# What is an alcohol wash and a sugar roll ?



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Powdered Sugar roll:
http://entomology.unl.edu/beekpg/tidings/btid2000/btdjan00.htm#Article2
Other methods (including ether etc.):
http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/444/444-103/444-103_pdf.pdf


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## adamf (Jan 28, 2006)

WWW said:


> Please forgive my ignorance but can anyone tell me what these procedures are and how you go about implementing them.


Here are results and cost breakdown of the alcohol wash test. Some perform it slightly different, but the general procedure is the same.

http://www.vpqueenbees.com/awa/FNE08-631_final.pdf

Adam Finkelstein
www.vpqueenbees.com


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## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

Thank you Mike and Adam for educating me, very much appreciated.


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## ShaneVBS (Aug 22, 2011)

sticky board is an easier way unless you have a large amount of hives, you get a more accurate test, slide in and wait then count,


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## WWW (Feb 6, 2011)

shane, thanks , this sticky board will most likely be my method of choice.


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## wildbeekeeper (Jul 3, 2010)

ShaneVBS said:


> sticky board is an easier way unless you have a large amount of hives, you get a more accurate test, slide in and wait then count,


Actually, I believe that Randy Oliver (www.scientificbeekeeping.com) showed that an alcohol wash gives you the most accurate assessment of mites in your hive. He discusses it in length on his website.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

Another good one from Marla Spivak
http://www.extension.umn.edu/honeybees/components/pdfs/posters/varroamites_155.pdf


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## ShaneVBS (Aug 22, 2011)

my state inspector must be full of it then, I do agree its easier for a beginner not to mention its less stressfull on your bees and doesnt interrupt cycle. Brushys screen bboards are the best for this, slide tray in from back unders screen. DOnt even need protection, Ill be done by the time you suit up and open hive.


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## peacekeeperapiaries (Jun 23, 2009)

after having tried every method imaginable...alcohol wash is the most accurate method.


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## ShaneVBS (Aug 22, 2011)

This a quote from above site (www.scientificbeekeeping.com)

Stickyboards are generally the most accurate and consistent method of estimating the total mite population, since they monitor the entire colony, rather than just a sample of the bees.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Just a tray and having an idea what the numbers have been and checking it periodically will give you a pretty good indication of the trend, which is more useful than a number. I just can't see why I would want to kill a cupful of bees from each hive every time I check. I have no doubt that killing the entire cupful of bees and mites will give me a slightly more accurate number than powdered sugar will dislodge, but if you are consistent in your methods you should get useful numbers either way and with the sugar roll you don't have to kill bees. The same with a tray or a sticky board. If you're consistent you will see if the numbers are skyrocketing and you don't have to kill bees.

You can also pull out some drone brood. Personally when I was counting, I would look at the trays AND uncap some drone. When I was having trouble finding any to Varroa count I gave it up.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

ShaneVBS said:


> Stickyboards are generally the most accurate and consistent method of estimating the total mite population, since they monitor the entire colony, rather than just a sample of the bees.


I'm not sure that I enitirely agree with Randy O on this. Maybe the 'total mite population' but not necessarily the relative infestation level.
Consider this. You have one hive with a population of 40,000+ bees and your 24 hour mite drop count is 60. On the other hand you have a hive with 15,000 bees…it swarmed and is only now beginning to rebound….and your drop is 40. Which is the most severely infested? If you set your treatment count at 50, what is the result?
Mite drop is better than nothing but should take into consideration the whole picture if you want it to be meaningful.


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

sticky boards are only accurate if it is done on a regular basis..every three weeks...every brood cycle. It should also encompass 15% of your bee hives, with some strong, some weak, and some in between. Sticky boards are only a snap shot. They do not give pic unless done with each brood cycle. Then you can see where your hive was where it is, and guess where it will be

This gets mitey (pardon the pun) expensive and time consuming. 

The alcohol wash is the most accurate and is easy to do when doing brood inspections. When i say accurate it is because you see where the hive is at. Other notes are taken. Also the accuracy is given in a percentage of mites. Since we know that mites double with each brood cycle, it gives us a reference point of where the mites will be during critical times of the season. Something you do not get with stickies. This type of inspection only needs to be done 2x a year i find. Spring and before the fall. The rest of the season i use the scratching fork to pull out drones to check the hive. This is the least accurate, but if i find mites then i know to dig deeper. If there is a problem then a wash is done on the problem hive.
Cheap, easy, accurate, and the ability to predict where the mites will be at a specific time of year.
The only draw back to this test i find is, it is relative the to brood cycle. So, if your test is at the end of the brood cycle, your doubling happens sooner. Once you are aware of this fact, then it is not a problem.

This year i tested with stickies because it was close to the fall. I had no time to enter the hives and do a count. However i followed up with the wash two weeks later. I was lucky, both tests were the same. However in the spring i have done the same, both with different results. It depends on what the hive is doing.

Beemandan makes a valid point when it comes to the stick board count and it's accuracy.


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

Here is the entire quote from Randy Oliver

Stickyboards are generally the most accurate and consistent method of estimating the total mite population, since they monitor the entire colony, rather than just a sample of the bees. They are used to estimate the total mite population by catching the natural fall (drop) of (live and dead) mites from the bees. The natural fall is assumed to be a proportion of the total population. Therein lies the rub: the proportion of mites that fall each day depends upon whether the colony is broodless, beginning broodrearing, broodrearing in earnest, or shutting down broodrearing. According to Martin (1998), one can estimate the total mite population by multiplying the daily drop by 250-500 when the colony is broodless, or by 20-40 when brood is present. Other authors come up with a spectrum of different conversion factors. Luckily, you don’t really need to know the total mite population—you only need to know if the natural daily drop indicates that the mites are at a “tolerable” level on their growth curve. Note that stickyboard readings can be wildly inaccurate at the beginning or ending of broodrearing, as mites “transition” from the adult bees to brood, or vice versa. Stickies are the best sampling method during normal broodrearing periods while brood is emerging

Maybe should read the entire aritcle as it gives the pros and cons of each method


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## peacekeeperapiaries (Jun 23, 2009)

Last year (late summer) my dad and I used several tests to see which was actually most accurate and least time consuming. Sticky board, sticky board w/powdered sugar, check drone brood, alcohol roll. After checking a bunch of drone brood and sticky boards we went back and alcohol rolled the hives we had checked with the other methods. I'm glad we did it this way because the sticky boards did not give us anywhere near an accurate mite count. Based on the sticky boards I would not have treated....alcohol roll proved the loads were much higher and I'm sure we saved some colonies from disaster and had a great spring orange flow. We found that pulling drone brood was the least accurate, in fact in some hives we saw very few mites on drone brood....but the alcohol roll showed significant mite loads in those same hives. As a side note the alcohol roll was the most time efficient method for us also.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

I've heard Randy speak several times, he does say that you have to have an idea how many bees are in the hive to figure infestation levels when using the stick board method. 
The 300 be sample is the best way to figure % infestation. Or if you want to compare notes with some of the universities, the 300 bee sample is the method most of them use.

Randy is working on an excel spreadsheet for the 300 bee sample, that has variables for you're climate, & thresholds for different times of year. It will be available from his website when he finishes tweaking it.

I just put in the white board, powder sugar my bees, than count about 10-15 minutes later. That gives me an idea of whats going on. Not very scientific but gives me the info I need.


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## ShaneVBS (Aug 22, 2011)

how do you guys get equal amounts of worker and nurse bees. I know nurse bees can have a higher number of mites than workers. And if your not carefull will give you an inaccurate readings, to many nurse bees and it will show you need to treat, to many workers and it may show you may not need to treat when you should.


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

The varroa tend to stick to the areas where there is a consentration of brood. This is the best place is to test....open uncapped brood. Just make sure your queen is not on that frame. It is here where the damage will begin and end. Most times, unless a problem is observed, we test when there is just the two brood boxes.
The idea is to cross sample from several hives, not just one, and a range of hives as well. So some strong, some weak and some in between.


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