Hi Peter

I would like to expand on what Peter said...

> Since I have looked at hundreds of sticky boards, and counted thousands of
> mites, I must point out that the boards give a basic estimate of the number
> of mites in a hive. Low mite drop generally indicates low infestation.

The sticky board only tells you about mite drop, before you can equate 
that to mite numbers you have to calibrate the drop found, by killing 
the colony and washing off all remaining mites with detergent. Once you 
have found that ratio of remaining mites to dropped mites for the 
season, management method, race of bee and weather conditions concerned, 
you can draw conclusions from other colonies that drop mites under 
similar season and conditions. Without calibration, the figure of drop 
is actually meaningless.

If a beekeeper finds a mite drop that he considers high, it is likely 
that he will reach for a hard chemical treatment, when the cause of the 
mite drop may have been bees that were more effective at getting varroa 
out of their nest without chemical help.


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Short FallBack M/c, Build 6.02/3.1 (stable)

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