English (English)
Dansk (Danish)
Deutsch (German)
Deutsch (German)
Español (Spanish)
Français (French)
Français (French)
Italiano (Italian)
Nederlands (Dutch)
Bokmål (Norwegian)
Svenska (Swedish)
Varroa tester, original model
€ 62,95
The original Varroa tester (European-made) for easily calculating the number of Varroa mites in a colony. How does the Varroa tester work and how do I calculate the number of mites in the colony? Shake approximately 200 bees into the tester. This is about 25 grams or half a teacup. Then anesthetize the bees and mites with CO2 and gently shake the cup. This causes the mites to detach from the bees. They will fall through the mesh into the other compartment of the Varroa tester. The mites can now be counted easily. The quickest way to calculate the infestation rate in the colony is to divide the number of mites by the number of bees. So 10 mites from 200 bees: 10/200 = 0.05, i.e. 5% Varroa mite infestation in the colony. Treatment is recommended from 5%. This calculation can also be used for the powdered sugar method. Scroll further down for a step-by-step guide and the calculation to determine the total number of Varroa mites in the colony.
Customer ratings and reviews
Varroa tester step-by-step guide
- Collect half a teacup of bees from a colony (25 g); this is up to the red line on the varroa tester
- Inject CO2 into the cup for 4 to 6 seconds and wait 10 seconds
- Gently shake the bees
- Count the mites and divide this number by 200. This gives the percentage. Example: 10 mites / 200 bees = 0.05 = 5% varroa infestation. If infestation < 5% you do not need to treat; if infestation > 5% then treat the colony.
You can now also calculate how many mites are in the colony in absolute terms. Do this by multiplying the estimated number of bees (A) by the number of mites (B) and dividing by the number of collected bees (200)(C). Example: number of mites in the colony = (AxB)/C. These represent about 20% of the mites in the colony. Multiply this number by 5 to determine the total number of mites in the colony.