Yesterday I went out to check and see how effective my Hopguard strip is at repelling those varroa mites.  My Country Rubes screened bottom board has access at the back of the hive where I’ve placed a sheet of gridded sticky paper under the screen to catch the mites that fall down from the frames.  My count yielded a grand total of fourteen mites.  That wasn’t as many as I was expecting, but perhaps my varroa problem was caught early enough that the population wasn’t so high.  I believe they must have come in with my second package of bees since I never noticed any with the first one.  

Next week, I will re-treat with another strip of Hopguard.  My bee-mentor and friend recommended I hang the next strip after ten days.  They aren’t as effective as the gooey Hop mixture dries out.  I’ll keep checking my frames and the sticky sheet as well to see if the count goes up.  

Everything else looks good though.  The only thing that would help is for the temperature to warm up here just a little….and maybe for the sun to come out!