You guys are awesome and shared many helpful tips! I am taking them all in for sure! This video hurts a little and I’m really thankful that I made the promise to be real on yt and share life- Varroa Mites and all! I’ll do my best to respond, but this evening my family and I are celebrating mine and my husband’s Birthday… sooo that’s why if respond right away 🐝
Do a 'triage split.' Pull all the capped brood and put them into a nuc and leave the open brood with the queen. Hit the open brood half with 4g oav immediately and the other half every 5 days until all the brood had emerged. Then recombine them. This method takes some extra work and is best done in spring but can really help before the winter brood is reared. Thanks for this video! It's so terrible to find this but I'm so glad you did before their winter bees were decimated! Timing is everything!
Super high count! I would propose an immediate 5-6 gram oxalic acid vaporization treatment on the same day to knock the mite out (even a heavy dose of oxalic acid vaporization treatment is safe for bees, you can do it in colder morning), and then a broodless session (3-4 days apart) just the next week. You can achieve broodlessness (i mean uncapped brood) by isolating the queen in an additional top box for a week and then setting her free after that (do give her atleast one frame to lay eggs so that her feromomes and egg laying doesn't go down); Also, check and treat the whole yard, as mite spread too fast especially during relative dearth due to robbing tendency. Another suggestion: treat the feral or unknown swarm before assimilating in the apiary.
Great video, sucky results. I been doing alcohol vs dawn dish soap and found one that washed 64 with alcohol and 78 with dish soap. From the same test sample. I pray both our hives make it.
There is a methode from a polish beekeeper he uses a very narrow metalgrid that the bees have to pas at the entrance of the hive and there is a good chance that the bees strip the varoa milb at that grid, there is a Video on UA-cam with this guy where he shows how that work
Just the video I needed. Lost two thriving colonies last year to the little buggers. Can't wait to see how you treat. Thanks for being real and raw for us
I'm only 40 seconds into the video and I'm so glad you are showing this. I'm new to bee keeping and I've been needing to check for mites on my hives but, frankly, I can't figure out the instructions. And there's always nuances of caring for bees that a step-by-step guide just can't help you anticipate. THANK YOU!
Many bee keepers have switched to doing the varroa mites wash with Dawn dish soap. I believe it was Randy Oliver(someone correct me if I'm wrong) that did testing on this method and said not only does it kill the bees faster but it's more accurate when it comes to the mite counts. Frederick Dunn, Kamon Renolds and others have started using this practice. I'll be doing it this weekend once my Apivar comes in.
We use organic oils (thymol, coriander, wormwood, menthol, ...) soaked in thin wooden strip. We hang few strips into the hive for 1-4 weeks. Mites fall down to the mitepad and die (it can be used preventively also). I dont know if you have such products in america. It is also possible to make a shower for the bees, by sprinkling them in the hive aisles with a preparation that contains fir, thyme and coriander oil. These products have the exact concentration of oils that are not unpleasant for bees and bother mites. There are many options to cure it. You have a garden, maybe you have a plant in it that repels mites and bees like it. Maybe thyme, maybe coriander, some of those whose oils are used. Perhaps more such plants will be mentioned in the literature. I am quite new in bees. EDIT: You probably know, you can also spread the hives further apart to reduce the transmission of parasites and diseases. Bees affected by the parasite are weaker and it is more difficult for them to return to the hive, so it happens to them more often that they hit a neighboring hive, which makes it easier for the parasite to spread. Even turning the flyers in other directions could help limit the wandering of the bees. I saw a guy on youtube (vino farm) who did it like that, but for a different reason.
Where do you get your gloves in your bee suits from Enjoy a lot of your comments and enjoy a lot of your shows thank you very much for all your b shows you and your mom thank you
I really appreciate your video on your mite problem. I am very new to beekeeping I only have one hive. I caught the hive in my homemade bee trap, I am preparing to do a inspection for mites. So I would like to thank you for showing me how to do my inspection and why.
I lost 2 hive this year for varroa with 9%. I used oxalic with glicery for 3 weeks and syrup 1:1 with lavander, rosemary, thyme, mint and pennyroyal for the rest of my hive. Each of those 2 hive give more than 30 kg of honey🥲. Greeting forma chile.
I just did my first mite check today, it's only our second summer keeping bees. I hated to kill bees but saw a beekeeper who did an experiment and the sugar roll was not nearly as accurate. He got 3 mites from the sugar roll, then he put the same bees in an alcohol wash after and 5 more mites fell out.
Awesome video.. I know it's heart breaking but at least now you can push forward treat them and make them ready for winter. Thank you for sharing your awesome..
Keep in mind with FormicPro, you really really need to add an extra box (with comb already drawn) for space when you put it on. Every time I've used it, the bees have either swarmed or near swarm due to not liking the smell.
Very informative and helpful to those that struggle doing the math ;) I think it is important to show how and why we check before just doing a mite treatment. Good job!
Try not to feel bad, everyone's honey bees have mites. I know you will do everything you can to help that colony. Last July I had 2 colonies with mite counts in the twenties, all the rest were 3 or less. The Temps were ok so I did formic pro 1 pad for 10 days then a second pad for 10 days. Single brood chambers of course. Worked perfectly! Both colonies are thriving this year. The first 2 days with formic should be 85 or less than if it gets hotter after that most of the major off gas is done. Good luck with your bees!
Insane. . My last washes, 6 in total, were 10, 4, 1, 1, 1, and 1. There is some research that is showing 2 tablespoons of Dawn Ultra to 1 gallon of water produces a more accurate result. I’m doing washes comparing just to see. As always Kaylee, appreciate you showing this. Stay Feral. . 😂
I did formic pro last year and it did great except one thing. My friend had one colony and I had one hive treatment leftover that had stayed in the cab of my truck. He asked me to treat his bees and I did. Didn't realize that formic pro can't get hot (like cooking in the cab of a truck) even though it was cool the day i used it. Colony died in a few hours. Live and learn I guess. Hope ya get them figured out. Still gonna use formic but I'm a little more informed lol!
IME, sometimes when you see a strong colony that looks otherwise healthy with a high mite count late in the season they may be robbing out a dying "mite bomb" somewhere and be perfectly healthy or, a strong colonies that produces a lot of brood can produce a lot of mites over time and be starting to get really sick. Mite counts of any type tell you something but they don't tell you everything, there is more to understand than just percentage of mite to bee ratio. That hive was not for certain doomed! I'll be curious to know if it survives. Thank you for your videos!
This happend to me last fall. I treated in September and sometime in October it got warm and they robbed out a colony somewhere and brought back a mite bomb..... my wash was 45 mites.... I spent the next 3 weeks hitting them with OAV
I feel for you. That is a bummer. There are a combination of solutions out there that will work for you and the girls though. Be diligent and you will all recover. I wish for you, the best outcome.
IMO I would not worry about getting honey off them or any high infested colony and I would treat. I had a high mite colony a couple years ago and threw everything on them. OA vaporization, Apivar and formic pro. I had nothing to lose if i “burned” the colony. They ended up making it.
Good morning.... you are so wonderful, you work hard and know... may I know about this bee dress... its features and prices... the address of the shop... Thank you and love.... and my respect
I live approximately 100 miles south of the honeystead. I would treat the entire yard with apiguard. If that didn't work for me I would treat again with apivar. It's to hot for MAQS. I am finishing up my apiguard treatments this weekend.
Yeah I use Apigaurd in august. Works great. 4 weeks of 25g a week. Then retest. That said, I used Randy's Extended release OA this year and my highest count was 5 on one and 4 on another. Rest were zeros or 1's. I suggest doing this next spring!
I know that this is part of being a bee caretaker, and the infestation is something to be a concern. My heart goes out to you I'm sure it's going to get better. Keeps updated when you can. Tell your parents, Hello and your husband keep up the great work his a good man. Take Care Edward from Houston TX
I always take any swarms i get to a different yard and treat them 8 days after that way there is no brood capped.I would treat every hive because of bee drift.Hope it works out for you.
Had swarm we caught last year late summer had 82 count and no queen.. huge swarm solid 10 frames of bees .. gave them a queen couple oav treatment's.. they dwindled down to 5 frames and lived thru winter died in the spring.. wasn't such a long cold spring they probably made it..
I would advise treating the colony as soon as possible by any of the ways already suggested, before contemplating replacing the queen. Ideally a swarm should be placed in an isolation Apiary before being admitted to your main Apiary so that you can check the health of the swarm. Here in the UK many beekeepers treat a swarm with OA as soon as possible to knock off any of the pesky critters that have hitched a ride to pastures new.
Confession...I really don't like any creature with more than 4 legs. But for some reason beekeeping is very fascinating to watch. The complexity of keeping bees healthy and happy, the magnificence of the colonies themselves. As long as critters outside are just doing their thing...no problem. Really appreciate the snippets of your homesteading lifestyle mixed in with some family stuff. And your bravery to put it out on the internet with all those experts having all kinds off opinions and comments 😉. I hope you'll be successful getting the parasites under control.
I don't bee keep but I love to grow stuff that bees and butterflies like. I have a relative that is bee keepers that I purchase delicious honey. Love to learn these things you post just to respect the bees and the cost of good quality Honey. 👍
For such an infestation, you have two active substances in mind! I would use sublimated oxalic acid and then some contact strips with amitraz or flumethrin! Think about how such an infestation came to be and look for the cause so that you can remove it in the future!Best regards from Romania !
I would count the bees as well as the mites. 300 is a SWAG. I've always counted and the bee count for 1/2 cup can be anywhere from 275-375. Good luck knocking the mites back!
I did a Dawn dish soap wash this weekend and found 12 mites. Treated all conies with Formic 4 weeks ago. Now going to double dose Oxylic every five days.
I don’t treat. Ever! Hygienic bee! Russian ,VSH . This was a really good video. Explained the process very well. I understand it a little better than I thought I did. Thanks! Have fun! Keep bees! And if anyone didn’t know Girl Bees make boy Bees when and if they need them!
one possible explanation is that the mites fell of the other bees and you poured them into the cup. This would skew the counts. Scooping the bees rather than pouring might have produced a different result. A retest of that hive might be prudent.
I got hopguard to test but I haven't used it yet. I've seen my bees destroy the mites so I'm waiting to do treatment until closer to winter. I might not even use it because the hives seem strong. I'm still learning though. You are surprised they are alive, which means they are strong bees! Swarm probably picked up extra mites and then building new colony was a lot of work for them so they couldn't police for mites as much. I have hope for them!
Always love watching you working with the Colonies and your ladies. 🐝🐝Sorry about the Collateral Damage, but if it saves the whole, better to lose a small portion.😥😥
Hello Kaylee and thank you for this videos. As a non professionnal beekeeper, and as many beekeeper near me, I use too this method to determine my strategy against Varroa. As suggested above I use sometime the confectioner's sugar (icing sugar ? I'm french, not sure of the name) because it don't kill girls. But, honestly, the sugar is less efficient and when I had doub't I use alcoohol too with most accurate results.
Not saying it’s the correct way, but I treat my hives with OAV to get a mite count. My hives have screened bottoms with trays. I clean the tray and then fog. Then 2 days later count the mite drop. If there is any, I treat every 4 or 5 days till I get 2 treatments in a row with zero drop. Doesn’t seem to kill bees, but kills lots of mites. Even if OAV isn’t the planned treatment method you can fog them with it to get a count. Any more than 2 or 3 mites dropped, then go at them with treatment of choice. Just makes since to me to skip the wash step. I’ve had initial fogging drop 100+ mites, have to fog 7+ times going clear into October to clean them up, and had them survive the winter just fine. I think yours are recoverable given your august start on it. Get to killing mites.
@@baldeagleApiaries I apologize for misusing the term "FOG". I use a vaporizer, device that heats the powder creating a smoke like effect. My current vaporizer is the Lorob bee version. I also own and have used a wand type with a diesel glow plug, and a DIY gas vap unit. Any video of the Lorob Bee unit or the ProVap110 would demonstrate same/similar to my use.
With that particular hive, I think the hive is considered done with that amount of varroa mite load. Good chance the damage is already done to the hive, aka viruses. Time (winter) will tell. I lost 50% last winter to mites and I am a commercial sideline beekeeper. Mites were taken care of late summer all the way into late fall. Mite count was very very low but the damage was already done to I'd say 40% of the hive and 10% I'd say was normal winter kill. Good luck to you.
Dont lose too much sleep over this...it count be a good thing! I have a colony that had over 30 mites in a wash last weekend and they are flourishing right now even in our hard Texas drought and dearth. At first I felt the same way as you but my friend mentioned that I probably have a mite resistant colony/queen! Because they have a lot of mites but they also are killing it despite the mites and are resisting them. Yes, it could be that they would not survive the winter but maybe they would since our winters are fairly mild compared to most of the country. I treated with OA and will hit them two more times in the next 2 weeks to try to reduce their mite count. And I had grafted from the high mite queen to 15 other colonies this spring because it was that strong. I checked 10 other colonies and they averaged less than 6 mites but went ahead and treated all my colonies within range of the high one. Now if they had high mites and were doing poorly then that would be bad and they could be about to collapse and die.
Dang, looks like strong bees to survive that kind of mite load. I'll bet it ends up a super hive if you get them under control imagine how strong they would be with out the mites. BLAST them bugs better check the others real good also, but your know all this. So I'll just wish ya best of luck and them little bugs might just surprise ya.
Will never know for sure. They may of swarmed out of original hive to help eliminate many many mites. Also it breaks their cycle. If they were out in nature they would do this to help a sick hive, actually that hive may have multiple swarms to rid them self’s of mites and viruses associated with mites. Just a thought.
Interesting video. We only have the four hives, we have treated every year regardless, every year the mite load varies between all four but they all have their fair share of mites unfortunately.
I prefer apivar and oa because they are a bit gentler on the bees, but with this heavy an infestations I'd go with formic pro or maybe even Thymol if your temps permit it. I also agree, this colony doesn't seem to have good hygienic genetics. Have a look at the Saskatraz project and think about a requeening.
Just a few things. My suggestion you better treat that whole yard as one big super organism. If that colony does crash. You’re gonna spread varroa all over the place. I would not suggest apivar to slow of a kill rate . Apiguard is a good choice. So is Formic . But Formic is more known for queen loss and going to fall I wouldn’t use it . There’s very few colonies out there that are good at keeping Varroa a bay . We’re good at killing Varroa. But there’s 28 different viruses that are spreading as well. If it was me I would use Apiguard. And hit them with OA every two days for 21 days
I've lost colonies rather quickly over mite issues. I will not use oxalic acid vapor. A fellow beekeeper died from liver cancer that may have been from this acid. There are other option that don't require a mask. Thanks for the videos
That's horrifying. I just been using Oxalic acid vape. Try to do it atleast every five days. The mites incubate for twelve days, so my reasoning is for the next twelve days I will be trying to kill off the mites coming out of the comb before they can infect a new comb. Haven't tried with twelve day brood break. I guess the optimum brood break would be until all the capped brood hatches and there is no where for the mites to hide but two weeks is a long time to cage a queen.
I believe there are different ways bees survive V Mites A. the good genetics you speak of being able to clean each other or crack the mites B. there are some bees that have built up a natural resistance to the sickness the mites pass on. A we know to be true the ladder is just speculation between me and a few other beekeepers.
Ah the many challenges of beekeeping. Don't feel too bad about the infestation. I killed 27 hive beetles that were camped out on my front entrance feeder yesterday. 🤦 With all the rain we've had this past week, I haven't had a chance to refil my oil traps.
I have with great results. We've got clear skies today, so I'll be able to go full Chuck Norris elimination mode on them. Beetle traps, oil traps, Swiffer pads, peppermint. The whole nine yards.
Traps, Swiffer sheets, and peppermint is in the hive now. I even played the Walker Texas Ranger theme song while I had the hive open. All the bees started doing roundhouse kicks. It was pretty impressive to watch.
Last month I decided to do a sugar roll to check for mites and then I followed that with an alcohol wash. Happily, the alcohol wash did not reveal any additional Mites. Have any of you tried this?
Is it definitive that hives with high mite counts have bad queen genetics or could they just be foraging where there are more mites on flowers or robbing a hive in a tree somewhere that is failing that the other hives haven't found? I do see bees from different hives flying in different directions. It hurts to kill some bees but you probably just saved that entire colony. Thanks for sharing.
I do lean on the genetics, because many of my other colonies are doing amazing! This colony is huge, but other colonies that I have are smaller and they had a mite count of 1%
I have done mite sampling using alcohol washes for years and I *ALWAYS* count out the dead bees and do the actual percent of mites per bee. I have never, ever, ever gotten 300 bees in a 1/2 cup of live bees. Not even close. We need to all do ourselves a favor as beekeepers and spread the dead bees out on a paper towel, let them dry, and then sort them into piles and COUNT THEM! I bet most people will be shocked to see how many actual dead bees they have. It is not anywhere as high as people think. This is the *ONLY* way to get an actual percentage. 3 Dead mites per 100 dead bees is 3%. 7 Dead mites on 165 dead bees is 4.2% which is what one of my neighbors recently found. He swore up and down he had a least 300 bees and he was dead wrong and if he went with that number he would have thought he only had a 2% infestation. If one does not know the number of dead bees and dead mites anything beyond that point is a guess. Edit to add: you have sacrificed the bees to find out their health, why not take the time out of our lives to get the most and the best information from their sacrifice by taking the time to count the dead bees? It only takes 5-10 minutes to do.
Kaylee. When you go out & catch a swarm, do to you do a varroa mite test on them before you take them back to your hives?. Plus can one hive pass this mite to another hive that is close by or is it normally held to the hive it's in?. Plus do the mites only live on certain parts of the colony or can the queen & all of them catch the mites?.
Do you notice any reduction in your bees over previous years? I don’t have my own bees but, DEFINITELY, I can see them declining over the last 3 years… especially this year. 😞
Seeing alotta people with similar or WORSE results. Gettin serious these days. I monitor drop on boards after OA sublimation, every 2 months. Some have nothing, a few colonies have a few, thankgoodness.
Good question! I have certain colonies that are genetically more hygienic and do a really Great job of mitigating the varroa mites by cleaning themselves… and I actually have colonies here that also seek out and destroy Verona mites!
A lot of people pay too much attention to the Internet. Randy Oliver. Scientific Bee Keeping has about 2000 counties. And only 100 of his are showing mite genetic traits. He even says there is no such thing is a mite resistant bee
@@TheHoneystead please do! This is a serious problem and with so many not understanding, it is too easy to conflate the real reasons for bee depopulation. Knowing the truth and the remedies will help so many in the future. Thank you for the answer.
Unfortunately in order to truly check a mite load, a number of bees must be sacrificed to get a count. Treatment is recommended at 3% at this level we chose to treat to try to save the colony and potentially other colonies as well.
Yeah alcohol or dawn washes are really important!!! If you think anything else is better then let me give you my business card for spring nuc sales. Jk sorta. But this is how beekeeping has evolved. Learn it, do it and bee successfull.
That alcohol method is brutal and kills the bees plus stinks. Why don't you use the powdered sugar method which works as well and the bees survive? Also, no need to kill bees, place your lid and inner cover more gently - lot of squashed bees when inner cover slides into outer. Also, where's your smoker? Calms bees and keeps them out of your way and your face. As you get more comfortable with the bees, you'll lose the gloves which are super clumsy and kill lots of bees unintentionally.
Looks like you're spreading your infinite wisdom on this channel on various videos. No videos of your thriving colonies on your channel though. That's unfortunate. So many people out there are probably thirsting for your knowledge. You must be very fun to be around with. Your family and friend are probably benefitting from your facts, opinions and spontaneous advice. 🥱
You guys are awesome and shared many helpful tips! I am taking them all in for sure! This video hurts a little and I’m really thankful that I made the promise to be real on yt and share life- Varroa Mites and all! I’ll do my best to respond, but this evening my family and I are celebrating mine and my husband’s Birthday… sooo that’s why if respond right away 🐝
Happy birthday 🎉
Happy birthday to your husband!🥳🎂
🎂💐 happy birthday to the both of you
Happy B-days, enjoy your family time. Blessed Days...
Happy Birthday to you both!! 🎂 🍾🥂🎉
Do a 'triage split.' Pull all the capped brood and put them into a nuc and leave the open brood with the queen. Hit the open brood half with 4g oav immediately and the other half every 5 days until all the brood had emerged. Then recombine them. This method takes some extra work and is best done in spring but can really help before the winter brood is reared. Thanks for this video! It's so terrible to find this but I'm so glad you did before their winter bees were decimated! Timing is everything!
Super high count! I would propose an immediate 5-6 gram oxalic acid vaporization treatment on the same day to knock the mite out (even a heavy dose of oxalic acid vaporization treatment is safe for bees, you can do it in colder morning), and then a broodless session (3-4 days apart) just the next week. You can achieve broodlessness (i mean uncapped brood) by isolating the queen in an additional top box for a week and then setting her free after that (do give her atleast one frame to lay eggs so that her feromomes and egg laying doesn't go down); Also, check and treat the whole yard, as mite spread too fast especially during relative dearth due to robbing tendency.
Another suggestion: treat the feral or unknown swarm before assimilating in the apiary.
Great video, sucky results. I been doing alcohol vs dawn dish soap and found one that washed 64 with alcohol and 78 with dish soap. From the same test sample. I pray both our hives make it.
There is a methode from a polish beekeeper he uses a very narrow metalgrid that the bees have to pas at the entrance of the hive and there is a good chance that the bees strip the varoa milb at that grid, there is a Video on UA-cam with this guy where he shows how that work
Just the video I needed. Lost two thriving colonies last year to the little buggers. Can't wait to see how you treat. Thanks for being real and raw for us
You are very welcome I do hope this helps!
Great stuff Kaylee. Hopefully can get that situation under control quickly!
I'm only 40 seconds into the video and I'm so glad you are showing this. I'm new to bee keeping and I've been needing to check for mites on my hives but, frankly, I can't figure out the instructions. And there's always nuances of caring for bees that a step-by-step guide just can't help you anticipate. THANK YOU!
I typically will show everything like Kaylee. Last video was Mite washes and treatments.
Many bee keepers have switched to doing the varroa mites wash with Dawn dish soap. I believe it was Randy Oliver(someone correct me if I'm wrong) that did testing on this method and said not only does it kill the bees faster but it's more accurate when it comes to the mite counts. Frederick Dunn, Kamon Renolds and others have started using this practice. I'll be doing it this weekend once my Apivar comes in.
Yes Dawn is very good
gl hope they get under controle fast
I'm glad that's already past me, all that mite counting. Well, the next winter will show, if I'm correct on what I've just written. All the best!
Well stated, thank you for the education on the varroa mites.
We use organic oils (thymol, coriander, wormwood, menthol, ...) soaked in thin wooden strip. We hang few strips into the hive for 1-4 weeks. Mites fall down to the mitepad and die (it can be used preventively also). I dont know if you have such products in america. It is also possible to make a shower for the bees, by sprinkling them in the hive aisles with a preparation that contains fir, thyme and coriander oil. These products have the exact concentration of oils that are not unpleasant for bees and bother mites. There are many options to cure it. You have a garden, maybe you have a plant in it that repels mites and bees like it. Maybe thyme, maybe coriander, some of those whose oils are used. Perhaps more such plants will be mentioned in the literature. I am quite new in bees.
EDIT: You probably know, you can also spread the hives further apart to reduce the transmission of parasites and diseases. Bees affected by the parasite are weaker and it is more difficult for them to return to the hive, so it happens to them more often that they hit a neighboring hive, which makes it easier for the parasite to spread. Even turning the flyers in other directions could help limit the wandering of the bees. I saw a guy on youtube (vino farm) who did it like that, but for a different reason.
Where do you get your gloves in your bee suits from
Enjoy a lot of your comments and enjoy a lot of your shows thank you very much for all your b shows you and your mom thank you
so sorry for the large infection. thanks for the information, and will be waiting to see how you treat.
Thank you Charles! I will for sure do a video soon!
I really appreciate your video on your mite problem. I am very new to beekeeping I only have one hive. I caught the hive in my homemade bee trap, I am preparing to do a inspection for mites. So I would like to thank you for showing me how to do my inspection and why.
You’re very welcome! Best of luck with your beekeeping adventures!
Thanks for this video! Checking my hives in the next day or so to see where they are at.
I use Dawn ultra dish soap 2 tbs per gallon water for mite wash. Much safer than alcohol, works as well or better. Stir gently don’t shake.
I lost 2 hive this year for varroa with 9%. I used oxalic with glicery for 3 weeks and syrup 1:1 with lavander, rosemary, thyme, mint and pennyroyal for the rest of my hive. Each of those 2 hive give more than 30 kg of honey🥲. Greeting forma chile.
Дуже красивий бджоляр))) навіть не віриться що така гарна дівчина, може займатися такою тяжкою працею😉
Merica
I just did my first mite check today, it's only our second summer keeping bees. I hated to kill bees but saw a beekeeper who did an experiment and the sugar roll was not nearly as accurate. He got 3 mites from the sugar roll, then he put the same bees in an alcohol wash after and 5 more mites fell out.
Good job explaining as you go. Very helpful for all. Keep it up.
OMG! That was a lot of Mites! That sucks, I hope you are able to figure it out.
Ugh I know!! Not an easy video to share… but it happens sometimes!
Awesome video.. I know it's heart breaking but at least now you can push forward treat them and make them ready for winter. Thank you for sharing your awesome..
Keep in mind with FormicPro, you really really need to add an extra box (with comb already drawn) for space when you put it on. Every time I've used it, the bees have either swarmed or near swarm due to not liking the smell.
Very informative and helpful to those that struggle doing the math ;)
I think it is important to show how and why we check before just doing a mite treatment. Good job!
💛
I hope you find a good way for these Girls! I feel for both them and you! Lot's of love from Sweden!
Try not to feel bad, everyone's honey bees have mites. I know you will do everything you can to help that colony. Last July I had 2 colonies with mite counts in the twenties, all the rest were 3 or less. The Temps were ok so I did formic pro 1 pad for 10 days then a second pad for 10 days. Single brood chambers of course. Worked perfectly! Both colonies are thriving this year. The first 2 days with formic should be 85 or less than if it gets hotter after that most of the major off gas is done. Good luck with your bees!
Insane. . My last washes, 6 in total, were 10, 4, 1, 1, 1, and 1. There is some research that is showing 2 tablespoons of Dawn Ultra to 1 gallon of water produces a more accurate result. I’m doing washes comparing just to see. As always Kaylee, appreciate you showing this. Stay Feral. . 😂
Hey, please let me know your results with the dawn Ultra.
@@baldeagleApiaries I will. I plan to do more washes.
I did formic pro last year and it did great except one thing. My friend had one colony and I had one hive treatment leftover that had stayed in the cab of my truck. He asked me to treat his bees and I did. Didn't realize that formic pro can't get hot (like cooking in the cab of a truck) even though it was cool the day i used it. Colony died in a few hours. Live and learn I guess. Hope ya get them figured out. Still gonna use formic but I'm a little more informed lol!
It take balls to share this infestation thanks for all the info
IME, sometimes when you see a strong colony that looks otherwise healthy with a high mite count late in the season they may be robbing out a dying "mite bomb" somewhere and be perfectly healthy or, a strong colonies that produces a lot of brood can produce a lot of mites over time and be starting to get really sick. Mite counts of any type tell you something but they don't tell you everything, there is more to understand than just percentage of mite to bee ratio. That hive was not for certain doomed! I'll be curious to know if it survives. Thank you for your videos!
Good luck with the mite problem , fixing to test mine also, makes me nervous to what I’m going to find.
This happend to me last fall. I treated in September and sometime in October it got warm and they robbed out a colony somewhere and brought back a mite bomb..... my wash was 45 mites.... I spent the next 3 weeks hitting them with OAV
I feel for you. That is a bummer. There are a combination of solutions out there that will work for you and the girls though. Be diligent and you will all recover. I wish for you, the best outcome.
IMO I would not worry about getting honey off them or any high infested colony and I would treat. I had a high mite colony a couple years ago and threw everything on them. OA vaporization, Apivar and formic pro. I had nothing to lose if i “burned” the colony. They ended up making it.
Good morning.... you are so wonderful, you work hard and know... may I know about this bee dress... its features and prices... the address of the shop... Thank you and love.... and my respect
I live approximately 100 miles south of the honeystead. I would treat the entire yard with apiguard. If that didn't work for me I would treat again with apivar. It's to hot for MAQS. I am finishing up my apiguard treatments this weekend.
Yeah I use Apigaurd in august. Works great. 4 weeks of 25g a week. Then retest. That said, I used Randy's Extended release OA this year and my highest count was 5 on one and 4 on another. Rest were zeros or 1's. I suggest doing this next spring!
I know that this is part of being a bee caretaker, and the infestation is something to be a concern. My heart goes out to you I'm sure it's going to get better. Keeps updated when you can. Tell your parents, Hello and your husband keep up the great work his a good man.
Take Care
Edward from Houston TX
I always take any swarms i get to a different yard and treat them 8 days after that way there is no brood capped.I would treat every hive because of bee drift.Hope it works out for you.
Had swarm we caught last year late summer had 82 count and no queen.. huge swarm solid 10 frames of bees .. gave them a queen couple oav treatment's.. they dwindled down to 5 frames and lived thru winter died in the spring.. wasn't such a long cold spring they probably made it..
I would advise treating the colony as soon as possible by any of the ways already suggested, before contemplating replacing the queen. Ideally a swarm should be placed in an isolation Apiary before being admitted to your main Apiary so that you can check the health of the swarm. Here in the UK many beekeepers treat a swarm with OA as soon as possible to knock off any of the pesky critters that have hitched a ride to pastures new.
Confession...I really don't like any creature with more than 4 legs. But for some reason beekeeping is very fascinating to watch. The complexity of keeping bees healthy and happy, the magnificence of the colonies themselves. As long as critters outside are just doing their thing...no problem.
Really appreciate the snippets of your homesteading lifestyle mixed in with some family stuff. And your bravery to put it out on the internet with all those experts having all kinds off opinions and comments 😉.
I hope you'll be successful getting the parasites under control.
BTW - the new bee suit is starting to look worked in.
Oh my goodness 😝 right!?!
I don't bee keep but I love to grow stuff that bees and butterflies like. I have a relative that is bee keepers that I purchase delicious honey. Love to learn these things you post just to respect the bees and the cost of good quality Honey. 👍
For such an infestation, you have two active substances in mind! I would use sublimated oxalic acid and then some contact strips with amitraz or flumethrin! Think about how such an infestation came to be and look for the cause so that you can remove it in the future!Best regards from Romania !
I would count the bees as well as the mites. 300 is a SWAG. I've always counted and the bee count for 1/2 cup can be anywhere from 275-375. Good luck knocking the mites back!
I did a Dawn dish soap wash this weekend and found 12 mites. Treated all conies with Formic 4 weeks ago. Now going to double dose Oxylic every five days.
Man this a mites can just really do some damage quickly!
@@TheHoneystead I would hit them hard now Formic Pro below 90 degrees though. 2 strips 14 days
I don’t treat. Ever! Hygienic bee! Russian ,VSH . This was a really good video. Explained the process very well. I understand it a little better than I thought I did. Thanks! Have fun! Keep bees! And if anyone didn’t know Girl Bees make boy Bees when and if they need them!
one possible explanation is that the mites fell of the other bees and you poured them into the cup. This would skew the counts. Scooping the bees rather than pouring might have produced a different result.
A retest of that hive might be prudent.
I got hopguard to test but I haven't used it yet. I've seen my bees destroy the mites so I'm waiting to do treatment until closer to winter. I might not even use it because the hives seem strong. I'm still learning though. You are surprised they are alive, which means they are strong bees! Swarm probably picked up extra mites and then building new colony was a lot of work for them so they couldn't police for mites as much. I have hope for them!
Always love watching you working with the Colonies and your ladies. 🐝🐝Sorry about the Collateral Damage, but if it saves the whole, better to lose a small portion.😥😥
Thank you Alan!
@@TheHoneystead Did you get the e-mail and picture of my Stained Glass Honeycomb set up from Alex ?😎😎
Hello Kaylee and thank you for this videos.
As a non professionnal beekeeper, and as many beekeeper near me, I use too this method to determine my strategy against Varroa.
As suggested above I use sometime the confectioner's sugar (icing sugar ? I'm french, not sure of the name) because it don't kill girls.
But, honestly, the sugar is less efficient and when I had doub't I use alcoohol too with most accurate results.
First time to see BEE GIRL🍯
UNIQUE and AMAZING🤗
Not saying it’s the correct way, but I treat my hives with OAV to get a mite count. My hives have screened bottoms with trays. I clean the tray and then fog. Then 2 days later count the mite drop. If there is any, I treat every 4 or 5 days till I get 2 treatments in a row with zero drop.
Doesn’t seem to kill bees, but kills lots of mites.
Even if OAV isn’t the planned treatment method you can fog them with it to get a count. Any more than 2 or 3 mites dropped, then go at them with treatment of choice.
Just makes since to me to skip the wash step.
I’ve had initial fogging drop 100+ mites, have to fog 7+ times going clear into October to clean them up, and had them survive the winter just fine. I think yours are recoverable given your august start on it. Get to killing mites.
I like to use a fogger, what are you using in yours? is there a video on UA-cam with your method?
@@baldeagleApiaries I apologize for misusing the term "FOG". I use a vaporizer, device that heats the powder creating a smoke like effect. My current vaporizer is the Lorob bee version. I also own and have used a wand type with a diesel glow plug, and a DIY gas vap unit.
Any video of the Lorob Bee unit or the ProVap110 would demonstrate same/similar to my use.
Poor the bees. Looking forward to the treatment video. Hope the bees will recover.
With that particular hive, I think the hive is considered done with that amount of varroa mite load. Good chance the damage is already done to the hive, aka viruses. Time (winter) will tell.
I lost 50% last winter to mites and I am a commercial sideline beekeeper. Mites were taken care of late summer all the way into late fall. Mite count was very very low but the damage was already done to I'd say 40% of the hive and 10% I'd say was normal winter kill. Good luck to you.
Dont lose too much sleep over this...it count be a good thing! I have a colony that had over 30 mites in a wash last weekend and they are flourishing right now even in our hard Texas drought and dearth. At first I felt the same way as you but my friend mentioned that I probably have a mite resistant colony/queen! Because they have a lot of mites but they also are killing it despite the mites and are resisting them. Yes, it could be that they would not survive the winter but maybe they would since our winters are fairly mild compared to most of the country. I treated with OA and will hit them two more times in the next 2 weeks to try to reduce their mite count. And I had grafted from the high mite queen to 15 other colonies this spring because it was that strong.
I checked 10 other colonies and they averaged less than 6 mites but went ahead and treated all my colonies within range of the high one.
Now if they had high mites and were doing poorly then that would be bad and they could be about to collapse and die.
Holy mite load Kaylee!!!
Yeah definitely painful 😣
Dang, looks like strong bees to survive that kind of mite load. I'll bet it ends up a super hive if you get them under control imagine how strong they would be with out the mites. BLAST them bugs better check the others real good also, but your know all this. So I'll just wish ya best of luck and them little bugs might just surprise ya.
Agreed! That's a colony that is tough!
Have you heard of treating with food grade mineral oil and thyme essential oil?
Heart aches for you.
Will never know for sure. They may of swarmed out of original hive to help eliminate many many mites. Also it breaks their cycle. If they were out in nature they would do this to help a sick hive, actually that hive may have multiple swarms to rid them self’s of mites and viruses associated with mites. Just a thought.
I agree John!
Interesting video. We only have the four hives, we have treated every year regardless, every year the mite load varies between all four but they all have their fair share of mites unfortunately.
There's nothing to think about. You should treat immediately.
Very informative video! I hope you will do more beekeeping videos. 🐝🥰
I prefer apivar and oa because they are a bit gentler on the bees, but with this heavy an infestations I'd go with formic pro or maybe even Thymol if your temps permit it. I also agree, this colony doesn't seem to have good hygienic genetics. Have a look at the Saskatraz project and think about a requeening.
Another option would be requeening with a Weaver Queen.
Just a few things. My suggestion you better treat that whole yard as one big super organism. If that colony does crash. You’re gonna spread varroa all over the place. I would not suggest apivar to slow of a kill rate . Apiguard is a good choice. So is Formic . But Formic is more known for queen loss and going to fall I wouldn’t use it . There’s very few colonies out there that are good at keeping Varroa a bay . We’re good at killing Varroa. But there’s 28 different viruses that are spreading as well. If it was me I would use Apiguard. And hit them with OA every two days for 21 days
I've lost colonies rather quickly over mite issues. I will not use oxalic acid vapor. A fellow beekeeper died from liver cancer that may have been from this acid. There are other option that don't require a mask. Thanks for the videos
You might want to try apivar for such an infestation it's a harder treatment but just a thought good luck with your hive.
That's horrifying. I just been using Oxalic acid vape. Try to do it atleast every five days. The mites incubate for twelve days, so my reasoning is for the next twelve days I will be trying to kill off the mites coming out of the comb before they can infect a new comb. Haven't tried with twelve day brood break. I guess the optimum brood break would be until all the capped brood hatches and there is no where for the mites to hide but two weeks is a long time to cage a queen.
Mites can and will go into a cell after 24hours. OAV isnt going to work like that. Broodless only.
I'm so sad for the Bees 😥 Is the honey still good if there are mites in the hive?
Hi, I just saw a carpenter bee enter my honey hive. Good…bad…?
You can also use the Easycheck with icing sugar for not kill the bees
No, inaccurate results and not recommended
Now I'm curious one year later if you saved this colony (doubtful), and if so what did you do?
انتي رائع آحببتك ❤
"Smoke, flames, probably not a good mix"
Next episode, half of Kaylee's hair is fried.
"So I thought I was far enough away...."
I believe there are different ways bees survive V Mites A. the good genetics you speak of being able to clean each other or crack the mites B. there are some bees that have built up a natural resistance to the sickness the mites pass on. A we know to be true the ladder is just speculation between me and a few other beekeepers.
Ah the many challenges of beekeeping. Don't feel too bad about the infestation. I killed 27 hive beetles that were camped out on my front entrance feeder yesterday. 🤦 With all the rain we've had this past week, I haven't had a chance to refil my oil traps.
Have you tried the unscented swiffer dust sheets? They catch hive beetles really well!
I have with great results. We've got clear skies today, so I'll be able to go full Chuck Norris elimination mode on them. Beetle traps, oil traps, Swiffer pads, peppermint. The whole nine yards.
The mental picture I just got was hilarious!!! I think you’ve got a good plan to approach those nasty hive beetles!
Traps, Swiffer sheets, and peppermint is in the hive now. I even played the Walker Texas Ranger theme song while I had the hive open. All the bees started doing roundhouse kicks. It was pretty impressive to watch.
Last month I decided to do a sugar roll to check for mites and then I followed that with an alcohol wash. Happily, the alcohol wash did not reveal any additional Mites. Have any of you tried this?
Innaccurate and not recomended.
Try the Apivar strips.
A small vacuum is a fast way to sample.
Unnecessary to use a vacuum
Is it definitive that hives with high mite counts have bad queen genetics or could they just be foraging where there are more mites on flowers or robbing a hive in a tree somewhere that is failing that the other hives haven't found? I do see bees from different hives flying in different directions.
It hurts to kill some bees but you probably just saved that entire colony. Thanks for sharing.
I do lean on the genetics, because many of my other colonies are doing amazing! This colony is huge, but other colonies that I have are smaller and they had a mite count of 1%
@@TheHoneystead Very interesting! You have so many hives, I'm sure you'll figure out what's best for them. U have a high success rate!
I have done mite sampling using alcohol washes for years and I *ALWAYS* count out the dead bees and do the actual percent of mites per bee. I have never, ever, ever gotten 300 bees in a 1/2 cup of live bees. Not even close. We need to all do ourselves a favor as beekeepers and spread the dead bees out on a paper towel, let them dry, and then sort them into piles and COUNT THEM! I bet most people will be shocked to see how many actual dead bees they have. It is not anywhere as high as people think. This is the *ONLY* way to get an actual percentage. 3 Dead mites per 100 dead bees is 3%. 7 Dead mites on 165 dead bees is 4.2% which is what one of my neighbors recently found. He swore up and down he had a least 300 bees and he was dead wrong and if he went with that number he would have thought he only had a 2% infestation. If one does not know the number of dead bees and dead mites anything beyond that point is a guess. Edit to add: you have sacrificed the bees to find out their health, why not take the time out of our lives to get the most and the best information from their sacrifice by taking the time to count the dead bees? It only takes 5-10 minutes to do.
👍🏼🤠❤️
Kaylee. When you go out & catch a swarm, do to you do a varroa mite test on them before you take them back to your hives?. Plus can one hive pass this mite to another hive that is close by or is it normally held to the hive it's in?. Plus do the mites only live on certain parts of the colony or can the queen & all of them catch the mites?.
I don’t typically.. but I may be reconsidering. So far a few of my other colonies are good, but still checking!
Do you notice any reduction in your bees over previous years? I don’t have my own bees but, DEFINITELY, I can see them declining over the last 3 years… especially this year. 😞
pour some honey on the eggs, that those chickens are working on
scrambled eggs, chees, and honey, get me out of bed...
😝😝😝😝😝😝😝
Seeing alotta people with similar or WORSE results. Gettin serious these days. I monitor drop on boards after OA sublimation, every 2 months. Some have nothing, a few colonies have a few, thankgoodness.
😢
honey chees omlet
Carbon monoxide works well, sad to say - thats the cheapest fix.
How is the genetics of the queen related to infestation?
Good question! I have certain colonies that are genetically more hygienic and do a really Great job of mitigating the varroa mites by cleaning themselves… and I actually have colonies here that also seek out and destroy Verona mites!
I think over the winter I’ll plan to do a video on genetics!
A lot of people pay too much attention to the Internet. Randy Oliver. Scientific Bee Keeping has about 2000 counties. And only 100 of his are showing mite genetic traits. He even says there is no such thing is a mite resistant bee
@@handsburyhoneybees893 that’s a lot of counties! Autocorrect no doubt.
@@TheHoneystead please do! This is a serious problem and with so many not understanding, it is too easy to conflate the real reasons for bee depopulation. Knowing the truth and the remedies will help so many in the future.
Thank you for the answer.
The gerbil method. Jk 🙂
Oh lord lol
@@TheHoneystead I have bad ears. 😅
@@TheHoneystead oh shoot. You actually said gerbil method. Haha. Love it. Thanks for sharing.
I need talk to you I have no good internet I te4nt
If you're killing bees then that's hardly a suprise!!
Yeah definitely sucks… but it’s necessary!
Unfortunately in order to truly check a mite load, a number of bees must be sacrificed to get a count. Treatment is recommended at 3% at this level we chose to treat to try to save the colony and potentially other colonies as well.
Yeah alcohol or dawn washes are really important!!! If you think anything else is better then let me give you my business card for spring nuc sales. Jk sorta. But this is how beekeeping has evolved. Learn it, do it and bee successfull.
Sorry this colony is infested 😡
That alcohol method is brutal and kills the bees plus stinks. Why don't you use the powdered sugar method which works as well and the bees survive? Also, no need to kill bees, place your lid and inner cover more gently - lot of squashed bees when inner cover slides into outer. Also, where's your smoker? Calms bees and keeps them out of your way and your face. As you get more comfortable with the bees, you'll lose the gloves which are super clumsy and kill lots of bees unintentionally.
Looks like you're spreading your infinite wisdom on this channel on various videos. No videos of your thriving colonies on your channel though. That's unfortunate. So many people out there are probably thirsting for your knowledge.
You must be very fun to be around with. Your family and friend are probably benefitting from your facts, opinions and spontaneous advice. 🥱
Sugar isn't accurate and proven not reliable!!