Mite Monitoring Methods Archives - Scientific Beekeeping https://scientificbeekeeping.com/varroa-management/mite-monitoring-methods/ Beekeeping Through the Eyes of a Biologist Sat, 30 Dec 2023 12:30:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Drones and Varroa: Part 2 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/drones-and-varroa-part-2/ Sat, 30 Dec 2023 10:51:22 +0000 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/?p=8347 Contents Testing Hypothesis #2. 2 Let’s Do the Calcs! 11 Conclusions 11 Why Would Mites Prefer  Drones?. 12 Acknowledgements. 12 Citations and Notes 12     Drones and Varroa Part 2 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ November 2023         In the May issue of this journal, Dr. Zac Lamas presented some findings of […]

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]]> Drones and Varroa: Part 1 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/drones-and-varroa-part-1/ Sat, 30 Dec 2023 10:23:12 +0000 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/?p=8328 Contents The Proposed Hypotheses 2 Monitoring of the Mite Infestation. 3 How Best to Obtain a Representative and Consistent Sample?. 3 Testing Hypothesis #1. 4 Field Observations. 5 Results. 9 The Take Home. 15 Citations and Notes 16     Drones and Varroa Part 1 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ October 2023   […]

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]]> How to use Randy’s Handy mite wash cup https://scientificbeekeeping.com/how-to-use-randys-handy-mite-wash-cup/ Sat, 14 Oct 2023 00:08:23 +0000 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/?p=8291 Tips for Using the XXX cup for Monitoring Varroa TAKING THE SAMPLE Use an 18-quart dishwashing tub and a stainless-steel half cup (125 mL) measuring cup (for measuring live bees, a deep cup is more accurate than a shallow cup). Take the bee sample from a frame (or frames) adjacent to the broodnest, but not […]

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]]> A Study on Bee Drift and Mite Immigration: Part 3 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/a-study-on-bee-drift-and-mite-immigration-part-3/ Sat, 22 Jul 2023 20:26:43 +0000 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/?p=8170 Contents The Donor Colonies 1 Tagging. 1 Results and Discussion. 2 Did the Tagged Bees Behave Normally?. 2 Progress of the Colonies. 4 Answering our Questions 4 Observations from the Donor Hives. 5 Correlation With Varroa Infestation. 6 Tag Recovery by Date. 8 Timelines of Recovery of Drifted Bees 9 Relevance to Mite Immigration. 10 […]

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]]> A Study on Bee and Mite Drift: Part 2 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/8063-2/ Wed, 03 May 2023 05:48:15 +0000 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/?p=8063  Contents Questions to Answer 1 Materials and Methods 2 Placement of the hives 2 Preparation of the Mite Donor Colonies. 3 Tagging the bees 3 The Control Group. 7 Preparation of the Mite Receiver Hives 7 Eliminating the mites. 7 Magnetic tag recovery. 9 The stickyboards. 10 The hive scales. 10 Layout of the Donor […]

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]]> The varroa incursion in Australia 4 July 2022 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/the-varroa-incursion-in-australia-4-july-2022/ Mon, 04 Jul 2022 16:32:46 +0000 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/?p=7763 I’ve been speaking on a daily basis with one of the two beekeepers whose operations are infested, as well as others in the industry. So far, over 1000 of their colonies have been euthanized, with many more planned to be burned.  As you can imagine, this is very emotional for those beekeepers, who have also been prevented from […]

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]]> Refining the Mite Wash: Part 3 – Dislodgement, Precipitation and Separation https://scientificbeekeeping.com/7028-2/ Fri, 06 Nov 2020 21:47:40 +0000 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/?p=7028 Refining the Mite Wash: Part 3 Dislodgement, Precipitation, and Separation Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in September 2020 In my last article I showed how mites will quickly drop off the bees’ bodies if immersed in 91% alcohol.  But there are still more steps remaining to separate the mites from the sample of […]

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]]> Refining the Mite Wash: Part 4 – Comparing the Release Agents https://scientificbeekeeping.com/refining-the-mite-wash-part-4-comparing-the-release-agents/ Sat, 31 Oct 2020 00:30:23 +0000 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/?p=6996 Refining the Mite Wash : Part 4 Comparing the Release Agents Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in October 2020 As I tested different release agents for varroa monitoring, I was often surprised by the results, which then raised new questions about why some worked better than others. So I ran a number of […]

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]]> Refining the Mite Wash: Part 2 – Mite Release https://scientificbeekeeping.com/6960-2/ Sat, 24 Oct 2020 18:34:26 +0000 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/?p=6960 Refining the Mite Wash- Part 2 Mite Release Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in August 2020 The high efficacy of hand dishwashing detergent at getting mites to release their grip on bees bestirred me to investigate this finding more deeply.  What I’ve come to realize is that there are four steps involved between […]

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]]> Refining the Mite Wash: Part 1 – Treatment Threshold and Solutions to Use https://scientificbeekeeping.com/refining-the-mite-wash-part-1-treatment-threshold-and-solutions-to-use/ Fri, 11 Sep 2020 04:26:22 +0000 https://scientificbeekeeping.com/?p=6605 Refining the Mite Wash Part 1 Treatment Threshold and Solutions to Use Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ July 2020 Once you’ve shaken a sample of bees, you then need to separate the mites from them.  There are various recommendations for using alcohol, detergent water, powdered sugar, ether, or CO2.  I’ve been using inexpensive […]

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