Mites still dieing (part 4?)

[Les]

It's a doggone epidemic!  This is eleven days after I put the Formic Acid on, my bees would NEVER have made in through winter!

[tecumseh]

did the hive have a lot of brood?

[Some Day]

I'll bet after day 15 you see a drop in mites.  All of the drone brood that was capped at the first treatment should be hatched by then.

[Les]

Tecumseh, yes it did.

[lazy shooter]

I'm going to paraphrase Tec below:

'I did a mite count on my Bweaver hives and found that they had almost as many mites as did the other hives, but the Bweavers were untreated and doing well.'

Bweaver advertises mite resistant bees.  His statement, again paraphrased, 'A hive with a Bweaver queen does not need to be treated for varroa mites.'

One of the surmises I took from the above was that PERHAPS some bees learn to live with the mites.  I originally had three hives of bees on my ranch.  I moved one hive and one hive died out, the third hive is still alive and producing well.  It is six years old and has never been treated with anything other than sugar water.  As of last year that hive had mites.  This is just something to think about.

lazy

[apisbees]

It s not just a mater of bees being able to survive with the mites. The area that you are keeping the bees in with the length and severity of the winter will have a huge effect on the relationship between mite loads and winter survivability. So bees that can survive treatment free in the south may not do as well in northern climates.

[Jen]

Lazy "One of the surmises I took from the above was that PERHAPS some bees learn to live with the mites."

I dunno Lazy, that's like asking me to learn to get along with rats in my house. I take mites very personal and just can't let them suck the fluid out of my bees.

However, for scientific purposes I know that we have to learn to what extent the bees can handle mites in the future.

[LazyBkpr]

It s not just a mater of bees being able to survive with the mites. The area that you are keeping the bees in with the length and severity of the winter will have a huge effect on the relationship between mite loads and winter survivability. So bees that can survive treatment free in the south may not do as well in northern climates.

  Well said.
    I have "read" that humidity, heat, and cold all play an important role. If one or more of those things are different, the mites may be more capable of increasing more, or less rapidly..   Remember as well, that if your neighbors bees all die from mites, that hive you have that is MANAGING their mite load might be overwhelmed when the neighbors mite bomb hive decides to explode.
   My four Waynes queens hives HAVE mites...   Checking them tells me I need to treat them...   However...  checking them a month later tells me the mite load is staying about the same. and a month after that, the mite load seems to be... about the same...
   I have come to LIKE these bees so much, that I am biting my nails here..   They grow quickly, gather lots of honey, and are in general easy to work.  I dont WANT them to die this winter!!!!!!!

[Les]

It has been an extraordinarily humid summer here in the Hudson Valley.  To the point where there have been days that I can't breathe.  Then gulley washing rain storms and the cycle kept repeating.  The windows are literally fogged up outside in the mornings.  I wonder if these weathers conditions served as an incubator for the mites? 

[Les]

This is the fifth pull on the mite boards after treating with Formic acid on 8/5.  Mite death toll appears to be slowing down slightly.

[Lburou]

Les, thank you for posting these pictures, they are enlightening.  Please don't stop posting until the mite count is back to normal. 

[Les]

Lee, thought I might be annoying but then I thought the photos would be good info for the new beeks (at least newer than me LOL).

[neillsayers]

DIE MITES DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lburou]

Lee, thought I might be annoying but then I thought the photos would be good info for the new beeks (at least newer than me LOL).

No, I consider it part of my distance learning.  My online education about formic acid treatments.  After seeing your pictures over time, it is pretty hard to argue that your treatment was not needed or it was not effective.