If you are treating for Varroa mites you will probably have no problem but you must be treating. These mites will suck the life out of a hi...
If you are treating for Varroa mites you will probably have no problem but you must be treating. These mites will suck the life out of a hive in the Philippines. Native bees abscond, abandoning the hive when mite loads get too high. Dorsita also will not open capped brood that dies due to mites. They leave that cell and never touch it again. Our European honeybees do not have that behavior and we do not want them absconding.
paraphrasing Wikipedia...
An internal parasite of honey bees. Originally called Isle of Wight Disease. Acarapis woodi mites live and reproduce in the tracheae (air pipes) of bees. They are arachnids like spiders. The female mite attaches 5–7 eggs to the tracheal walls, where the larvae hatch and develop in 11–15 days to adult mites. The mites parasitize young bees up to two weeks old through the tracheal tube openings. There, they pierce the tracheal tube walls with their mouthparts and feed on the haemolymph of the bees. More than a hundred mites can populate the tracheae and weaken the bees. The mites are generally less than 175 micrometres (0.007 in) long, and can only be seen and identified under a microscope.
From Michael Bush...
