BBKA Forum

British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • varroa count

  • Beginners forum, ask beekeeping related questions and get help from other experienced beekeepers. Please use the Search Feature please to avoid duplicated threads
Beginners forum, ask beekeeping related questions and get help from other experienced beekeepers. Please use the Search Feature please to avoid duplicated threads
 #409  by belinda
 25 Aug 2018, 12:17
Hi We have just completed a count and there were only four mites on the board after ten days. People in this area are experiencing similar low numbers. is this common this year?
 #417  by Jim Norfolk
 26 Aug 2018, 15:13
I would not be surprised if varroa counts are lower than average. Maybe we could all submit any counts we have as well as the method of counting.

Mite drops through the OMF onto a board were zero for most of the summer but began to increase in August reaching 6 over 3 days in one colony and 1 over 3 days in the other, before I applied Apiguard on August 14th. These figures are at the low end of the range I have observed in previous years, but I am now in a different county with different bees so probably cannot compare.

Counts in untreated colonies also tend to increase through August and into autumn, so comparisons are difficult to make.
 #470  by Steve (The Drone)
 31 Aug 2018, 09:15
I have just removed the Maqs strips from 6 colonies. All showed low varroa counts. Hopefully I started the season with a low rate of infestation as I Oxalic acid vaped for 3 successive weeks in early Spring. Is it possible that the high summer temperatures have had an effect on Verona reproduction? Bees do ventilate hives to maintain the correct brood nest temperature but I remember reading research that shows that bees can survive higher temperatures than varroa. Interesting.
Steve.