Varroa Counts

[nickhodge]

You'll see from my post counts that this is my first year with bees. I inspected last weekend and re-inserted my varroa boards to do my monthly mite drop count (coated in vaseline)

They have been in for 48 hours and tonight I did a count of both colonies. Hive 1 a month ago had six mites and this time eight. Hive 2 had fourteen and twenty-one respectively. Hive 2 has always had more bees since they arrived in April and May respectively. (Hive 1 was, I think, a cast against Hive 2 being a prime swarm)

What confuses me is what is high and what is low? Everywhere I read says there are no hard and fast numbers you just need to compare one count with another. So far I have used a short frame and cut off when the drone cells are capped and one treatment of powdered sugar.

My dilemma is I want to give the bees the best chance to over winter and therefore wanted to treat with something more 'certain' in time for the treatment to lower the count further for winter. However, I have got very close in the last couple of weeks to getting about one super of honey while leaving the bees near enough too. It's just it is not completely capped and I reckon it needs another 2-3 weeks.

Can anyone help with either whether I have a low/high count or whether I still have time to perhaps get a couple of jars of honey.

I have Nationals with standard depth brood boxes (1 each pretty fully drawn) with two supers on each. The second super was only put on at the weekend. Open floor, etc

Any comments?

Thanks in advance

 

[MuswellMetro]

You'll see from my post counts that this is my first year with bees. I inspected last weekend and re-inserted my varroa boards to do my monthly mite drop count (coated in vaseline)

They have been in for 48 hours and tonight I did a count of both colonies. Hive 1 a month ago had six mites and this time eight. Hive 2 had fourteen and twenty-one respectively. Hive 2 has always had more bees since they arrived in April and May respectively. (Hive 1 was, I think, a cast against Hive 2 being a prime swarm)

What confuses me is what is high and what is low? Everywhere I read says there are no hard and fast numbers you just need to compare one count with another. So far I have used a short frame and cut off when the drone cells are capped and one treatment of powdered sugar.

My dilemma is I want to give the bees the best chance to over winter and therefore wanted to treat with something more 'certain' in time for the treatment to lower the count further for winter. However, I have got very close in the last couple of weeks to getting about one super of honey while leaving the bees near enough too. It's just it is not completely capped and I reckon it needs another 2-3 weeks.

Can anyone help with either whether I have a low/high count or whether I still have time to perhaps get a couple of jars of honey.

I have Nationals with standard depth brood boxes (1 each pretty fully drawn) with two supers on each. The second super was only put on at the weekend. Open floor, etc

Any comments?

Thanks in advance

use the varroa calculator on DEFRA Beebase

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/varroaCalculator.cfm

 

[richardbees]

That's quite a high V count.....and you're pushing your luck by adding a second super last w/e !

Suggest you take both second supers off and store them in black sacks to feed back to the bees later. Keep checking the frames on the remaining super on each hive to see if the honey's ready - it doesn't have to be capped. hold the frame horizontally over the hive and jerk downwards......if drops of liquid fly off it means it's not ready to extract.

Don't leave them on any longer than the end of August == then start (I suggest) apiguard treatment.

 

[itma]

...
What confuses me is what is high and what is low? Everywhere I read says there are no hard and fast numbers you just need to compare one count with another. So far I have used a short frame and cut off when the drone cells are capped and one treatment of powdered sugar.
...

Download and study FERA's booklet "Managing Varroa". https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/downloadDocument.cfm?id=16
Near the end you'll find info about count levels at different times of the year.
Its pretty "hard and fast".
But its up to you to factor in things like a colony being small, so that only a smaller drop is tolerable.

I'd suggest that you measure for more than just 2 days. 4 will give a much more representative sample.
And the board doesn't have to be sticky, as long as you don't shake off any dead mites. It is *not* about trapping live mites, its about measuring the natural death rate. Any live mites trapped will give a falsely high impression of the mite population.

Icing sugar is only properly effective when the hive is broodless. But used at every single weekly inspection, it will slow varroa build-up. (It can be used to help clear the top bars for re-assembly of the hive.)
Used just once, it probably won't do much at all.


There are treatments that can be used while crop supers are in place.
One "hive sanitiser" is VarroaGard - you put a tray of the powder inside the entrance. It contains Thymol and Oxalic in a chalk dust carrier. Its newish, but does seem to work.

It sounds to me as though your Hive2 (at least) is in need of treatment pretty soon.

 

[Hivemaker.]

And the board doesn't have to be sticky, as long as you don't shake off any dead mites.

And there are no ants or other little scavengers that have a taste for varroa mites.

 

[MuswellMetro]

And there are no ants or other little scavengers that have a taste for varroa mites.

agree, if you have ants taking the varroa ( or might) dust the baoard with ground cinnamon or a spray of one cal oil spray

 

[alanf]

agree, if you have ants taking the varroa ( or might) dust the board with ground cinnamon or a spray of one cal oil spray

Oil or smeared with petroleum jelly deters ants etc, but I'm not convinced it's 100%. Have not tried cinnamon, does it not put the bees off too? Try counting drops over a one day period and five or more days, if you don't get a multiple of the same small numbers suspect ants are removing them. If you are removing drone, get the pupae out with a fork and count the percentage of drone cells with any varroa. The FERA leaflet has the percentages which should correspond to drop rates, if the drone cell varroa count is much higher it's another sign that you have ants removing dropped mites.

I have one hive that consistently shows no varroa (or token numbers) on the tray at the height of summer. I can see ants around the stand, the usual garden ants, Lasius niger. By October when the ants are less active varroa appear on the tray and there are just as many as in other hives that were showing higher drops earlier. I even started apiguard treatment last year and saw the mite drop numbers increase over four weeks as it got colder. Normally you would expect higher numbers initially but I'm guessing the first week or two was an ant feast.

 

[Luminos]

I have one hive that consistently shows no varroa (or token numbers) on the tray at the height of summer.



Last summer I monitored every week, and saw no varroa on the board - until I began using Varroa Gard; then there were masses dropping down.
By which time it was too late for my bees

I am therefore not going to rely on not seeing any mites on the board, as evidence of "no mites".

 

[nickhodge]

Thanks for the help and information everyone. Very helpful