Abelo varroa tester 3 in 1

[E&MBees]

I was wondering about buying this piece of equipment or asking Father Christmas! Has anyone had an opportunity to use it? Is it something that would be useful for a beginner to have. Or is doing a one off vape as effective for counting mite levels?
Thanks.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I was wondering about buying this piece of equipment or asking Father Christmas! Has anyone had an opportunity to use it? Is it something that would be useful for a beginner to have. Or is doing a one off vape as effective for counting mite levels?
Thanks.

I think pargyle has one.

 

[pargyle]

I think pargyle has one.

Yes .,. really nice bit of kit .. I've only used it for sugar rolls and it makes them very easy and quick. Having said that I managed with a kilner jar with some mesh in place of the plate in the lid until this summer and that worked fine.

Because I don't treat my bees I do fairly frequent sugar rolls as it's the only accurate method for checking the mite load. If you intend doing sugar rolls it's a nice to have ... for £15 not unreasonable ..

Good video here:

 

[E&MBees]

Yes .,. really nice bit of kit .. I've only used it for sugar rolls and it makes them very easy and quick. Having said that I managed with a kilner jar with some mesh in place of the plate in the lid until this summer and that worked fine.

Because I don't treat my bees I do fairly frequent sugar rolls as it's the only accurate method for checking the mite load. If you intend doing sugar rolls it's a nice to have ... for £15 not unreasonable ..

Good video here:

Thanks for that. Think I will add it to the list.

 

[Amari]

Yes .,. really nice bit of kit .. I've only used it for sugar rolls and it makes them very easy and quick. Having said that I managed with a kilner jar with some mesh in place of the plate in the lid until this summer and that worked fine.

Because I don't treat my bees I do fairly frequent sugar rolls as it's the only accurate method for checking the mite load. If you intend doing sugar rolls it's a nice to have ... for £15 not unreasonable ..

Good video here:

Impressive. What language is that?

 

[pargyle]

Impressive. What language is that?

No idea - 'er indoors won't let me have the sound up on my laptop while she is watching TV... i just read the English sub-titles ....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

As it's Lyson I would assume Polish (sounds Polish anyway)

 

[Tim.S]

If you haven't watched this I urge you to. Randy Oliver talking about his varroa work with quite a large section on sampling for mites. It seems that there is not much academic research on sugar shakes/rolls and he is making further enquiries into this which will be fascinating to follow. I too would like to know just how many of the bees actually survive the shaking - just because they walk back into the nest does this mean they live very long after? Interesting subject but I will stick to alcohol washes for now.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Impressive. What language is that?

I'm Polish
It's polish

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you haven't watched this I urge you to. Randy Oliver talking about his varroa work with quite a large section on sampling for mites. It seems that there is not much academic research on sugar shakes/rolls and he is making further enquiries into this which will be fascinating to follow. I too would like to know just how many of the bees actually survive the shaking - just because they walk back into the nest does this mean they live very long after? Interesting subject but I will stick to alcohol washes for now.

I'll stick to accelerated drops with OAV. I used to count the mites but now it's just a few or MORE

 

[gmonag]

In my case, its lots or OMG!

 

[pargyle]

I too would like to know just how many of the bees actually survive the shaking - just because they walk back into the nest does this mean they live very long after? Interesting subject but I will stick to alcohol washes for now.

Well ... at least you will know the life expectancy of those bees you 'use' for an alcohol wash ...

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Well ... at least you will know the life expectancy of those bees you 'use' for an alcohol wash ...

Plus, if you look here, you'd get a pretty good idea of the bee mortality from doing Dani's "accelerated drops with OAV" (spoiler - not very many!).

CVB

 

[manek]

If it's built like the Lyson extractor I bought last year, it'll be a well-constructed piece of kit.

 

[bontbee]

... ..

Good video here:

I note that in the video the sample of bees is taken from above the QX. I understood that the sample should be taken from bees on brood frames, as that's where varroa "congregate". I guess what I'd like to know is, how much does it matter? There's a very much reduced risk of including the queen in the roll if the sample is from the supers!

 

[bontbee]

Oh, and like Tim.S, I often wonder if shaking bees about in a plastic box just kills them slowly, compared with a sozzled, but relatively quick death when bathed in alcohol.... Any views?

 

[pargyle]

I note that in the video the sample of bees is taken from above the QX. I understood that the sample should be taken from bees on brood frames, as that's where varroa "congregate". I guess what I'd like to know is, how much does it matter? There's a very much reduced risk of including the queen in the roll if the sample is from the supers!

Oh, and like Tim.S, I often wonder if shaking bees about in a plastic box just kills them slowly, compared with a sozzled, but relatively quick death when bathed in alcohol.... Any views?

Firstly, you don't need to shake them that hard .. I tend to just turn the pot over and over a few times so that the icing sugar falls down on to them. When I've done I just let them walk back on to the tops of the frames - their friends quickly start to clean the sugar off them, If they died as a result of the treatment I would see 200 or so bees dead on the landing board or on the ground below it - I've never seen any dead bees in any quantity after a sugar roll. Indeed, when you do a Vape with OA that covers all the bees with a very fine powder and that does not seem to phase them at all. Again, I've never seen any dead bees in any quantity after an OA Vape - so I suspect that there is nothing to worry about. An alcohol wash is pretty near instant death - so you can be certain of the kill rate there - 100%. I don't think it's a very pleasant death for them either - on the few occasions when I did an alcohol wash it was clear that the bees were pretty distressed until the alcohol killed them - I didn't like it at all and I stopped doing it.

I don't use queen excluders .. never have .. I take my sample usually from an outer brood frame - after checking that the queen isn't on there of course. I'm not sure it makes a great deal of difference where you take a sample from - I've taken samples from different places in the hive including the supers ... you can over think things.

 

[Buzby]

Translation of instructions

 

[user 819]

For £15 it is worth having if umming arghing about whether to treat or no in the absence of seeing any mite damage.
Like Philip I use one, for a cup full of bees to the inducated level oen should be looking for < 3 mites to indicate a low infestation.
I use brood bees and shake a frame or two in to a bucket ( checking Q isn't on one) fill the cup to the bee level and simply screw one half on, add the iceing sugar to the other cup and screw it on. No need to shake the bees just a gentle roll of the device for a couple of mins. Invert the device so the icng sugar falls into the correct cup and unscrew. The bees I simply place on top of the QX to join the colony again. Tip the cup of icing sugar into another receptical with a little water to dissolve and check for mites.

One can carry out an excelerated oav drop to see how many mites are in the hive but the lyson 3in1 saves the rigmarol that goes with oav for a quick check. Carry out the sugar roll during a planned inspection rather then a seperate check.