Previously,,,I just treated for mites seasonally as directed by the miticide I was using. I am moving to "as needed" so I need to do mite samples. I see pics with bees in jars and various containers and different means,,,sugar,alcohol,ether,,, to dispatch the mite from the bees and count the mites. A thread here showed 1/3 cup or 300 bees with a formula a % to make decisions etc. which seems reasonable place to start.
On a hobbyist scale, checking each hive might me possible but it would seem a large scale hobbyist might find it impractical. Would you sample 1 in 5? Do you take your samples from the brood nest or if you could snag them from the entrance, would that be an acceptable source. If you knew you were the only beekeeper and there were no feral hives in your area,,,,set up a feeding station, collect a sample from them use it and expect as accurate results as any other sample?
How do you get the bees in the sample container? The obvious is brush them in. I going to wear the leather gloves to do this since this will most likely agitate them. I can just see my clumsy self with big gloves, jar in one hand, brush the other, brush them in, try to pick up the lid and get it screwed on:doh:
Thoughts?????Ideas??? NOOOOO,,I'm not getting out of beekeeping
thanks
Rick SoMd
On a hobbyist scale, checking each hive might me possible but it would seem a large scale hobbyist might find it impractical. Would you sample 1 in 5? Do you take your samples from the brood nest or if you could snag them from the entrance, would that be an acceptable source. If you knew you were the only beekeeper and there were no feral hives in your area,,,,set up a feeding station, collect a sample from them use it and expect as accurate results as any other sample?
How do you get the bees in the sample container? The obvious is brush them in. I going to wear the leather gloves to do this since this will most likely agitate them. I can just see my clumsy self with big gloves, jar in one hand, brush the other, brush them in, try to pick up the lid and get it screwed on:doh:
Thoughts?????Ideas??? NOOOOO,,I'm not getting out of beekeeping
thanks
Rick SoMd