Mites are the bane of a beekeeper’s existence. The honeybee in the picture below is enjoying the mint flowers. On her back you can see quite a few orange brown oval shaped mites. It’s time to treat the colonies with formic acid otherwise the mites can lead to the destruction of the colony. If you can imagine bees running around with mite wounds then you can easily imagine what an invitation to disease the mites can cause. click on the picture to enlarge.
mites on bee
Bellow is a picture of the Varroa mite from above and bellow. Picture source is the Government of B.C.
Varroa mite
