Hi We have just completed a count and there were only four mites on the board after ten days. People in this area are experiencing similar low numbers. is this common this year?
I would not be surprised if varroa counts are lower than average. Maybe we could all submit any counts we have as well as the method of counting.
Mite drops through the OMF onto a board were zero for most of the summer but began to increase in August reaching 6 over 3 days in one colony and 1 over 3 days in the other, before I applied Apiguard on August 14th. These figures are at the low end of the range I have observed in previous years, but I am now in a different county with different bees so probably cannot compare.
Counts in untreated colonies also tend to increase through August and into autumn, so comparisons are difficult to make.