Beekeeping Mite Control: How To Test & Assess Your Bees
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Beekeeping is much more difficult now that the varroa destructor mite is in the US. Today, I'll teach you how to perform a mite test, how to calculate your results and decide if you need to treat.
Join My Channel And Become A Member Of My Support Team:
/ @beek
I would love to be your personal mentor. Let's face it, beekeeping IS HARD. So many challenges and so many way to easily make a huge mistake. My mentoring community, BeeTeam6 is now offered in tiers. Check it out to see which tier best fits your mentoring needs. www.honeybeeso...
LIVESTREAM EVERY THURSDAY AT 7 p.m. Central Time. Here's the link:
www.honeybeesonline.com/live
TH-cam Merch such as stickers and BeekSquad coffee mugs: www.honeybeeso...
Feeding Your Bees During The Dearth Makes All The Difference In The World For Your Bees. Here's the link to our Fall feeding board: www.honeybeeso...
Also, add our additives when you feed your bees: www.honeybeeso...
ULTIMATE ONLINE BEEKEEPING COURSE
✅ If you are new to beekeeping or you keep failing, I strongly recommend you take my Ultimate ONLINE Beekeeping Course. This bundle includes all 7 of my online courses: Beginning Beekeeping, Mite Control, Spring: SurvivAL, Supering, swarms & Splits, Advanced Beekeeping, My Popular Queen Rearing Course, A Day In The Apiary With Me and How To Get Your Bees Through The Winter. Here's the link:
www.honeybeeso...
Subscribe To My Channel Please & Hit My Notification Bell:
www.youtube.co...
COFFEE MUGS: www.honeybeeso...
My FREE Downloadable "Raising Quality Queen Bees" book: www.uaex.uada....
MY INSTAGRAM: / longlanehoneybees
👀Take a look at our book that Sheri and I wrote, Backyard Beekeeping from our website and we will autograph it for you:
www.honeybeeso...
💯OUR ONLINE BEEKEEPING CLASSES:
www.honeybeeso...
Check out my Inspection Guide which you can download and print off to help guide you on your hive inspections:
www.honeybeeso...
DISCLAIMER: Some links in this description might be affiliate links which means if you purchase a product or service using a link I provide, I may receive a small commission. There is no extra charge to you. Thank you so much for supporting my channel which enables me to continue to produce more videos for you.
💪BEEKEEPING SUPPLIES I RECOMMEND:
Varroa Test Kit: AMAZON LINK: amzn.to/4b3UKTo
Honey Bandit (Helps remove bees from your supers): amzn.to/3pBPNMx
My Yellow Rubber Gloves: amzn.to/3SZmFLM
Beeswax to add to foundation: amzn.to/3FWfVXY
Refractometer: amzn.to/476TCh5
J-Hook Hive Tool: amzn.to/3KBW8mv
Burlap: amzn.to/3IMU0ra
Microscope Camera: amzn.to/3IkkvDY
======================================
This video was filmed Using:
Camera: Canon R10
Amazon: amzn.to/3K2CUFC
Lens: Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 Art DC HSM
Lens: Amazon: amzn.to/44OydZp
Microphone: Comica Wireless Lavalier Microphone, BoomX-D2 2.4G Compact
Amazon: amzn.to/4aAuY9r
🌻FEED YOUR BEES:
Plan ahead for spring. Feed your bees in the fall by using my Feeding board known as the Burns Bees Feeder. Safely feed your bees from the top. Great way to help you build up your bees of winter physiology. Check it out:
www.honeybeeso...
Feeding Additives:
www.honeybeeso...
Pollen Powder: amzn.to/3Qo35XZ
📬If you'd like to send something to add to the store front to spruce up my back drop, send it to David Burns, PO BOX 254, Catlin, IL 61817
Whoa, you made it all the way down here! Thank you ♥️ Love you
Since you prefer the powdered sugar roll, it would have been cool to see a side-by-side comparison on the same colony.
Yes and I did. Here's the video: th-cam.com/video/j0dqvvuR7zk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=jbf7vCG3LjkqRtg5
Article and study by Anne Richards, a Cornell University certified Master Beekeeper, in June 2024 American Bee Journal, page 666. "Sugar shake is very nearly as effective as alcohol wash and leads to the same management actions in most cases..."
Ceracell directions claim you can use 1 cup alcohol with 2 cups of water…may save you some $s on alcohol.
You mentioned early spring. Was this before the nectar flow?
First week of June and so during the nectar flow.
very wonderful
Hey David, do you have any thoughts on this heat treatment procedure using the contraption called the varroa controller developed in Europe?
Sorry sure don't
Hey Dave!
I think Dr Zac Lamas have come up with a much better idea than the standard alcohol wash. If I understand his theory correctly, the summary is: Varroa mites prefer drones. Making an alcohol was on "random" bees can be very misleading. If your target sample is just drones you can detect varroa infestation much earlier and more accurately. Plus you don't end up killing a bunch of worker bees unnecessarily. I was going to post a link to his website, but apparently that caused my post to get deleted, but it's easy to find if you make a search on his name. Would be great to hear your thoughts on it. Thanks!
Yes, I've studied his work and did my own experiments last year with the drones. I'm slow to move that direction just yet.
@@beek oh, very interesting! So what have your experiments shown so far? Does it seem to line up with Dr Lamas theory? I haven't started with his method either yet, think he says to use 40 drones in your sample and count the mites. However, any time I have wonky comb it usually has drone cells in it, and then when cutting out the wonky comb, I take the time to check out each drone cell for mites. In one hive I ended up having 2-3 mites in every drone cell, so that gave a good heads-up treatment was needed. I guess you could actually just target drone cells, because if you have mites, they will be laying eggs in the drone cells.
@@beek oh, that's great to hear! What was the outcome of your own experiments? Did it line up with Dr. Lamas theory? I haven't followed his method yet, which I think is sampling 40 drones. But every time I remove wonky comb, it usually has drone cells in it, and I always check all of those cells for mites. I did have one hive with all the drone cells in a piece of wonky comb having 2-3 mites in each cell, so that was a good indication of treatment being needed. Maybe that would be an easier way anyway, just check drone cells instead of trying to catch drones. Because if you got mites, there will be mites in the drone cells, and it's real easy to see them against the white larvae.
@@beek tried to make a comment here twice now, and each time it's there for a while, but then just disappears. Not sure if TH-cam is glitchy, or if you are deleting my comments? Very confusing...
@@beek well, this time my comment has stayed up for over an hour, so maybe it was just a glitch before? Anyway... imagine if we have been doing the samples all wrong all this time, when doing alcohol washes on random bees. Sure, it sort of works, but you are potentially very likely to get an inaccurately low number (if it's like Dr. Lamas is saying, mites prefer drones). Maybe a better idea would be to put a green drone comb frame in the hive. Once drone brood is capped over, wait a couple of weeks, then open up 40 or so cells and check for mites. Real easy to see the mites against the white larvae.
First 😁Great Topic David!! When Testing, I always Use a Little Dawn Dishwasher Soap with Water, Like 1 Gallon Water and Spoon full Of Dawn, I can't Remember the exact Measurement, Gotta go back and see it to remember it, Lol. Ive Tried The sugar Wash and found 1 Mite but the Alcohol Wash Method Works so Much Better and effective. Nice Job! Have a great Day David!!
Here's a video where I compared an alcohol wash to the soap test: th-cam.com/video/lhIuLmMadLc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Dl4rduq6yXUv3_93
00:03:10 You are missing the sky camera from a drone😊 neet to see how you get this great footage!
Hi David, How long would you expect to have a brood break in a situation like replacing the queen etc thanks. Rob woodslee bees 🐝
Hi David. What gloves are you using in this video please? I’m on the hunt for something better than the leather. After a bad sting near nail bed looks like no nitrile or bare hands for me. Thank you
Yes, I am a newbie..Thank you!
Funny, might attacking you 😂
For sure.
I enjoyed your video David.
I’m curious with a lot of people getting nucs
Within a 24 hour period transporting and placing in your box and you have over 300 dead bees in the bottom,
can you use those for an alcohol wash?
Or do they need to be freshly (alive ) in the
alcohol?
Whoa, that's an amazing question...i want to know the answer too!
I would suspect that the dead bees are older bees which mites are mainly on the nurse bees. Since mites are parasites, I wonder too if they abandon dead bees.
Thanks for sharing David. I know a lot of new beekeepers will appreciate the timing of this video. 👍🐝😁💜 See y'all tonight on the Livestream
You bet!
I'm a newbie and have only had my 2 hives for 2 1/2 weeks. While I was just watching today, I saw a bunch of small, tiny ants crawling on the outside of deep box and feeder box ( I have your feeder in a super, Love it) The stand is wood. What can I use to get rid of ants?
GREAT video for mite testing. Super sunny here today, expecting 80 degrees today. 😎🙂👍
Hey Jay, gonna get hotter and hotter! And more humid.
@@beek I will hold you responsible for the heat - bring it on!