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Originally Posted by nightshade  Hello Pauline,a well told tale.Are there more than one type of mite? I frequently see bumblebees grounded and buzzing furiously covered in mites these will now be rescued and bathed where ever possible (assume the wash was plain warm water) |
This idea seriously worries me. The mites you see on queen bumblebees in the autumn are not an infection, they are not parasites. It is simply the way in which the mites move from bumblebee nest to bumble nest.
There is evidence that in the nest they may help supress infection from moulds - so their presence in the nest is likely to be of benefit to the bees.
I'm not sure that anybody has looked but it is possible, maybe likely, that as the mites stay on the queens overwinter they help protect her for fungal infections - it is after-all to their benefit that the queen survives to form a new nest the following year.
Unless anybody can produce documented evidence that removing the mites from bumblebees increases they survival overwinter, and of their nests the following spring, then I suggest, strongly, that washing the bees is more likely to do harm than good.
It might make you feel good and make a good story but I think you need to really consider carefully what you hope to achieve by doing this.