Hi all
I wrote:
Not enough to be worth the time for the USDA to officially
do another official mite count test since 1997.
Peter Borst responded:
I don't get it. No one has checked your numbers for 5
years? You are not doing any mite counts yourself? I
thought most beekeepers were checkingtheir hives for mites.
It isn't very hard to do.
Nope, no tests in over 5 years. Yet, when tested just after
4 months of starting to shake daown onto 4.9mm from
5.0-5.1mm sizing, our mite counts were the same Dr Erickson
showed after several years working with Hines.
But a friend on 4.9mm and selling packages/queens (Bill
Gafford) had his hives checked by the Baton Rouge lab a
while back, and only 0-1 mite was found per 10 ounce sample
of workerbees, and they washed the samples more then once
to make sure. But even with Bill, the results weren't
officially put out to industry, but I don't know why!
No we don't do mite counts ourselves, as we are not having
problems with mites. OUr bees lived on 5.0-5.1 and they
live well on 4.9mm. But we got our SECONDARIES UNDER
CONTROL now, and that means a lot with the 4.9mm.
I'm glad it isn't very hard to do. But we are commercial
beekeepers and redoing equipment is more valuable then mite
counts when mites are NOT A PROBLEM.
Peter also wrote:
If you are "studying" a method of controlling mites
(biological orotherwise) you must have some evidence of
mite levels you can give, otherwise all you are saying is
"we don't have many mites" and it means very little.
Reply:
Well, we can see maybe one or two in a days time if we are
lucky sometimes, but just like Bill's testing wasn't
officially reported by the Baton Rouge lab and the Tucson
lab hasn't retested since 1997, does seeing 1-2 mites in a
day or two mean much to anyone? Evidently not I guess, for
they make money on grants that look for problems, not
NON-PROBLEMS.
You care to come on out and test for us Peter? You are
welcome to come and see the bees you know. This fall after
all the rains, and mite turnover time in Sep/Oct, you can
come and see the crash or what mites there MIGHT be on our
bees if you want to!
Door is always open i.e. New Zealand even.....
Sincerely,
Dee A. Lusby
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