they thought...you'd go into winter with a heavy mite load and lots of trouble. Or, you could do a broodless mite treatment and settle things down a bit. We didn't have formic then, but I think they did. This was before the virus issues were serious, so it was primarily mites that caused the problems. For here, back then, my recommendation was to use a short dose of one of the hard chemicals for major, and quick knockdown. It's the only time I recommend those chemicals, but in this instance it seemed reasonable at the time. We have different choices now. Hence...Mite Bomb. I've been warning folks about this ever since, and I've seen it happen to some of my colonies over the years. As has been said many times...keep checking until the weather says stop.


Kim Flottum
Editor, Bee Culture Magazine
623 W Liberty St., Medina OH 44256
330.725.6677 ext 3214
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