Dead bee; 2 mites

[DaveKow]

Long story short.  I witnessed a bee fling another bee off of the landing board.  I grabbed the dead bee off of the ground and saw 2 mites on it.  Am I infested?  Will a bee kill one of it's own if mites are on it?  Like it brought mites in while foraging. 

This is a package about 6 weeks old.  I didn't think I would have to go on mite patrol this soon.  So, I am hoping that I got lucky and my girls are very hygenic.  They are italians from CA. 

I am going to put some sticky boards under my 3 hives and see what I see.  I would appreciate recommendations on duration of the board under the hive and mite count for that time period.

Thanks,

Dave

[Moonshae]

Almost all hives have some mites. I wouldn't worry, the first year is a "gimme." You'll have to start checking levels of mites in the spring.

[BearCreekBees]

Back when mites were starting to be a problem, "they" (whoever they are- the experts I guess) used to say that if you could see the mites on the bees your hive was already in trouble. Well, I've seen a lot of mites since then, unfortunately, but I have been lucky not to have lost any hives to them. I think hearing that scared me so much that I have always treated mites very aggressively. If those were my hives I would not wait- by spring they might be dead.

Put your sticky boards in for 18-24 hours. If you see 59-187 mites when you check, then you need to treat or your hives may be at risk.
The time to treat is coming up- in my area I would be treating as soon as I pulled my honey- around here that will proabably be in August this year. If I had a heavy infestation I would start now with a drone frame and try to get a couple of cycles before the queen begins to slow down, then hit them hard with whatever other treatment(s) I intended to use.

[bassman1977]

Personally, if I had roughly 20 mites in my hive, I would be taking measures.

Am I infested?

Won't know until you do a mite count.  2 mites on 1 bee would definately peak my curiosity but don't hit the panic button until you know for sure.  Even if you have a lot, you have time to start a course of action before the hive collapses, but starting sooner than later is better.