Hello Cedar and Stewart! It's such bad news that varroa are now in Australia. I personally like the sugar shake method for backyard beekeepers since they have more time to do that correctly. If you can shake your bees into a plastic tub, the foragers will fly off and the nurse bees will remain, then you will have a (1/2 cup) scoop of nurse bees which are more likely to have the mites. I also put the bees in the jar first, then add the sugar through the top screen on top of them. Then, I park the sugared bees and jar in the shade, they will heat themselves up and start grooming without agitation. Then after a couple of minutes of that, you can begin shaking them. I like to put a coffee filter in a colander (Bun Coffee filters Large) then you can rinse the sugar away and have the mites in clear relief for viewing/counting. I wish you all the best and hope that you never find a mite. Nice demo! Collecting nurse bees from open brood frames will have the greatest mite loads. 1/2 cup = 300 bees (generally speaking), so six mites would be a 2% mite load.
DEAR Flow-Hive Team! I just wanted to second Uncle Fred! He is Very Good At Whatever he does! I too am an avid Fred Dunn Watcher and follower! God Bless Youall and your Bees!!!
Hello Cedar en Stewart. I’m a new beekeeper from The Netherlands. Here in Holland we have Varroa and people are used to it. They use different method to get rid of them but one of them is robmites (exact translation). They go inside the hive and kill the Verroa. Keep up the good work and greeting from here.
Hi C Hi Stu, Thank You for such an informative video. I actually cried when I heard on the news about the varoamite “infestation” in Australia. I’ve been watching youtube videos for a few years now on beekeeping and the main channel (overseas) is Vino farm. Far North America where it’s winter (I think he said) more then six months of the year. Anyway- he has some great videos on how he test for the mites. So, yeah… I was very smug watching his videos knowing we didn’t have the mite in Australia 😔🤦♀️. Sad and very worrisome. Thank You again C, stay safe. Tx.
Do people sometimes order in a queen (starter hive) from abroad? Perhaps encourage to get a starter hive locally, if you can, and not order one in. Bit of conjecture on my part, but worth a mention I thought. -Always source a hive as locally as/if possible.
Completely agree, and yes we always strongly advocate for sourcing your bees as locally as possible. Even with pests and diseases aside, sometimes the transit can be so long that queens/bees would die on their way, so yes we believe that local is always best! - Danika
Unfortunate, but what a platform Australia can become for testing, treatment and resistance against mites if everyone does what they can to chip in locally and abroad
I'm sorry your guys are seeing signs of varroa. I pray it does not make it to you. Great video QUESTION FOR YOU; Any tips on keeping my beesuit as white and clean as yours?
Hey Brad, Thanks for your kind thoughts and wishes. Sure thing - here's a page on caring for your bee suit ;) support.honeyflow.com/how-do-i-care-for-my-bee-suit/ Hope it helps! - Danika
@@FlowHive thank you Danika. I was selected to be video taped by Cedars Cousin. He is coming to NYC soon to video tape me and my bees. I feel blessed and am super grateful.
Hello Cedar and Stewart! It's such bad news that varroa are now in Australia. I personally like the sugar shake method for backyard beekeepers since they have more time to do that correctly. If you can shake your bees into a plastic tub, the foragers will fly off and the nurse bees will remain, then you will have a (1/2 cup) scoop of nurse bees which are more likely to have the mites. I also put the bees in the jar first, then add the sugar through the top screen on top of them. Then, I park the sugared bees and jar in the shade, they will heat themselves up and start grooming without agitation. Then after a couple of minutes of that, you can begin shaking them. I like to put a coffee filter in a colander (Bun Coffee filters Large) then you can rinse the sugar away and have the mites in clear relief for viewing/counting. I wish you all the best and hope that you never find a mite. Nice demo! Collecting nurse bees from open brood frames will have the greatest mite loads. 1/2 cup = 300 bees (generally speaking), so six mites would be a 2% mite load.
DEAR Flow-Hive Team! I just wanted to second Uncle Fred! He is Very Good At Whatever he does! I too am an avid Fred Dunn Watcher and follower! God Bless Youall and your Bees!!!
Hello Cedar en Stewart. I’m a new beekeeper from The Netherlands. Here in Holland we have Varroa and people are used to it. They use different method to get rid of them but one of them is robmites (exact translation). They go inside the hive and kill the Verroa. Keep up the good work and greeting from here.
what's the latin name?
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and friends Mr. Cedar.
Happy holidays!
Hi C Hi Stu,
Thank You for such an informative video.
I actually cried when I heard on the news about the varoamite “infestation” in Australia. I’ve been watching youtube videos for a few years now on beekeeping and the main
channel (overseas) is Vino farm. Far North America where it’s winter (I think he said) more then six months of the year. Anyway- he has some great videos on how he test for the mites. So, yeah… I was very smug watching his videos knowing we didn’t have the mite in Australia 😔🤦♀️. Sad and very worrisome.
Thank You again C, stay safe. Tx.
I have been useing apple vinegar and it really attracts the small hive beetles in my traps ! Just FYI
It kills them quicker than oil...
Do people sometimes order in a queen (starter hive) from abroad? Perhaps encourage to get a starter hive locally, if you can, and not order one in.
Bit of conjecture on my part, but worth a mention I thought. -Always source a hive as locally as/if possible.
Completely agree, and yes we always strongly advocate for sourcing your bees as locally as possible. Even with pests and diseases aside, sometimes the transit can be so long that queens/bees would die on their way, so yes we believe that local is always best! - Danika
Newcastle is not a container port so do really wonder how it would start there
Unfortunate, but what a platform Australia can become for testing, treatment and resistance against mites if everyone does what they can to chip in locally and abroad
10:33 everyone watching gasps 😱
I'm sorry your guys are seeing signs of varroa. I pray it does not make it to you. Great video
QUESTION FOR YOU; Any tips on keeping my beesuit as white and clean as yours?
Hey Brad,
Thanks for your kind thoughts and wishes.
Sure thing - here's a page on caring for your bee suit ;)
support.honeyflow.com/how-do-i-care-for-my-bee-suit/
Hope it helps!
- Danika
@@FlowHive thank you Danika. I was selected to be video taped by Cedars Cousin. He is coming to NYC soon to video tape me and my bees. I feel blessed and am super grateful.
First
I do half a cup and I shake for 2 minutes and much harder than that.
too many bees in the cup!!!