Wow. This video is very helpful (as usual!). After watching this, I’m going to just do the alcohol test. Powdered sugar is pure torture for those bees.
If you have to shake the bees and the powered sugar for that long and that hard and you’re talking about possibly cutting their life expectancy by doing it then you might as well just do the alcohol wash or a Dawn dish liquid wash because the bees aren’t going to survive much longer anyways that’s just my thoughts and I thank you for all you’ve done and all you’re doing I love your videos keep you up good work
It would be interesting to see the bees behavior in an observation hive after the sugar roll to see what level of impact it has. Personally, I prefer this method rather than an alcohol wash. Once the bees have been coated with a few good shakes, I let the jar sit in the sun a few minutes and continue to do a gentle shake/roll for several minutes before testing count. I'll try the 10 minutes. Thanks, David!
Idk whether to be confused or really happy? I have 4 hives and have been doing alcohol wash test on them every 2 weeks during inspections and not a single mite! I took sample bees from a frame of open brood and also a green drone frame with open larvae from each hive and still nothing. I have been using the green drone frame method all season and have been consistently swapping out the frames of capped drones, with previously frozen drone frames. So either I'm not doing the test right or the green drone frame method is working extremely well. I hate to doubt myself, but it's only my second year of beekeeping, so I'm still learning. Which Dave, your classes and videos have constantly helped me, thank you for all you do!
Loved this thank you. Are you going to do a pre mite count and post mite count after various treatments? That would make a great video series. Love to see how the powered sugar treatment does.
Love this study. I'm a fan of the Dawn Ultra version of the alcohol wash, and it sacrifices bees, but the mite count is good information prior to treatment. Thanks, David!
I know a keeper that dusts his hives with poweder sugar and does an annual alcohol test. He's only ever found 1 mite in 12 years. I think this overlooks the idea of powdered sugar as preventitive. He has an open screen on the bottom when he does it and the thought is that the sugar and mites fall through. I'd love to see a controlled study.
These videos are just fantastic! Thanks so much for going through these important techniques. Once I get my bees next year, I plan on doing the alcohol wash as I want to be sure I’m being as accurate as possible. Seems the powdered sugar has a lot more variables and room for error.
Dave, I finished testing my last two hives using Dawn dish soap shaking them for 5 minutes. After I tested I added more water and shook them some more. I got more mites both times.
Great video. I am curious what kind of mite count you would get with all that shaking and no powder sugar. Is the agitation or sugar what is knocking the mites off. On the same token, if you put 2-3 tablespoons of powder sugar with little to no shaking but still in your jar. Is it the powdered sugar or is it the shaking?
I was told of placing a piece of cartridge paper smeared with vasaline and powered sugar covering this paper the bees will go for the sugar and the mites jump off but get stuck in the grease of vasaline.
Could you also do a lifespan test, comparing bees coated with powdered sugar vs nurse bees with nothing. A smaller sample would be acceptable. I think my sugar coated bees died in a weeks time. Maybe just cage them with food resources to see how long they live. Thank you for doing the science.
If the sugar test works by allowing the bees to groom, how is that possible w that much shaking? I plan on trying this, but I want to use the same varroa check canister and then roll the bees for about a min in the sugar, then let them sit for about 10mins. I'm hoping that the slats in the basket will allow the mites to fall and not be able to reattach.
David, what would you say about the idea of taking some high definition snapshot photos of a few brood frames, zooming in on them in a "sample" area, and counting the number of bees and the number of mites that can be seen? I did this by accident when we were taking a pretty pic of my queen on the frame, and it was very detailed, and in a few square inches i had counted 45 visible bees and 1 visible mite....
thank you David! I have heard that you could put the sugared bees in the shade for ten-fifteen minutes as apposed to shaking vigorously. Not sure how well that process works. any thoughts?
Could we just gentle shake then let them sit in the powdered sugar for a total of 30 min or longer? Is the benefit of shaking more of what makes the mites fall off, or is the coating of sugar sufficient? Just letting the bees go about their busy-ness while allowing the sugar to take effect.
Now I wonder if it is more about time than vigor (that would bee easier on the bees). Remember that those are nurse bees and may not fly, but will crawl until they are older... Looking forward to your next video!
As I understand it, we don't need a very accurate count. So I would just lightly shake the bees. Whatever mite count I see, I assume the real number is 3x worse. For backyard beekeepers, it's time to treat if we see a few mites from a sugar shake.
You might try putting the alcohol dead bees in Dawn dish soap to see if the alcohol misses any. It’s supposed to work as good as alcohol and it’s cheaper.
If you know that so many fall off with the powder trigger test and there are some left autumn how do you know the alcohol doesn’t do the same doesn’t clean them off 100% possibly put them through a double alcohol Test even if they’re dead
Shaking bees in the jar with powdered sugar is no more humane than the alcohol wash because we have to be able to view the bees for a long time afterwards and see what their physical characteristics will be like after the shake. The bee company up north that believes in applying powdered sugar to the frames said that they have had great results, wish I could think of their name but they do have their videos on TH-cam If you can study the after effects of the shaking and let's just see what damage is done if any 🐝🙏🐝 I think you're on the right track
It is important to monitor the growth of mites and keep the levels low all year because it’s not the mites that are so much of the problem but the viruses they spread.
I'm a Beekeeper in JAMAICA 🇯🇲 W.I.I REALLY DON'T EITHER OF THOSE PROCESSES, SCHEDULE A YEARLY MITE TREATMENT TIMELINE,ALONG WITH FOGGING,AND THERE AFTER NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.
I was taught to roll them 30 times, set them in the shade 10 minutes, and shake them 30 times, maybe not quite that hard because it does seem cruel doing it like that
David I’m new with be keeping I wrote you quite a few times I really like your videos very knowledgeable but why can’t you Treat for mites without a chess does it harm the bees
I appreciate the effort and it is interesting to see the difference, but you can't really call this scientific, what with testing only on hive and changing multiple variables at a time (such as using a different amount of sugar and shaking for a different length of time). Still, not a worthless effort - looking forward to further exercises.
Wow. This video is very helpful (as usual!). After watching this, I’m going to just do the alcohol test. Powdered sugar is pure torture for those bees.
You shook the crap out of the bees lol
Great video David Thank-You so much for your time.
This is so valuable. Wow
If you have to shake the bees and the powered sugar for that long and that hard and you’re talking about possibly cutting their life expectancy by doing it then you might as well just do the alcohol wash or a Dawn dish liquid wash because the bees aren’t going to survive much longer anyways that’s just my thoughts and I thank you for all you’ve done and all you’re doing I love your videos keep you up good work
exceptionally good study, thanks David!
It would be interesting to see the bees behavior in an observation hive after the sugar roll to see what level of impact it has. Personally, I prefer this method rather than an alcohol wash. Once the bees have been coated with a few good shakes, I let the jar sit in the sun a few minutes and continue to do a gentle shake/roll for several minutes before testing count. I'll try the 10 minutes. Thanks, David!
Idk whether to be confused or really happy? I have 4 hives and have been doing alcohol wash test on them every 2 weeks during inspections and not a single mite! I took sample bees from a frame of open brood and also a green drone frame with open larvae from each hive and still nothing. I have been using the green drone frame method all season and have been consistently swapping out the frames of capped drones, with previously frozen drone frames. So either I'm not doing the test right or the green drone frame method is working extremely well. I hate to doubt myself, but it's only my second year of beekeeping, so I'm still learning. Which Dave, your classes and videos have constantly helped me, thank you for all you do!
Loved this thank you. Are you going to do a pre mite count and post mite count after various treatments? That would make a great video series. Love to see how the powered sugar treatment does.
Love this study. I'm a fan of the Dawn Ultra version of the alcohol wash, and it sacrifices bees, but the mite count is good information prior to treatment. Thanks, David!
Could you supply the recipe for the Dishsoap wash? Also, does it have to be Dawn Ultra or could it be Dawn or some other dishsoap?
I added about a teaspoon per half gallon of water. Who know if it has to be Dawn. That's the talk 😃
The powdered sugar seems far more cruel than a quick alcohol or dawn water death.
I'm definitely going to switch to the shake method. Thank you for all your help!
I know a keeper that dusts his hives with poweder sugar and does an annual alcohol test. He's only ever found 1 mite in 12 years. I think this overlooks the idea of powdered sugar as preventitive. He has an open screen on the bottom when he does it and the thought is that the sugar and mites fall through. I'd love to see a controlled study.
There has been many controlled studies on powdered sugar. Randy Oliver did one such study.
These videos are just fantastic! Thanks so much for going through these important techniques. Once I get my bees next year, I plan on doing the alcohol wash as I want to be sure I’m being as accurate as possible. Seems the powdered sugar has a lot more variables and room for error.
Dave, I finished testing my last two hives using Dawn dish soap shaking them for 5 minutes. After I tested I added more water and shook them some more. I got more mites both times.
Would it be better to place the jar top down so when grooming the mites can drop out of the jar?
Great video. I am curious what kind of mite count you would get with all that shaking and no powder sugar. Is the agitation or sugar what is knocking the mites off. On the same token, if you put 2-3 tablespoons of powder sugar with little to no shaking but still in your jar. Is it the powdered sugar or is it the shaking?
I was told of placing a piece of cartridge paper smeared with vasaline and powered sugar covering this paper the bees will go for the sugar and the mites jump off but get stuck in the grease of vasaline.
Could you also do a lifespan test, comparing bees coated with powdered sugar vs nurse bees with nothing. A smaller sample would be acceptable. I think my sugar coated bees died in a weeks time. Maybe just cage them with food resources to see how long they live. Thank you for doing the science.
I will think through this process and see if it is possible.
If the sugar test works by allowing the bees to groom, how is that possible w that much shaking? I plan on trying this, but I want to use the same varroa check canister and then roll the bees for about a min in the sugar, then let them sit for about 10mins. I'm hoping that the slats in the basket will allow the mites to fall and not be able to reattach.
David, what would you say about the idea of taking some high definition snapshot photos of a few brood frames, zooming in on them in a "sample" area, and counting the number of bees and the number of mites that can be seen? I did this by accident when we were taking a pretty pic of my queen on the frame, and it was very detailed, and in a few square inches i had counted 45 visible bees and 1 visible mite....
Lots of mites hang out on the underside of the bee’s abdomen
thank you David! I have heard that you could put the sugared bees in the shade for ten-fifteen minutes as apposed to shaking vigorously. Not sure how well that process works. any thoughts?
Thanks for the comparison. It's good to have that data.
Could we just gentle shake then let them sit in the powdered sugar for a total of 30 min or longer? Is the benefit of shaking more of what makes the mites fall off, or is the coating of sugar sufficient?
Just letting the bees go about their busy-ness while allowing the sugar to take effect.
I wish this would be enough but I doubt it.
Now I wonder if it is more about time than vigor (that would bee easier on the bees). Remember that those are nurse bees and may not fly, but will crawl until they are older...
Looking forward to your next video!
As I understand it, we don't need a very accurate count. So I would just lightly shake the bees. Whatever mite count I see, I assume the real number is 3x worse. For backyard beekeepers, it's time to treat if we see a few mites from a sugar shake.
Great study. Prudent summer time maintenance may be regular powder sugar dousing while using a freeman beetle trap base?
Could you do an alcohol wash in a mason jar, like you're doing with the sugar.
You might try putting the alcohol dead bees in Dawn dish soap to see if the alcohol misses any. It’s supposed to work as good as alcohol and it’s cheaper.
If you know that so many fall off with the powder trigger test and there are some left autumn how do you know the alcohol doesn’t do the same doesn’t clean them off 100% possibly put them through a double alcohol Test even if they’re dead
Shaking bees in the jar with powdered sugar is no more humane than the alcohol wash because we have to be able to view the bees for a long time afterwards and see what their physical characteristics will be like after the shake.
The bee company up north that believes in applying powdered sugar to the frames said that they have had great results, wish I could think of their name but they do have their videos on TH-cam
If you can study the after effects of the shaking and let's just see what damage is done if any 🐝🙏🐝
I think you're on the right track
I appreciate you doing this. It’s very interesting.
For a small operator (4 hives) wouldnt it just be easier to treat late summer? And be cleaned up.
It is important to monitor the growth of mites and keep the levels low all year because it’s not the mites that are so much of the problem but the viruses they spread.
Just starting beeekeeping.
I think so as well. Tiny marshmallows by the time you finish shaking.
you da man keep strokin I appricate ya
Compared to a alcohol wash?
I'm a Beekeeper in JAMAICA 🇯🇲 W.I.I REALLY DON'T EITHER OF THOSE PROCESSES, SCHEDULE A YEARLY MITE TREATMENT TIMELINE,ALONG WITH FOGGING,AND THERE AFTER NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.
Why don't you try the shake with Dawn dish detergent?
I'm going to try that and make that video today.
Went through the hive today an found red honey. North nj any thoughts
Sumack
This question is off the subject, but can you tell me why bees wait to swarm until 10 minutes before you have to go to work??!!!**^%%>*.
Inhale seen movie clips were the powdered sugar was sprinkled on the bees to let the bees have better grooming behavior.
Love your videos
Torture vs death?
Hi David!
I was taught to roll them 30 times, set them in the shade 10 minutes, and shake them 30 times, maybe not quite that hard because it does seem cruel doing it like that
David I’m new with be keeping I wrote you quite a few times I really like your videos very knowledgeable but why can’t you Treat for mites without a chess does it harm the bees
Bet the ones that said to shake it longer and harder don't even treat for mites.
1/2 cup of bees is close to 300 bees
Does this test kill the Bees in this test?
I appreciate the effort and it is interesting to see the difference, but you can't really call this scientific, what with testing only on hive and changing multiple variables at a time (such as using a different amount of sugar and shaking for a different length of time). Still, not a worthless effort - looking forward to further exercises.
If you take the queen away for seven days and lose 2000 bees and do this up to three times,, what is killing 300 bees just one time
One is a test an one is prevention
Just do an alcohol wash and put them out of there misery I know I wouldn’t want to be shaken like that .
What about the life of the mite? Don't they deserve to be sent to a mite rescue center to live out the rest of their natural lives?