# Can't find mites in my hive



## qarl (Jun 9, 2015)

Kind of a silly question, but are you sure you have mites?


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## Frankieallen (Jul 12, 2015)

Not really sure if I do. Just doing an inspection to make sure all is good. I was told that all gives have mites. This is a nuc that I just got at the end of April. All is going great other than this so it seems.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

The guy you purchased it from may have treated it or whatever, maybe ask him.

Re the sugar shake, I no longer do them cos they have been to unreliable for me, an alcohol wash gives better results, but unlike a sugar shake it kills the bees, so not really recommended for a nuc. However seems likely your hive is in good shape, after chatting with your vendor you may decide no action is needed for some time yet.


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## Frankieallen (Jul 12, 2015)

They seem to be doing what they are supposed to be doing. Plenty of capped brood. Patterns look good. Larvae look good. They go thru 1 gallon of sugar water in about 36 hours or so. Just don't want to not be up on my end. Just trying to do my part for the little gals.


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## DPBsbees (Apr 14, 2011)

Check in a couple of weeks. I like to check at the end of July. If there are bees, there are mites but if you're doing the shake correctly you should find at least one if you have an issue. If you're using a screened bottom board you can put in a sticky board to check for changes. What Oldtimer says makes sense as always. Don't sweat it and check again in a few weeks.


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## Frankieallen (Jul 12, 2015)

Ok will do. I have a screen bottom board so I will do the sticky board method next time. 

Thanks for the quick responses and great info


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## DPBsbees (Apr 14, 2011)

Frankieallen said:


> Ok will do. I have a screen bottom board so I will do the sticky board method next time.
> 
> Thanks for the quick responses and great info


Keep in mind I only like the sticky board for trends. Don't base treating on it. I use sugar shakes and alcohol washes to make decisions.


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## Frankieallen (Jul 12, 2015)

I like the sugar shake and will most likely go with it. I was pretty aggressive shaking them and let them sit for about 7-8 minutes.


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

Last year I went an entire season with monthly sugar shakes and zero mites. Just for the heck of it on Thanksgiving Day I did an OAD and the mite fall was staggering--for me at least. So now I still do my monthly shakes, but I also do OAD twice a year. Haven't lost a hive over winter the last 2 years and I suspect the OAD is partly why.

JMO

Rusty


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## razoo (Jul 7, 2015)

Rusty Hills Farm said:


> Last year I went an entire season with monthly sugar shakes and zero mites. Just for the heck of it on Thanksgiving Day I did an OAD and the mite fall was staggering--for me at least. So now I still do my monthly shakes, but I also do OAD twice a year. Haven't lost a hive over winter the last 2 years and I suspect the OAD is partly why.
> 
> JMO
> 
> Rusty


OAD ???


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

> Need some advise please. 

Go find someone with a serious Varroa infestation. Buy a couple of frames of brood. Bring them home and put them in your hive... After a few weeks try again... 

Seriously, if you're not finding any, either you don't know what you're looking for are there are so few that you're not finding them.

>...an alcohol wash gives better results

I've never figures out how a cup full of dead bees is a "better result"...


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## Frankieallen (Jul 12, 2015)

It is very possible that I don't know what I'm looking for. I have never actually seen on in person. I have watched many videos on how to find and treat for them. I will try again next month and try to have someone come over that is experienced help me out.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

If you dump the sugar in water, the mites float on top. They are not big, but they are visible. To give you an idea of the size and color, here are some circled so you can see them on a bee:

http://www.bushfarms.com/images/Varroa2.jpg
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/Varroa3.jpg


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

When you do your sugar shake did you dump the bees and sugar onto a paper plate and spray it with water to melt the sugar? If you did, and you have mites, you would have seen them crawling around in the sugar slurry.

Be glad. You don't have enough mites to bother treating.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

I don't have any actual data on this but it seems that mites are much more likely to be tucked into that area between the thorax and abdomen now than they were 20 years ago. My take nowadays is if any at all are visible to the naked eye (even with a magnifying glass) then you have a pretty high concentration. An ether roll is my standard regime. Sacrificing a few hundred bees late in the summer when populations are peaking to get an idea what's cooking or to monitor treatment effectiveness isn't going to be noticeable. An even better monitoring tool is finding (and sacrificing)a very small patch of sealed brood (preferably drone), scratching it open and gently tapping it horizontally on a white surface. The results can be pretty telling.


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## Frankieallen (Jul 12, 2015)

Looking at those pictures I didn't see anything like that floating. Only thing floating was pollen.


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## thehackleguy (Jul 29, 2014)

razoo said:


> OAD ???


+1 .......Oxalic acid drip??


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## Arnie (Jan 30, 2014)

Oxalic acid dribble

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/oxalic-acid-questions-answers-and-more-questions-part-1-of-2-parts/

Frankie, I had the same reaction the first time I did a sugar roll. No mites. What, no mites??!! I was happy but a little disappointed; like when you go to the doctor and he says you are just fine. Dang!


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## Frankieallen (Jul 12, 2015)

I was talking to a guy at the local bee store. I asked him if all hives have mites he said Yes and I needed to do sugar shake. So I did and didn't find any so I figured I was either crazy or I had a magic hive lol.


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Frankieallen said:


> I was talking to a guy at the local bee store. I asked him if all hives have mites he said Yes and I needed to do sugar shake. So I did and didn't find any so I figured I was either crazy or I had a magic hive lol.


I think you'll find that the "sugar shake" is not as reliable as led to believe. It seems the only ones that fall off in a SS are those that are dying or have yet to get a good grip on the mites. Ether roll or OAV will "show you the mites."


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

You did use powdered sugar, didn't you? Did you shake the jar like ringing a hand bell vigorously for at least one minute? Did you then dump the contents onto a plate or a hive cover? Just checking to see if you did everything correctly.

How did you collect the bees into the jar? Where did you collect them from? Off of the face of a capped brood comb?


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## Frankieallen (Jul 12, 2015)

I opened the hive and took the frame that had the most bees on a full capped broad frame. I brushed the bees off into a glass bowl. Used a 1/2 measuring cup. Put bees into a jar with screen lid. Put in a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar. Shook like a bell for atleast a minute maybe more. Let it sit for almost 10 min. Shook sugar out onto a white plate. Let bees go and sprayed water onto plate and dumped remaining sugar onto plate. Nothing found floating.


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## larryh (Jul 28, 2014)

I just recently did the sugar shake for the first time. 
I thought you were supposed to: coat the bees in the jar by rolling them in the sugar, then let it set for a few minutes, THEN do the prolonged shake to get the mites out. In mine, it took a lot of shaking before any mites showed up. I may be misinterpreting your post, but it sounds like you didn't shake much when you dumped the sugar.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Frankieallen said:


> I opened the hive and took the frame that had the most bees on a full capped broad frame. I brushed the bees off into a glass bowl. Used a 1/2 measuring cup. Put bees into a jar with screen lid. Put in a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar. Shook like a bell for atleast a minute maybe more. Let it sit for almost 10 min. Shook sugar out onto a white plate. Let bees go and sprayed water onto plate and dumped remaining sugar onto plate. Nothing found floating.


!! Bee Happy !! You have a hive either with no mites or so few mites they didn't show up in your test. Test again if it will make you feel better. But I wouldn't bother. Good News. Accept it.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

The OP does state this is his first hive. If it was started from a package you probably aren't going to find many phoretic mites with any type of testing the first half of the summer. I would guess that a month to 6 weeks from now results will be quite different. I never pay much attention to mite counts early in the summer because there aren't usually enough to give any meaningful results.


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## oakhillsmq (Jun 22, 2015)

I need opinions on best way to monitor for mites. I purchased a screen bottom with the ides that I would spray the bottom with PAM and catch mites that way. I spoke to a beekeeper who told me not to bother doing that just use screen and nothing else because mites will fall off bees through screen and won't be able to climb up. I was told by someone else that since my bees are only in my hive a few weeks... I should not worry about mites. I read that could dust the bees with confectionery sugar, they clean each other off and mites taken off that way. A local vendor is selling a kit for $18 for everything you need with instructions to do a sugar roll test... but, from earlier postings it sounds like I don't need a kit. Who is right? Opinions?


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

oakhillsmq said:


> I spoke to a beekeeper who told me not to bother doing that just use screen and nothing else because mites will fall off bees through screen and won't be able to climb up.


If varroa mites were that stupid they would not have survived to the present epoch.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

oakhillsmq said:


> I need opinions on best way to monitor for mites. I purchased a screen bottom with the ides that I would spray the bottom with PAM and catch mites that way. I spoke to a beekeeper who told me not to bother doing that just use screen and nothing else because mites will fall off bees through screen and won't be able to climb up. I was told by someone else that since my bees are only in my hive a few weeks... I should not worry about mites. I read that could dust the bees with confectionery sugar, they clean each other off and mites taken off that way. A local vendor is selling a kit for $18 for everything you need with instructions to do a sugar roll test... but, from earlier postings it sounds like I don't need a kit. Who is right? Opinions?


Find a basic beekeeping class and take it. Find some books to read and read them. There is no one right way to keep bees, most of the time. What you want to know and need to know can fill volumes. Others will give you advice. I don't know where to start.


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## Frankieallen (Jul 12, 2015)

I signed up for a 7 week beekeeping class last week. It starts July 30. It is hands on as well as book. They said that we will have hands on doing the different ways to check mite levels. I am really looking forward to this class. We have the option to take the beekeeping exam after we take the course.


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## oakhillsmq (Jun 22, 2015)

thanks. I will look into more books and some classes.


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## Arnie (Jan 30, 2014)

I followed the instructions on this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvWfGMvy_zs


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## dsegrest (May 15, 2014)

Frankieallen said:


> Ok will do. I have a screen bottom board so I will do the sticky board method next time.
> 
> Thanks for the quick responses and great info


The sticky board is pretty unreliable; but if you get nothing there you have the rare hive with no mites.


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