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Hey there,
Going through the hives today, I can see that the queen has ceased production of drones, and there are not many remaining in their cells. There are only a smattering of capped drone cells throughout the hives.
My question:
In the last couple of weeks of drone production in the hives, will the mites become concentrated within these few remaining cells? Should I expect to find spiking varroa counts in scratched brood comb at this point in the season?
Thanks,
Adam
I dont know the answer but will be watching to see if someone else has experience with this. I pulled some burr comb the other day and it was all drone comb so I pulled all the drones out and they were full of mites at various stages. I am just waiting for a seven day stretch of temp drops to give them all a formic acid treatment.
I pulled drone larvae from a number of places throughout two hives and didn't find a single mite. I'd just like to know if this is an indicator that my mite levels are low.
Adam
How about before? Very many mites?
Mites levels increase going into the autumn as brood numbers decrease. Mites present or absent from drone brood is only a partial picture and doesn't give you a true assessment. Scratching drone cells and checking for varroa is one way of doing it, but not enough. A 48-hr drop count will give you the true picture.