Hi All

I try to do sticky board counts every 2-3 weeks from June till  
October(not very successful this year as I only got three done so  
far).  This is not about this method as compared with others but about  
the lack of varroa found.  The first two showed no mites from any of  
my 8 production hives.  The third, counted yesterday after being in  
the hives 3 days, showed 3 hives with 1 mite, 4 with 5 mites or less,  
and 1 with 16 mites.  Even though the hive with 16 mites was much  
higher than the others, but only dropped 5 mites per day, all of these  
hives are lower than the Ministry of Ag recommendations.  Is my  
experience being noticed  by others?

I copied the following thresholds from OMAFRA recommendations.

Monitoring Method 	Number of Varroa Mites in May 	Number of Varroa  
Mites in August
Ether Roll 			1 mite / 100 bees 				2 mites / 100 bees
Alcohol Wash 			2 mites / 100 bees 				3 mites / 100 bees
Sticky Board 			9 mites / 24 hr drop 			12 mites / 24hr drop

I treated with apivar last autumn followed by oxalic dribble in early  
December, but I don't treat for varroa in spring.

Comments appreciated!

Bob Darrell
Caledon Ontario
Canada
44N80W

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html