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Mites and ?????

5K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  Honey-4-All 
#1 ·
Pulled the sticky board yesterday and found a number of mites present. However, there was also a large amount of "micro-rasins" present of unknown origin. Very unlikey they are from a mouse because they are just about the same size as the mites. I sure would appreciate it if someone could identify their source...... scat? frass? Photo included

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#4 ·
Pulled the sticky board yesterday and found a number of mites present. However, there was also a large amount of "micro-rasins" present of unknown origin. Very unlikey they are from a mouse because they are just about the same size as the mites. I sure would appreciate it if someone could identify their source...... scat? frass? Photo included

View attachment 4043
The items between the mites look like two different items. The crumbles are either pieces of pollen or pollen supplement. The long thin bars are WMS. aka WAX MOTH SHI?

Unless you scrapped these all together for the wonderfully taken photo shoot your hive has what the bee psychologist term "issues" considering the concentration.
 
#5 ·
The items in the photo were scraped together for the photo in order to provide perspective. I agree, the photo has three "things" in it....mites, wax cappings (probably) but I am not sure about the WMS. Here in upstate New York I would suspect wax moths (both adults and larvae) are not very active this time of the year. I treated the hive with oxalic acid during a recent warm spell which resulted in the deposition of the mites AND this mystery substance. Unfortunately the weather is turning very cold again which precludes me from opening the hive for a better inspection. Hopefully I will get a better chance in the near future to do a more extensive investigation.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Oxalic is effective w/o brood.
The true answer is that it is most effective, when using a single application, one should do so when no brood is present.

As there is NO published data available on the effects on bees, brood or the hive in general when multiple applications are made.

I decided to do a test using the dribbling method on colonies with weekly application of OA. Did so last fall.

multiple hives. Multiple applications. Mite counts on sticky boards every day for over a month.... Besides that it kills mites nicely with a precipitous drop and nearly clean after 3 weeks during full brood season other data to be verified with replication next summer.
 
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