Beekeeping | How To Test Honey Bees For Mites? Sugar or Alcohol Wash?

Beekeeping involves testing your honey bees for mites, either with the powdered sugar test or an alcohol wash. Which is best?
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[@toddknecht2106]

My understanding was to allow the bees 10 minutes to groom the sugar/mites off prior to shaking. Which you mentioned later in the video.it will be interesting to see how much the numbers change! Great work David thanks!

[@beek]

I'm going to do that exact test in today's video to see if it makes a difference.

[@KoiKicks]

Interesting that the half cup of bees was so far off. Really puts the test in question for me as it will falsely report higher numbers causing people to treat. Therefore why not just treat as a prevention. I really don't like the killing of bees, really goes against the grain for me. I think if you find varroa is a constant then the prevention route I mention sounds the way to go.

[@stanleyschafer4232]

Thank you David, for your due diligence on helping us , to keep a safe and healthy hive. Thank you for sharing your videos with us. 🇺🇸

[@beek]

Wow, you are very kind. So many times I've wanted to stop making videos so I appreciate the encouragement.

[@stanleyschafer4232]

@@beek hello David and Sherri. We hear you ,we appreciate you ,we thank you, for both of your hard work. Please don't give up. That's the easy thing to do. We are on the verge of losing all of our pollinators. Thank you both, for sharing your videos with us. 🇺🇸

[@wpankey57]

Good stuff David. As a brand new beekeeper I’m still wrestling with which to use.

[@elmomclean3268]

Very good test, and brings to light a half cup of bees isn't an absolute the only way to be exact is count. I especially appreciate how you emphasize areas. colonies, and conditions are different and a bee keeper needs to find out what works for their bees. I really enjoy your videos and have gotten allot of ideas from them.

[@beeawesome7140]

I really like the varroa test bottle with the locking tabs, it seems like it seals pretty well.

[@markbasinger6015]

Thank you for showing this. As a newbie I was clueless.

[@SharonSandstone]

I felt a sense of happiness for the bees who escaped the alcohol wash before you could get the lid on. But I do understand the process.

[@beek]

I thought the same thing!

[@kennydykes1145]

You didn't disappoint, thanks for the info.

[@Jimflawless927]

It’s strange you said that I just watched a video about the same thing. His was treating with out chemicals. He was using the power sugar on the whole colony He also said the bees would groom each other and pick off the mites. I hope you discover which is better.

[@wadeturner2665]

David, did you rinse the powdered sugar jar to see if any mites were left behind when you transferred the bees to the alcohol wash jar?

[@TheStrappygirl]

Thanks for doing the work for us

[@TheStrappygirl]

I ordered the anel hives from midnight be supply. Can't wait to try them.

[@beek]

Let us know how it goes.

[@gaetansimard1594]

Thanks so much for your video. I love your work and your Chanel.

[@beek]

That's such an encouragement. So many times I have thought about not making anymore videos.

[@katiecallow5666]

Do you think that the powered sugar loosened some of them so when did alcohol wash they came off better than if just the alcohol wash?

[@beek]

Could be

[@KirBeesFarms]

Correct me if I'm wrong but pausing the video at 10:19 it looks like there is a mite on the edge of the plate at the bottom right outside of the water on the rim.

[@SouthernExposureH]

David, great content! I did a powdered sugar test last week and one colony had 14 out of the 1/2 cup of bees! I was shocked! I immediately put an Apiguard container on. I plan to do two 2-week courses of Apiguard, then test again, then if the numbers are still above 1% I was going to continue. I understand why you shouldn't treat without testing. However, are there stronger treatment method to use if you had a very high number? I was thinking that if the powdered sugar test had come out slightly less than at 2 or 3 mites per 1/2 cup of bees, I was going to treat anyways. With a number so high, it was a no brainer.

[@riddick7343]

Hey Dave, are you going to do a video on hop gaurd? I had a terrible time with it! I was swarmed by every hive I was treating, never been stung so many times in one day! And I was wearing gloves too! Also will you bee venturing into OA treatments? Sorry couldn't help myself! Thanks for all you do for us!!!

[@amphion_au]

In Australia we use those containers for straining beetroot.. Everyone here probably has one in their kitchen.. Haven't been able to find one at the shops for months.. Now I know why..

[@menglor]

So, I have a question. test 1 was Sugar, test 2 was alcohol, why not do a Test 3, where you do a treatment on the 300 bee's wouldnt that give you a true reflection of the count, without killing the bees?

[@davinderdhiman675]

What name of mite medicine

[@TheStrappygirl]

Really very interesting

[@drewo1494]

Great info

[@beek]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mindbender3275]

Good video

[@JosephSastreShowsYou]

Why shouldn't a hobbyist just treat for mites without performing a count?

[@beek]

Excellent question for my livestream. You should ask that question. Here's the link: www.honeybeesonline.com/live/

[@steveroush425]

Hey David, I was wondering your thoughts about apple cider vinegar. I watched another video of a commercial apiary, He was spraying apple cider vinegar directly on his sick bees, he calmed to see results also there’s scientific study being done if you use apple cider vinegar to reduce your feed pH down to 5.4 it has the potential to help your bees fight viruses your thoughts, please.

[@beek]

Yes I did a bunch of studies on this several years ago. I thought I made a video on it.

[@tomkleist6533]

Have u Heard of honeybee collector to check for mite

[@SwordOfLaban]

Couldn't you just weigh the bees and know how many there are? At least more accurately than "1/2 cup = 300".

[@kathycarr1777]

I drain my alcohol through a white paper towel. Take a magnifying glass. Easy to see!

[@kennybruce2281]

Great video Dave, and very timely. Haven’t seen a lot of folks online who actually take you through the entire process, step by step. Much appreciated. And yes, locating Ceracell mite test kit extremely difficult. Thanks again.

[@beek]

Thank you Kenny, I appreciate that.

[@tonyt.1596]

What a great way to keep bees away.....terrify them with a giant varroa mite....LOL😁

[@CastleHives]

David. . I have switched to Dawn due to the recent results shown. Appreciate the info you share. I need to 3D print a giant Varroa. .

[@holleysdotcom]

I wish this video had come out over the weekend. I just did my first sugar shake on Sunday, and my sugar did turn to icing. My poor bees. I ended up having to rinse them all in the water. They were not pleased with me.

[@richardflanigan9475]

Mites/test population gives you percentage in decimal format. 8/491=.01629… which is 1.629%. (Not quite 2 mites per 100) And 3/491=.00610… which is .61% so less than one percent by volume. (You have less than 1 mite per 100)

[@CNBarnes]

powdered sugar tends to clump in humid weather, making the results VERY unreliable. How unreliable? I ran a side-by-side test of a sugar roll w/ an alcohol wash on the same hive at the same time. The sugar roll showed only 2 mites in 300 bees; the alcohol wash showed 18. An unreliable test is WORSE than not testing at all.

[@jennywalker-mr4rw]

I find when using the powdered sugar you have to be quite aggressive when shaking the mites out

[@dawnperry9141]

Very interesting. I did hear that even tho the bees don’t die immediately from the sugar that they will die much slower. Have you researched that?

[@RuthWall1]

Do I see a Warre Hive behind you? Looking for a Warre friend.

[@danschneider9219]

I did my own test yesterday and today compared the dish soap to alcohol, used the same hive both test were zero, guess I'll have to repeat the test on a different hive,

[@BVaughanfulk]

So in total for this hive, you had 11 total mites so really the hive has a 2.24%

[@SouthernExposureH]

Another follow-up question. Do commercial operators test before they treat? I know someone who is managing 80 colonies, he has them at three different sites each has about 25-30 hives. He says he tests about 8 colonies at each site to get an average mite load before he treats. I have two colonies that are sitting side by side, I tested them both last week, one colony had 14 and the other had 1. It makes me wonder if my friend is just wasting his time.

[@hankbaker1614]

You make a good point, I had one hive with 45 another with 28 and two hives next to them that had 1. So seems like each individual colony should be tested, really no way to “average” a whole yard.

[@kokosmom2]

David, I"m a few days behind in watching the videos but did you do one with alcohol vs Dawn dish washing soap? I didn't see one although I could have missed it These 2 on the powder sugar vs alcohol were good and thanks for doing them

[@beek]

Coming up soon

[@theflorencesoffgridjourney2960]

Hi David, quite a different ending from this afternoons video. My just for fun guess was way off. 😆 Even if you doubled your PSD you would still be shy what the alcohol wash came out to. 1.22 vs 1.62. You would almost have to triple it to err on the side of caution. ⚠️ ⛔️, and that would give you 1.83. I’m interested to see what the next test will show. Great job on the updated video! Thank you for all you do. I greatly appreciate it.

[@pirateprospecting707]

Great vid! Looking forward to the following vids! Yellow jackets need to go away ✅️😁👍

[@mikeries8549]

For two years I tested for mites and in that entire time never found a single colony under the treatment threshold. If you have honeybees you have varroa mites. Where? East Central Illinois.

[@notuntilyoublessme]

Thanks!

[@beek]

Thank you sooo much, I really do appreciate your gift and kindness.

[@notuntilyoublessme]

This is a great video. Love the info provided. Thank you! I got some inexpensive equipment to do an oxalic acid treatment but my tests (alcohol wash) have all come in under 1% so I’m not really sure I should or not.

[@hannasbees]

Great video!! Definitely makes me want to go and count all the bees to get the proper results! Thank you David!

[@gaetansimard1594]

Merci!

[@beek]

Thank you sooooooo much! I appreciate it.

[@wesleyhorton3530]

Have you tried the c02 test? A friend of mine did a couple of her hives and liked the idea that the bees wake up and go about their business. She did find mites and OA treated.

[@jeremytoone3703]

Just heard the same results on same tests from our local bee guy here in New Mexico

[@rawmeat06]

Thanks

[@JoeHHarrell]

Since it's the same group of bees, wouldn't the true calculation be 11 (3 +8) mites per 491? This is an interesting study.

[@beek]

No, I got 3 off of the same bees in the powdered sugar test, and 5 more in the alcohol wash, that equals a total of 8.

[@martenapperloo1055]

How long are you rolling or shaking before you check

[@beek]

I answer that in my newest video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j2qmoGyXq8aem5o

[@jamesbarron1202]

Plus I saw a bunch of bees escape after the sugar test while you were dumping them into the alcohol so you actually tested more in the sugar than alcohol.

[@bethconley7821]

Hi David, what's your thoughts on the"Hive flow"? Thanks much...like your viedos. Florida Gal

[@beek]

If I could afford one, I'd buy one and try it out. Sounds awesome!

[@chrisw3077]

Flow Hive is about $600 for a 7frame hive. If you already have a hive, just go to Amazon or Ebay and buy 7 of the Auto Frames for about $140. You can fit 7 in a 10frame deep box. The flow hive is designed so you don't have to pull the frames to extract, but you can modify a box or just take them out to do it.

[@beek]

Oh I know all about the flow hive and how it works, but way, way beyond my budget.