I have switched my treatment plan from "spring and fall", to what I hope is
a correct Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system. At this time I have one
hive that, according to my sticky board, has a higher than desired mite
population (I still have several hives that still do not show any mite
populations, which I think is strange).

Since I still have supers on the hive I am going to avoid ANY chemical
treatment. That would include FGMO. While FGMO is very safe for human
consumption I would not want to find out that while extracting I have
contaminated the honey.

What I have done is put a closed screen bottom board in place. This unit is
the one that sits above the normal bottom board and leaves dead space for
the mites to drop into. I think that this one is the best design for my
area. It should help keep the small ants out of the hive, yet not let the
mites back up. I have also added an upper entrance using an Imirie Shim
between the supers.

My thoughts are that the mite drop losses will help slow the population
growth. The upper entrance will reduce the number of times that bees are
moving through the brood area. If older bees never have to move down to the
brood chamber there is a better chance that the adult mites will not get
near brood when reproduction time comes around.

If I can slow the growth rate of the mite population with these methods I
can wait a little longer before I need to treat with another agent. This
treatment will be with Apistan(R), but I am hoping that we will have a solid
alternative (not cumophos) by next spring. Also it appears that there is
going to be more mite tolerant queens available for purchase next year. Both
queens from Russian stock as well as "survivor" queens.

I like the "survivor" stock as they have had a little more of a test period.
Since these bees have not been treated for Varroa mites and have still
survived we can hope that they have some greater tolerance for the mites. If
this translates into less frequent treatment then all the better.

Thoughts?