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Man, I hope this is a good thing

970 Views 1 Reply 2 Participants Last post by  Andrew Dewey
I walked up the short hill with coffee in hand to watch the gals take off on their first flights for as long as I could stand the mosquitoes. One bee on the landing deck caught my eye. She was doin a "spaz" dance. Bobbing up and down, stroking the top of her abdomen with her comb legs. If I didn't know better,,I'd thought she had been sprayed with an insecticide.(Always a concern of mine with neighbors, gardens, fruit trees and the like) I have noticed other bees doing the hind leg self groom thing as they leave the hive and sometimes when they land. I noticed some very small debris on the landing which is kinda unusual as the "washboarders" keep it pretty clean. Upon closer look,,, I found two mites:eek: It's a good thing in that the mites were not on the bees. I'm sure the hive has mites. I used a grease patty strip with some winter green e o at the entrance but that has been gone a month at least. Is this good or does it mean I really have a problem cause they're spilling out of the hive. also, this was split from a swarm made with a queen cell. She was superceded and now, they are queenless with capped brood and open larvae. I put a frame of eggs in 2 weeks ago Monday.(I have a queen enroute if I need it)

Thankyou for your thoughts:)
Rick SoMd
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I think you need to do an actual test and count mites rather than guess based on your observations. The next question is do you know how you'd deal with test results indicating that you have a mite problem?
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