Varroa mites: too much, or very little?

[spafmagic]

Hello. New beekeeper here, first time posting on this form. I just completed the first step in a 20 day treatment period, using Formic Pro. In 10 days, there have been approximately 120 varroa mites that have falling onto the Mite count bottom board. I have one brood box and a super. My question, is as the topic. Does the number of dead varroa mites indicate far too many, or, did they have very little to begin with?

[BeeMaster2]

Welcome to Beemaster.
In order to answer your question, we need to know how large and strong Your hive is. 10 mites per day on a weak Nuc is a lot, on a hive with 50,000 bees, is small.
Jim

[spafmagic]

Welcome to Beemaster.
In order to answer your question, we need to know how large and strong Your hive is.

I got the hive back at the end of May, as a 6 frame nuc. Put them in a 10 frame brood box. I kept them on sugar water feed throughout June and July, it was strong when I got them, good laying Queen. Last I inspected inside... all the frames were being utilized and you can barely see any of the cells on any of the frames unless you shook the bees off.

That should hopefully give you an idea how strong they are LOL

[beepro]

There is no such thing as too little or too many.  If they have mites then they do.  Some hives can survive with
a heavy mite load while others cannot.  During the winter time it is a different story since the mites can
survive in the hive until Spring time.   Then they will multiply rapidly once the brood nest expands again.  This will lead to
a hive mite crash situation.  So the only way a hive can survive this winter into the following Spring is to control the mites
down to a level that they can no longer affect the big fat winter bees.   Bottom line is control the mites!

[Hops Brewster]

Taking a mite count using either sugar roll or alcohol wash before treatment, then taking another count using the same method after the treatment will give you a much better idea of treatment efficacy.  A lot of dead mites that are firmly embedded between the segments of the bees body will take a long time to fall off without getting physically forced off, if the ever do drop.  Sticky boards are a simple, handy visual indicator, but not the most accurate method.

Also, the mites within the cells killed by formic acid vapor don't get counted until the cells get cleaned out.  It might be awhile before all those nasty critters fall to the sticky board, giving you what appears to be a 'delayed' reaction to treatment.