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Varroa EasyCheck
€ 27,99
The Easy varroa tester is a simple way to count mites in a bee colony. The Easy Check can be used in two ways. The simplest and most bee-friendly method is with powdered sugar. The other way is with alcohol. How does the varroa tester work and how do you calculate the number of mites in the bee colony? Shake approximately 200 bees into the lid of the tester. This is about 25 grams or half a teacup. Then mix in powdered sugar and shake the cup upside down. Do this for about 1 to 2 minutes. Now turn the cup over and keep shaking. The mites and powdered sugar will now fall to the bottom of the cup. The bees can return to the hive and the powdered sugar can be shaken onto the lid of a honey bucket. By means of a layer of water, you can easily count the mites. The other method works by using alcohol and gently shaking to prevent the alcohol from possibly leaking slightly at the lid. The alcohol causes the mites to detach from the bees. These will fall through the mesh into the other compartment of the varroa tester.
Read more below about how to count the mites.
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With both methods, the mites can now be easily counted. The fastest way to calculate the infestation level 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, meaning 5% varroa mite infestation in the colony. Treatment is recommended from 5% upwards. This calculation can also be used for the powdered sugar method. Scroll down further for a step-by-step plan and the calculation to determine the total number of varroa mites in the colony.
Step-by-step plan for varroa tester
- Collect half a teacup of bees from a bee colony (25 grams) this is up to the red line on the varroa tester
- Add powdered sugar or alcohol
- Gently shake the bees
- Count the mites and divide this number by 200. This shows the percentage. Example: 10 mites / 200 bees = 0.05 = 5% varroa infestation. If you have an infestation < 5%, then you don't need to treat. If the infestation is greater than > 5%, then treat the bee colony.
You can also now calculate how many absolute mites are in the colony. You 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 colony = (AxB)/C. These represent approximately 20% of the bees in the colony. Multiply this number by 5 to determine the total number of mites in the colony.