varroa counts

  • 25 Dec 2017 9:19 AM
    Reply # 5648129 on 5289326

    I have discovered that to be true also. So now, I always rap a brood frame sharply into my plastic bucket kept for that purpose. Fast, sure, easy. No pressure onto the bees bodies by contact with the jar, which may cause some dislodging of varroa (I suspect from my results). I lost several hives to varroa due to inaccurate counts, so learned the hard way on this one. 

  • 30 Sep 2017 8:15 PM
    Message # 5289326
    Allen Engle (Administrator)

    I changed the method of varroa sampling from rubbing the jar lip over several brood frames to shaking the frames into a plastic bin then scooping 300 out (thanks to Heike and Naomi for the suggestion).  The counts changed dramatically, from consistently 2 to 3, to 10 to 30, using a sugar roll.  Anyone else having similar results?

    

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