Well, we decided to test for mites before applying treatment, on the off-chance
we could save some $$$, and here's what we learned:
First tried natural mite drop, using 6 mesh hardware cloth over Permadent
foundation sheets sprayed with PAM. On 40 hives (doubles), over a 4 day period,
we found one mite on one board.
We then re-inserted clean boards and placed two Apistan(R) strips into the upper
brood box and waited 24 hours. At that time this is what we found.
Hive # Natural Drop Count with Apistan
---------------------------------------------------------------
9 1 mite 0 mites
15 0 1
9 0 1
14 0 1
5 0 2
29 0 14
31 0 1
32 0 6
33 0 7
24 0 15
27 0 1
28 0 1
37 0 1
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total 1 mite 51 mites
Plus one wierd little bug with a long proboscis.
All hives not shown had zero counts in both tests.
What does this mean, David?
allen
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