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Showing posts from August, 2016

Honey Bee Alcohol Mite Wash

Over the years of beekeeping varroa mites have always been a problem. The first few years I did nothing to the colony to help them with their mite population. That resulted in dead colonies over winter. I quickly learned that by treat in August my colonies would have enough time to raise healthy bees for winter. My overwintering success rate jump dramatically but still I did not know what the mite population was. Were my bees infested or did they have any varroa hygiene sensitivity of any king? This year I was convinced by a fellow beekeeper read an article by Randy Oliver  of Scientific Beekeeping.com about mites counts and ways to check them. Not long after reading this article I gave it a try. It was not hard, it only took a few minutes per hive. I learned that some of my colonies manage mites very well with any assistance from me. They averaged 1.6 mites per hundred. My worst out of 20 colonies was 4 per hundred. To do this test you will need a few items. 1. Rubbing Alcohol...