I have had good winter survival since I started here in the north. If you take away my bad winter I am 100%.

Initially the colonies were getting through with 4 to 8 frames of bees in April (with very small brood nests). I would then shrink them down to a single and work them back into good hive double box hives by mid June.
Mites were not an issue. I then had a bad winter and had to start over. (Nosema C)

Over the last 3 years, the majority of my small apiary is coming out of with with 16 to 10 frames of bees (with well developed brood nests). I am able to get them to a split by late May or earlier.
Mites are now becoming an issue I can no longer ignore.

When we believed mites were just phoretic and that long winters would mean longer brood breaks that would help us manage mites. I am getting the feel (hopefully to be confirmed this winter), that healthier hives will have brood rearing even in the dead of winter here and more mites are hitching winter rides during the brood breaks eagerly awaiting these periods of brood rearing. 

Has any research ever looked at the mite levels in these winter nests? Do we understand how long a mite can live parasitically on adult bees during the brood breaks?

Like mites developing resistance to miticides, are the winter mite survivors (those hitching a ride on adult bees during long broodless periods) breading more resilient mites? 

             ***********************************************
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