Mike Stoops wrote:
> Try a cup of powdered sugar per brood chamber dusted between the frames in your brood chambers once a week for three or four weeks.
> 

I concur, and recommend that you also either use a screened bottom board 
or screened insert to facilitate removal of the sugar and fallen mites 
and that you count the mites to assess the effectiveness of the 
treatment. If you  leave the sugar on the bottom, it makes a wonderful 
mess and the mites, which aren't killed immediately, have a chance to 
escape.

An easy way to count the mites is to dissolve the powdered sugar in a 
cup or so of water in a bowl. If you use conventional bottom boards, a 
screened insert can be easily made using 3/8" sticks. Build a frame 14" 
x 18" or so and staple some #8 screen to one side and some 4 mil plastic 
to the other side and slide it in the entrance screen-side up. Leave it 
in for the day.

Since it's mid-season I'd also be inclined to put some drone foundation 
in the brood nest but make sure you remove it after it's capped and 
before it emerges. An alternative is to put a couple of shallow or 
medium drawn combs in the brood nest and let the bees draw out some 
drone comb on the bottoms of the frames- which they will do- and again, 
make sure you cut it out before it emerges.

It's a good idea to get before and after natural mite drop counts so you 
can assess the mite load and the efficacy of the treatment. If you've 
already got signs of PMS showing up it's questionable whether you'll get 
any surplus off the hives anyways- heavily mite infested hives don't 
forage well. It may be advisable to pull the supers and get the mites 
under control now, save the bees and forgo the honey crop which you're 
probably not going to get anyways.

George-

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