[JimD]

With Two hive I have not really done an OA tmt till this week for the year. I built the bottom boards that have the mineral oil containers in the bottom and they were full of SHB. I removed the tubs placed the sticky boards and could find no mites after a day. I pulled the boards and did my OA yesterday at daylight, replaced the boards and wonder how long it takes to see dead mites on the board? I looked at one and found no mites this am. I did have some SHB on the boards and some small black items that look about like a big flea. What is this? roach droppings? ?
How long does it take for the mites to die and fall off? It should be a pretty good kill since most of the Brood was capped about 12 days ago and should be hatched out.

And yes I do not do alcohol checks.

Any suggestions appreciated. Jim

 

[Fivej]

Jim, most feel 3 days gives them an accurate kill count. However, if you did the oav this week after cells were capped, the treatment will have no effect on the hatching bees. Oav does not penetrate the cappings. The only mites that will be killed are the ones on the adult bees. J