Hello Mike & All, >I wonder if someone would describe what a dead out would look like due to collapse from Tracheal Mite infestation. I saw my first TM dieoffs in 1985. I had read for years about TM but had no personal experience. First experience: All hives in the yard were either dead with no bees or a small cluster of bees with a queen. I loaded the deadouts on the truck along with two hives still barely alive and returned to the home yard. I sampled the two still alive and sent the samples to my friend Horace Bell in Florida to check for tracheal mite ( as I did not have a microscope at the time). Horace checked and informed me of a tracheal mite infestation. The two hives at the house died within a couple weeks. Samples of other yards did not turn up TM . I got a microscope and began treating for TM. One yard ( 28 hives if I remember correctly) was the extent of my losses to TM. Half the commercial hives in the U.S. were reported lost to TM and most of the feral colonies. I have looked at other beekeepers bees and the small cluster (handful of bees and queen) with plenty of honey and pollen seems a common TM sign. Other than the crawlers etc. and wing problems. When varroa hit your strongest and best hives in fall would drop down to about 4-5 frames of bees. You could ad an apistan strip to check mite drop and fill a sticky board in a few hours and find plenty of varroa in brood. My first serious losses from varroa came in hives I had bought. The beekeeper had tried to reuse apistan strips a second time. I put in some new strips but the hives all still died. Twice when the mites became resistant to the treatments I was using and no other legal treatment was available I lost many hives. My friend Allen Dick said he thinks he never lost a hive to varroa. I wish I could say the same! Varroa is still causing beekeepers grief! I have got a copy of the CRS *Report to Congress* on my desk.(order code RL 33938) On page 7 under the heading "Possible causes for Colony Collapse Disorder" The number one possible cause is ( many others also listed) : parasites ,mites,and disease loads in bees and brood CRS stands for congressional Research Service Sincerely, Bob Harrison -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************