At 09:33 AM 3/5/02 -0500, you wrote:
>And yes, I realize that I've just SIGNIFICANTLY increased the cost of your
>experiment.  I've added costs to travel to 6+ times as many locations and
>I've increased VERY SIGNIFICANTLY the number of bees that must be washed,
>dissected and macerated.  I've significantly reduced the difference between
>experiment costs and prophylactic treating for maladies you may not have.
>But I have by far increased the likelihood that the conclusions you may draw
>from your analysis will have a solid ground in statistical sampling.

There are ways however to control the testing cost and increase their
significance.

Consider doing some of tests yourself and reduce the cost of the lab.  You
generally need more samples.  Finding one mite on a sample of 5 bees tells you
little more than you have mites, but at what level, and is that level high
enough
to merit treating.  Finding no mites tells you almost the same thing.

- Use powdered sugar bee rolls to test for varroa.  It won't harm the bees
and will
give you significant enough results to determine if treating in necessary.

- Mite drop tests, with or without an apistan or checkmite strip.  Again
this won't
harm the bees and will give you significant results.  This can be done without
a strip even in cold weather.

Chose your sample subjects where the disease is most likely to be found.

- Check drone brood for varroa.

- Dissect the bees yourself to determine nosema.  Choose bees that are milling
around on the top board and remove their digestive tract.  I would expect
that 10
or so should be enough in a given hive and are very quick to do.  This
wont' tell
you if the spores are present, but tells you when the disease is present and
needs treating.

Be observant.  I know this is much more difficult in big operations, but
look for
spotting, bees crawling a few feet in front of the hive, examine the dead bees
removed from the hive for defects, has the hive in question had unusually high
winter losses, etc.

Tracheal mites are the hardest to test for as they require dissection and
I've no
idea what number of samples or what level of infestation needs treatment.

Consider what you really intend on treating for.  ie. what can pose a
significant
problem.  When asked at the recent conference at Wooster, only a small
handful raised their hands out of a room of around 200 beekeepers when asked
who treats for nosema.  Losses from a particular disease may be cheaper than
treating wholesale.

-Tim