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Varroa tester
€ 49,95
Varroa tester for easily calculating the number of Varroa mites in a bee 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 (this cartridge is not included) and gently shake the cup. This causes the mites to detach from the bees. They will fall through the perforated divider plate into the other compartment of the Varroa tester. You can now easily count the mites. 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. From 5% onward, treatment is recommended. 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.
Note: don’t forget to add a CO2 cartridge (prod. 8169) to your order.
The quality of this Varroa tester is equal to the original model. However, the CO2 applicator is made of plastic instead of metal.
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Varroa tester step-by-step
- Collect half a teacup of bees from a colony (25 g), 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 the infestation is < 5% you do not need to treat the colony. If the infestation is > 5% it is recommended to treat the colony for varroa.
You can now also calculate the absolute number of mites in the colony. Do this by multiplying the estimated number of bees (A) by the number of mites (B) and dividing by the number of bees collected (200)(C). Example: number of mites in the colony = (AxB)/C. These represent roughly 20% of the mites in the colony. Multiply this number by 5 to determine the total number of mites in the colony.