Red mite, which live on chickens, gorge on their blood.......how would that work on a bee then?
They may well be red spider mite........but the chicken ones are completely different and shouldn't be confused.
Red spider mite gets lots of Google hits.....sorry I cannot answer more fully but the above annoyed me as it it so wrong. I see tiny red spiders on my OM tray, they may well just eat the fallen debris and do no harm, they don't appear on the hit list for known pest of bees.
BTW Lady M. If you think that by keeping chickens in a non wooden house will eliminate red mite, then you are wrong and need to look harder.....
Frisbee