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I've been digging through hives this past week....pulling supers, testing for mites and general conditions. I've found most colonies have very spotty capped brood. The queen is laying a solid pattern but sometime after capping....a significant number of pupae are uncapped and removed. Spot checking mite counts....and all are high. Except one. If I had any doubt about it being mite related...this one is the convincer. The hive I used this year for a queen bank. It went over 45 days without a laying queen. The capped brood is solid. Mite counts are below treatment thresholds.
For reasons I don't understand, this appears to be a major mite year in my yards. As you might imagine.....I'm doing something about it.
Good luck to all.
For reasons I don't understand, this appears to be a major mite year in my yards. As you might imagine.....I'm doing something about it.
Good luck to all.