Activity Change After Mite-Away

[BilllBee]

First year Beek, looking for some input. On September 14, I placed a Mite-Away II pad on one of my hives. I had a mite count of 50 per day on a sticky board drop, which prompted the application. I also installed an entrance reducer and a new sticky board on the slide out tray of the Screened BB.
The activity around the exterior of the hive dropped off, so I am concerned as to what might have happened. I have not opened the hive yet, as I did not want the Mite-Away to be reduced in effectiveness.
I had taken a photo of the hives before the application. I will attempt to attach that file. The hive on the left is the hive that received the treatment. Post treatment activity is now the same on both hives, in other words the low activity of the right hive is now what the left hive looks like.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38036071@N02/3940313335/

Is this normal?

[c10250]

I believe that this is normal. In researching MAII I remember hearing that the bees stay inside to fan the hive.

[AR Beekeeper]

I believe the entrance is to remain open, I would remove the reducer.

[alpha6]

Hard to say if there is any real difference without opening the hive. That aside pretty cool water skiing pics you got there.

[BilllBee]

AR - You are correct about the reducer, I removed it this morning.

I also took a look in the box to see what the bees looked like, I did not pull any frames, just a peak. There are many bees looking just fine. Being a first year beek, I tend to worry about the worst.

Alpha6 - thanks for the complement on the skiing, that is another joy of mine. It was a tough Summer for getting anything done outside this year, so those were precious days to remember this Summer by!

[alpha6]

Glad to hear it looked ok when you popped the lid. Anytime you put something in a hive expect there to be a change from the routine...but it doesn't mean there is something wrong. Good observations for a 1st year beek in noticing a change just looking at the entrance. Now you can see why having two hives is important to learning.

Good luck going into the winter. If you get bored of the wet stuff come up here and ski some frozen water.