Mailing list for the Person County Beekeepers Association, Roxboro, NC

[Inge Kautzmann <ibk AT imageray.net>]

Title: Varroa Assessment

Lelia,

Before you make any decisions about treating it would be best to know your mite counts. 

Sticky board tests are not reliable because they don’t give you an accurate assessment of the percentage of mites in your hive. I recommend that you do a sugar shake. If you have already done a sugar shake what was your mite count per 300 bees?

A 10% infestation is problem that needs addressing. This means that the numbers will vary throughout the year depending on the size and composition of the hive.

In the summer, for example, you are more likely to have an equal brood to adult bee ratio. Meaning that the number of mites you shake from the adult bees is at least the same number of mites you can’t see that are present in the capped brood. In this case 15 mites equals 10% for the overall hive composition.

In spring you may have more capped brood than adult bees so in this case 7 1/2 mites might equal 10%

Here’s a link for more information.
Standardized Sampling Plan to Detect Varroa Density in Colonies and Apiaries http://www.extension.org/mediawiki/files/6/6d/Standardized_Varroa_Sampling_Bees.pdf

-Inge



On 3/12/13 2:10 PM, "Lelia Gentry" <heartandhandsfarm AT gmail.com> wrote:

> Would like some advice. I just found out that a friend of mine,
> mother, lost her 2 bee hives. The bees were fine 10 days ago and now
> almost all are dead. She has been feeding the winter. This same thing
> happened 2 years ago. Told by state lab 2 years ago that bees died
> from varroa mites.
>
> So, my question, I got my 2 hives last spring. I was told I did not
> need to treat for varroa the first season since bees treated prior to
> delivery. So, should I treat now before nectar flow? My hives seem
> healthy. Should I do sticky board?
>
> Thanks ahead of time. Lelia