>Have misplaced my varroa book and was hoping someone could tell me if 50 mites
>over 24 hours onto the full floor under a mesh floor is a high number or a low
>number?

>It is equiv of 1 brood box in strength - I have one really untidy office to
>demolish - I know the book is here somewhere......

The UK's CSL National Bee Unit has an online varroa calculator - based
on our varroa population modelling work - which is intended to answer
this sort of question. To use it, you enter the monitoring data you have
(whether from natural mite mortality, or from counting infested drone
pupae), and some details of the length of brood rearing season and
amount of drone brood in your colonies. The model then estimates your
mite population and suggests how long it is before treatment will be
required. Although intended for beekeepers in the UK, it may also be of
interest to beekeepers in other countries, although obviously for
beekeepers in the southern hemisphere some seasonal adjustments will be
required.

For further details see: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com

James



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___________________________________________________________________________
James Morton
South-Eastern Regional Bee Inspector
Central Science Laboratory - National Bee Unit
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
CSL website: http://www.csl.gov.uk
National Bee Unit website: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com
___________________________________________________________________________