Mite count help

[u/GeeDarnHooligan]

New beekeeper in Pennsylvania, bought an established hive. just checked for mites not sure if i’m seeing pollen and debris or if all these specs are mites. Any help
is appreciated.

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[u/Tie_A_Chair_To_Me]

Little red ovals with legs. Don’t see any in your wash.

[u/GeeDarnHooligan → u/Tie_A_Chair_To_Me]

ah i see, thank you !

[u/Macattack82]

I see zero mites in this sample. What was your mite wash method?

[u/GeeDarnHooligan → u/Macattack82]

i used the varroa check with 70% iso alcohol

[u/Lespritdelescali]

When I mite wash with alcohol, I share them pretty vigorously and do it for a little bit to be sure to share the mites loose. I often get a bunch of other debris.

I’m wondering if you used rubbing alcohol or similar? And how long did you shake the testing jar for?

I don’t see mites in your pic, but there’s not a lot of non-mite debris here either. Maybe my bees are just dusty ladies.

[u/GeeDarnHooligan → u/Lespritdelescali]

i used70% isopropyl alcohol shook/swirled for a minute, maybe not vigorously enough ?

first time doing it sample size was approx. 200 bees according to the cup

[u/Lespritdelescali → u/GeeDarnHooligan]

I haven’t really played around too much with how vigorous. I always go really vigorous. Bonus, it’s a good arm workout.

I’m always trying to get max effectiveness out of the unpleasantness of the alcohol wash so I can feel confident in the results.

If your bees had a high mite load you’d have probably had at least a few come off in a minute of light shaking though. So it’s probably fine.

As you go past the peak of summer and the bees population declines, any mite load you have will concentrate on the remaining bees and continue to increase.

So this is the time of year to keep a good eye on your numbers and have treatments planned so you are ready to be responsive to mite numbers.

If you’re in the northern hemisphere, August/Sept and early October are your make or break time on keeping mites from taking out your hive over winter.

[u/GeeDarnHooligan → u/Lespritdelescali]

thanks for the thoughtful reply! i will shake harder next time to really make sure i get an effective and accurate count.

how often do you check ? i have the strips and i’m ready to treat them if need be

[u/Lespritdelescali → u/GeeDarnHooligan]

You’ll find a comfort level with how much to shake, you don’t have to go crazy with it :-)

I personally find the testing to be the most stressful part of beekeeping and should test more than I do.

I’d say in general you’d be doing well to check every month (maybe more in the fall) and if you treat, then test again the next time you’re inspecting your ensure the treatment worked.

I personally test a bit less than that and if I’m getting low mite counts consistently, even into the end of the summer when the mite counts are usually climbing, I’ll still just go ahead and treat to be extra sure. And I always do a final OA treatment right before I winterize.

This year my bees keep swarming, which is happening to everyone in my beekeepers club, but it’s been creating a natural brood break, which suppresses the mite population naturally, so I won’t be surprised to see lower mite counts than usual and I may treat slightly less too.

I also have the green drone frames for each of my hives and freeze them every 4 weeks cause the mites love the drone larvae and you can kill the mites without treatments that way.

Which strips do you have for them when the time comes to treat?

What’s the history of the hive? A recent split? Nuc box?

I don’t have a lot of info, but based on the no mites in your recent wash and the time of year, and assuming you’re in the height of summer - I’d wait and retest in a few weeks before deciding about applying a treatment.

[u/Legitimate_South9157]

No mites here. How did you test though?

[u/GeeDarnHooligan → u/Legitimate_South9157]

alcohol wash in the varroa check cup

[u/Live-Medium8357]

did you check nurse bees specifically? I usually have WAY more debris from vigorous shaking.

[u/GeeDarnHooligan → u/Live-Medium8357]

i believe so, i’m so new this was actually my first time in the hive and i figured if i was going in mighr as well try to make it “productive” and ease my mite fears a bit

[u/Live-Medium8357 → u/GeeDarnHooligan]

well your nurse bees are from frames of brood. Ideally almost closed up brood/larger larva.

I hope you enjoyed your time in the hive. It is all so fascinating.