Why Mite Treat Hygienic Bees?

Why should you treat all your bees going into winter, even if they’re hygienic?  Depending on the type of treatment you performed, you may still have a post-treatment varroa mite load going into winter.  As all honeybees cluster in the winter and the temperatures drop, movements start to slow down and the process of removing mites is slower than what you would see in the summer.  This can give varroa the upper hand at damaging your hive.  

We see with most bees that it is the combination of factors, as opposed to a single factor that decimates a hive over winter.  For example, honeybees can handle cold temperatures, but not cold with overexposure, or cold without ventilation.  With overexposure the bees die from exposure, not enough ventilation and mold grows in the hive and decimates it.  Adding mites to these scenarios will only speed up the damage or complete loss that will be caused.  Vigilance on the part of the beekeeper is required to eliminate as many of the troubling overwintering factors as possible.  A complete mite treatment and health checkup with a balance of ventilation and sufficient food stores should get your bees into spring!