Varroa Alcohol Wash

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Thank you to everyone for watching and supporting our videos! If you have any questions about our videos, please check out our list of FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS on our website, which can be found at honeybee.uoguelph.ca/videos/frequently-asked-questions/

[@erikrichards6824]

Great video! Thanks for the valuable instructions. Side note: Melanie is obviously super-human and impervious to stings and pain! Much respect!

[@BKBees]

This is gold. We should all share this around to our beekeeping friends. Thank you.

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Thanks so much B &K. Nice to hear think it will help.

[@ethangoo3682]

I wondered what happened to them and reading all the comments I found new way of doing it. Thanks for the video.

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

You're welcome!

[@ashman4809]

Thanks for the clip... First time I've seen it done as I live in Oz. My hives are about to be destroyed in NSW because Varroa has only just hit our shores so we are eradicating all hives within 10km of any Varroa detected hives. Current count is 39 detections since June. Pretty devistated but if we can stop it, it will be worth it.

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

You guys have done amazingly well to keep varroa out. I sure hope you can catch all the infested hives. Sad to destroy bees but I think I think it is worth the sacrifice to try to save so many other hives.

[@beebob1279]

Finally someone with numbers for the sticky boards. Thanks.

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

:)

[@Westernwilson]

Like Melanie I wear a black fit tracker watch. I find the bees HATE the black watch and sting my wrist a lot, so I cover it now with a white tennis wrist band. Looks silly, works great!

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

That's funny. I change my watch band to a lighter colour for the summer - same reason. Mel is tough!

[@beebob1279]

It's the contrast of the black to your skin. Think about the natural enemies of honeybees. They are bears (we have black bears) and skunks. I was taught never to wear any black or red in the bee yards. Bees see red as black. It represents an enemy to the bees, so they sting.

[@skopljo90]

good job man, in this video, and also every other vid. i like too watch u working :)

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Well thanks Alen! Go bees!

[@zatnikatel1472]

I did my first alcool wash and I only found 1 mite. Ill note it my log then Ill compare with another test next month

[@alikh4754]

Thank you for this information

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

You are very welcome Ali!

[@tomfairbourn6998]

Great info and explained very well, seams the only real effective way is the alcohol wash the other option have to many variables that will never give a true mite count. I like how you are setting up videos in a series

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Thanks Tom for adding to discussion and for your kind comments.

[@ابوكرمللسيراميك]

Hello sir. If we do alcohol washing. When do we treat Varroa? How many varroa the minimum acceptable to not treat in half a cup of bees

[@jtsuppssonsminingandstuff326]

Why are you guys not wearing PPE?

[@Eli.True.North.]

wil you add more videos on Verroa treatment?

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

We should but it's so different from place to place that we've held back on that topic. In the meantime get what information you can locally.

[@Brewmaster721]

New bee keeper here, I love your videos, very informative. Subscribed, look forward to watching more!!

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Thanks! Glad you find our videos helpful.

[@nataliezchannel2999]

I prefer the powdered sugar method

[@eas2233]

I have a fairly weak hive- one 10 frame box is loaded with capped and open and the second brood box is being slowly drawn out. The hive was knocked over a few weeks ago on a cold rainy day and they lost quite a few bees. They are recovering but are Far behind my other hives. Alcohol mite testing turned up 4 mites total....so less than 2%.... I will definitely put in some drone cell frames.... would you treat them? (I’d probably be using formic acid) but am concerned about the potential loss of bees/ brood with the treatment....Not sure what to do...

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Hi There A delayed response. It doesn't seem to me that the mite growth will be very fast in this colony. I'd check them again now and if necessary use Formic pro - the half dose method as described on the label. After fall harvest you'll likely need to treat all your hives.

[@bekircankarabag8756]

What part of the year is ideal if u were to do this once a year just to be safe? October?

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

You have to monitor several times a year to know what's happening. The most important time is late summer.

[@ximono]

I've been told that it's best to treat for varroa before the winter bees are reared, as they need to be as free of viruses as possible. I've done an induced brood break where the queen is caged for two weeks, released/replaced on day 14, and then oxalic acid is applied on day 21/22. That creates a time window when all the mites are exposed (no sealed brood), so it's very effective. Best if done after the main flow and before the winter bees are reared. It's an Italian method I picked up from Randy Oliver. You could check the mite level with an alcohol wash, and if it's above the threshold for late summer, immediately cage the queen.

[@carlospereira2807]

I'd like to know if you ever use Oxalic Acid. If you do, how often is this treatment detrimental to the Queen? Many beekeepers believe Oxalic Acid is not damaging the bees. True?

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Hi Carlos We use the drip method of applying oxalic acid when it's cold and there is no brood present. We do one application. There are many other application methods. I can't really give treatment advice for other areas.

[@kimberlyoosthuizen2006]

I'm having a hard time sourcing alcohol right now- would vinegar work?

[@zatnikatel1472]

Non foaming windshield washer should donthe trick

[@alfredobonillacastaneda1541]

Do you have a store? And if so do you sale queens?.

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Hi Alfredo We have very small honey and hive product store.We sell queens but only in Canada.

[@alfredobonillacastaneda1541]

UoG Honey Bee Research Centre very nice. I’m located in niagara region, Ontario. We run the BONILLA Family Beefarm . I’ll like to check out your place; I’m interested in introduce queens for diversity. We run two sites totalling 18 hives so we are small.

[@bradprather6749]

again, really useful information. do you use screens on all hives?

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Thanks Brad. We use varroa screens on all our local hives. Our Island apiaries don't get checked on as much so we don't use them there. You need to clean the trays out every couple weeks or wax moth develop on the debris.

[@Westernwilson]

Germane to this video: at a recent lecture by Les Eccles to the BCHPA, he emphasized the importance of doing midsummer mite treatments.

[@chris13303]

Nice. We monitor the mites with powdered sugar. It's very similar to your method, and the tested bees stay alive.

[@chris13303]

@UC4EGeOUYejivx4xmMmVQCUg no, we don't dust the frames. We collect about 50gr of bees in a screened can, then put 30gr of powdered sugar into it. After that you shake is slowly to make sure all bees are covered in sugar. Then you wait for about 2 or 3 minutes. After that, you shake the mites through the screen into a can or something else. Works pretty good for commercials too. It's just for knowing the infestation of the colonies

[@W45Jasper]

Why do the mites fall off of the bees when you use powdered sugar?

[@chris13303]

@@W45Jasper because the bees start to clean each other and the mites can't hold on anymore. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y4u0nqBtbdOApKc

[@W45Jasper]

Christian Maas, thank you for answering. I now understand how the powdered sugar works.

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Hi Christian We didn't include sugar dusting as we juts do videos on methods we use ourselves. You can get an idea of mite levels with sugar but our tests have shown we get more accurate results using alcohol. I still like sticky papers best. I have a Co2 device but we haven't used it enough yet to recommend.

[@eddiealegre6492]

You just killed a bunch of bees 🐝 Wow 😳

[@suzisaintjames]

👍💜🌞🌵

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

:) Suzi. Thanks again for your support!

[@vaclav2062]

If you will use extra fine powder sugar or CO2 instead of alcohol, it will not kill the bees.

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

Unfortunately, it doesn't give as accurate numbers as alcohol.

[@vaclav2062]

if you use powder sugar it is importent to use extra fine one, it works better then standard one if you narcotize bees with CO2, it's important to narcotize them as fast as possible, if you do it slowly varroa tends to hold on bees more and you need shake with bees longer I think that efficiency of alcohol and CO2 (if used properly) is very close and for hobby beekeepers powder sugar method is probably good enought

[@cluelessbeekeeping1322]

@@vaclav2062 I helped a friend do lots of testing on one hive. We used sugar shake & alcohol wash and the numbers were dramatically different. We did a total of 8 tests on the same hive over 1 week. After that, I would never, personally, use a sugar shake. The numbers were consistently less than the alcohol wash. I've never used CO2.

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Good thoughts Vacalav. We didn't include Co2 monitoring as we haven't done much of it yet and we are trying to not make things too complicated for viewers by providing too many options. I'll only do videos on methods I know well and that we use. Thanks for adding to the discussion.

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Hi CB Can't bring myself to use your full nickname! Thanks for your input. Melanie and her colleagues did similar testing to yours and found the same results.

[@SS-em3sq]

Ждем перевод на русский)))

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

I tried google translate but it didn't work . Please translate on your end and then send as I'm interested in what you say. Thanks.

[@offshoot1008]

Killing bees and comparing it to a human biopsy does not sound right . Those are individual bees each with a life and a biopsy is only affecting one being and not killing it.

[@moebees3060]

Or how to kill lots of bees

[@HeartPumper]

Oh dear...call the Greenpeace :S

[@dustywelchcraneman6614]

You don't do it every day, and you don't do all of them....... Yes it's unfortunate.... But if you have to destroy a dozen bees or 50 over the course of a year to save a million bees, that's a rather small number..... And if you knew something about bees what they do to each other is far worse.... I don't have bees and I know that....

[@Westernwilson]

@moebees Can you explain what your specific point is?

[@HeartPumper]

@@Westernwilson She/he likes when varroa takes reign over the bees probably.

[@rhondaroo65]

That’s a horrible video!! I gave it a thumbs down. There are other ways. You need to remove this video!!

[@UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre]

Hi Rhonda Yes there are other ways. We presented another one in the video "Sticky Papers". The alcohol method is one of the most reliable methods especially vs the icing sugar method. We do need to test the newer CO2 methods but weren't ready to recommend them yet. If doing this alcohol test saves even one hive from a terrible death by varroa mites I think it's worth considering, Our preferred method is sticky papers but not everyone has the equipment to do this.

[@primitivedaisy]

Your obviously not a beekeeper. 🙄