MITES

I have understood from reading various articles that mites are not usually what kills worker bees. Mites getting into the cells and on pupa's, killing the newly hatched bees. This destroys the colony. Is this right? Darrell

Varroa mites mature inside the capped brood. When there are lots of mites in the brood, you will begin to see deformed bees. As the brood emerges, so do the mites. They can transfer to other adult bees in the colony. After the mite population gets so high, it's curtains for the colony. High loads of Varroa mites make the bees vulnerable to viruses also. Tracheal mites have a different cycle. They mature in the trachea(breathing tube) of the bee. They emerge and have a questing mode where they stand on their back legs and grope for another bee to act as their host. The two mites together in the same colony is a deadly combination