Winter prep - Treated with mite strips, now not many bees. Do i have a serious problem? Pennsylvania, USA

[Dawn_SD]

Food for thought in my last 24 hours of Varroa management on my hives:

Don't get complacent folks, Varroa is EVERYWHERE!

Most people treat for Varroa in Spring and Fall. In my climate, we are in high summer. I treated my hive before the usual nectar flow. I just treated again yesterday with OAV. This is a sobering photo of the core flute slider 24 hours after treating. All mites in the photo were dead (not moving), but the point is, never assume everything is OK, just because you don’t see mites on the bees (I don’t, and I do sugar roll counts, but I want to be clear). Please don’t get complacent, your colony is c…