On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 08:17:58 -0500, James Fischer <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote:

>The concept of a "threshold" is a
>surrender to whining beekeepers who want someone to
>wave a magic wand, and make the problem "easy" to
>deal with.

I disagree.  What little experimentation I've done has indicated that there 
exists in my hives a very intelligible threshold, and I think that's 
consistent with various formal studies.  Of course, there are other 
variables to consider.  You mentioned colony size, Jim, and that's 
certainly true, but if I look in a hive in August and say to 
myself, "that's a normal, full-strength-for-the-time-of-year colony," then 
I think I've accounted for that variable pretty well for in-the-field 
purposes.  Sure, there's always more to consider, and there's no one 
answer, but I think I'm well within reason to make a lot of management 
decisions based on mite counts, even apart from rate of increase.  In fact, 
given that thresholds would normally be based on mite counts from the 
latter part of the season, I think the rate of increase then is pretty 
insignificant, especially if we know the rate of increase will very soon 
drop to zero (hives going broodless) anyway.

Eric

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---