Varroa Mite Count

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an important part of keeping bees healthy and minimizing treatments.
Tonight I popped off my landing boards and pulled out the plywood tray to clean off. Take a look at what was on that tray!

This shows everything that has fallen down the screen. Take a look at all that good pollen! I threw all of this into the field nearby. It is good practice to always discard of comb and other bee products far enough away from the hive so that you do not attract skunks or other pests.

There was also a lot of mites on the bottom board. They are those shiny little football shaped critters. I think that my removable tray is so far away from the bottom board that the mites are unable to make it back in the brood nest. As you can see; bottom trays act as a passive mite "treatment".

This is what the hive looks like with the sticky paper in place and the landing board off. I will take the paper out in 2 days and do a mite count to see to what degree my colony is affected. Until then...