Deformed Wing Virus

[Jen]

Hi Tbone, I've done a lot of splits and nuc making this year, that's what I'm learning. So that process gives the hives brood break which reduces the mite problem. I've been checking my sticky boards all season and haven't seen more than 5 mites or so. Then I see this poor bee in one of my nucs, and my alarms went up. So I was confuses because I only saw one bee like that... weird.

Anyway, it's got my attention now 

[Bee Commander]

Hey Jen,

Sticky boards have been found to be very unreliable for monitoring mite levels. Randy Oliver states this on his website and there's research supporting this.  I frequent a couple of bee clubs here and am astounded at the number of members who have lost their hives. When I ask how they monitor their mite levels; 100% said white boards. The sugar roll is in excess of 92% reliable compared to an alcohol wash. The ether roll is considered to be the least reliable method for monitoring mites. Good Luck.

[Jen]

Hi BCom    Personally, I feel that the sticky boards work best for me. Randy Oliver also said that if you count 10 mites on the sticky board, multiply it by 100, and that would be approx the average of how many mites are up in the hive. I haven't lost a hive yet to mites.

When I do see 10 or more mites, I do an oxalic treatment, and I can 'almost' guarantee a 1,000 - 2,000 mite kill. I know this because in the beginning of learning about my OA treatments, I pain stakenly counted the kill after the treatments, so I can eye ball it now.

For me, I don't want to rattle a cups worth of bees in a sugar shake just for a mite count, which also leaves sugar on the ground for ants. And I refuse to kill a cups worth of bees in an alchohol roll just for a mite count. Just me 

[Lburou]

...The ether roll is considered to be the least reliable method for monitoring mites. Good Luck.

Could you help me understand where this comes from?  I thought I had read RO saying the opposite. 

[Bee Commander]

...The ether roll is considered to be the least reliable method for monitoring mites. Good Luck.

Could you help me understand where this comes from?  I thought I had read RO saying the opposite. 

There's been several studies on the efficacy of monitoring methods of which ether rolls and sticky boards are at the bottom of the list. Here's a link to a publication I think is great. I use the powdered sugar roll. It is simple, easy on the bees and found to be in excess of 92% accurate. When you dump the bees back in the hive that are coated with powdered sugar, it's like desert!

http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/HBHC-Guide_Varroa-Interactive-PDF.pdf

[Bee Commander]

More on Monitoring Mites: Straight from Randy Oliver's web site:


Ether roll

The ether roll is very quick, and therefore commonly used by commercial beekeepers. Shake 300 bees from the brood nest into a jar (best with a jar that has an opening large enough for your hand, so you can wipe out the mites between tests). Spray automotive starter fluid ether into the jar for 1-2 seconds. Screw on the lid and shake the jar top to bottom for a few seconds, then roll the jar for 10-30 seconds. The bees will disgorge nectar, and the mites will stick to the sides of the jar (wet the jar with a little syrup if there’s no nectar flow) where you can count them. This method recovers only 50-75% of the mites if done carefully, and can vary wildly test to test for the same colony! A single test can easily miss low infestation levels. Therefore, take a lot of samples from a beeyard. Note: if you dump the bees out quickly, some may recover!

Stickies

Stickyboards are generally the most accurate and consistent method of estimating the total mite population, since they monitor the entire colony, rather than just a sample of the bees.

Update March 2015:  I have since found natural mite fall on sticky boards to be unreliable as an indicator of mite infestation levels.  For more up to date information, please see Mite Monitoring, Improved Mite Washer, and especially Mite Management Update 2013.