Faulty mite drop count?

[Beeconcerned]

I have trays in at the moment to monitor mite drop. I could hear rustling under a hive just now and pulled out the tray by torchlight. On the tray i found there were a few woodlice, a few earwigs, and 2 garden beetles, (which I think are carnivorous?). With all that going on during the hours of darkness I think the mite count could be affected. What do you think?

 

[MuswellMetro]

I have trays in at the moment to monitor mite drop. I could hear rustling under a hive just now and pulled out the tray by torchlight. On the tray i found there were a few woodlice, a few earwigs, and 2 garden beetles, (which I think are carnivorous?). With all that going on during the hours of darkness I think the mite count could be affected. What do you think?

smear vaseline on the varroa board and tell us if the count is higher, it would be interesting to see

 

[susbees]

I want to know what is eating dead bees and leaving just the "shell" of the abdomen in a neat pile....

 

[madasafish]

Wasps, sparrows?

 

[viridens]

A neat pile sounds more like the work of a fieldmouse.

Returning to the original thread, yes I'm sure that the count will be affected by your natural predators, and I don't know if vaseline would put off a determined beetle or whatever after captive prey..

In any case, remember that mite drop is just a convenient 'dipstick' to assess varroa level, and that fortunately most treatment is a precaution and not a cure. You don't actually need accurate counts for it to work.