For reasons that are not entirely clear the mite levels in my colonies are unusually low this autumn.
By 'unusually low' I mean single figure cumulative drops 7-10 days after starting the autumn treatment.
Is this good beekeeping (Ha! ... didn't think so) or a consequence of the excellent season we've had?
These colonies were last treated in early December 2017 after an extended cold-snap and during a known broodless period with a trickled Api-Bioxal. Almost all have been split during the season, had a nuc with the new queen removed and the remainder re-united back to one box. All are strong colonies, though most have limited amounts of brood at the moment after the Q stopped laying when the flow stopped.
There's been some drone brood removal (to make space, not for mite control), but not excessive and most colonies have foundationless frames which have a much higher proportion of drone brood anyway. Nothing else ... no sugar dusting, no rhubarb leaves over the crownboard, no careful location of apiaries on ley lines ;)
For work we've individually uncapped many hundreds of pupae and not seen a single mite all season.
Many of you will be starting autumn treatment about now ... are your mite levels also unusually low?