Dee asks about mites in winter, specifically beneficial mites.

I don't have a direct answer to that, but offer this observation.  Some 
years ago, we did a 2 year (24 month) study of tracheal and varroa mites in 
honey bee colonies located at yards near East Helena.

MT winter temperatures in that area, at that time, dropped to -20 F or 
colder.  We HAD to sample each month -- a bit of a trick in its own right 
-- how to sample without unduly stressing the bees.

We immediately froze all sampled bees, placed them in a freezer in the lab, 
and then pulled samples to cut to look for tracheal mites.  We found that 
bees in the fridge had live tracheal mites.  More interestingly, frozen bee 
samples, when thawed, had live mites.  Not all of the mites were alive, but 
enough were that we decided to push it a bit.  The limit for Tracheal mites 
seemed to be two weeks at -20 degree F.  More time or much colder and the 
mites were all dead.

Jerry

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