As far as testing for mites is concerned - well, the BIP dataset, which compares % lost to management details that are logged in their survey, for backyard beekeepers (not sideliners or commercials), all states, last year, selecting "monitored for varroa" - if yes, 41% losses. If no, 43% losses.

https://bip2.beeinformed.org/survey/  

I'm going to suggest that monitoring is not doing what we assume it's doing.

So, I have a mite management philosophy which determines how I monitor my mite populations. I want a clean slate come spring.  So I treat with OAV through late summer, early fall, and late fall until 1) the mite drops are 20-50 post treatment; and 2) we hit early Dec and the end of fly days with contagious mite-bombing dying hives. 

I use the alcohol wash in the summer a few times for a few hives that have had brood the longest to confirm my theory - that the mite populations are indeed low.  If yes, mite count is 0/300 in May and JUne/early July. Any other number is of concern, and I will have to test more hives and probably treat.

Then I can coast through Aug and early Sept, during our nectar flow.  Then it's robbing season and I monitor through the mite fall post OAV treatments (2 or so a month).

So... if I was looking for hives that tolerated mites better, that kept the mite population low despite being a strong hive, I would not manage the same way.  I would be testing a lot more during August and September, because those are the months where the mite populations either explode or rise slowly. I have just found that this approach is such a slippery slope that it is not profitable for the time/effort involved.

I advise new beeks to treat about a week after receiving their bees, with Apivar or OAD.  Then they should be good until late summer/fall. I worry about formic-based products in Ohio's variable climate (90 in May, 60 in July sometimes, June is anyone's guess).  If the bees are fanning like crazy and bearding, that's telling us a lot about the intensity of the effect on their daily routine, and there is a cost to that.  

Of course, there is a cost to being wrong about the mite population and losing the hive - or weakening it for the following season. That's what it means to have livestock - to have these decisions to make.

So for people who find mite monitoring to be key for their decision tree, sounds like they have a good system. I have a different system, that seems to work, at least in the cold North. I also think that there is a way to set up new beekeepers so it is not as critical for them to need to monitor their first year, simply by advising to treat immediately with relatively gentle options - Apivar or OAD or OAV. Heck, the advantage to that advice - they have the mite management tools on hand early in the game! 

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