Apivar vs. Hopguard vs. Formic vs OAV Sample Results.

Using the bees gathered in previous video demonstrating the 3-D printed Bee Sampler I compare mite loads in the 4 x 4 trial. The results are very interesting... and a little worrying. I also learn a bit more about effective sampling procedures.

[splenda]

Excellent and thorough video. This is exactly the information I came to the internet for today, and more. I will be using oxalic acid soon for the first time, hoping to find a video in your library showing how you do that. Thank you for the content!

[LeesBeesMB]

My goodness that is a head scratcher! Really makes you think about sampling procedures and actual mite levels in these hives. Thank you for the deep dive into this mite nightmare.

[KajunHomestead]

That’s some great info, thanks for all you do to help other beekeepers

[GEEZBEEZ]

Enjoyed the video. I found that OAV and Apivar worked well for me so far this past year. Thanks for the information. Take care.

[tritonewr]

Randy Oliver’s tested a few different mite wash solutions and settled on clear dawn dish soap. I tried it last year, . It really worked well. I didn’t do multiple washes like you did so… but maybe it’s supposed to work just fine with just one rinse through. I’ll have to try at least double wash and see myself. Thanks for the follow ups!

[stuffnsuch]

I'd be interested in seeing what the chances of actually getting the 6 percent affected bees in a random bee rub..

[Beehivesto]

The wash jar you have is to small. Use a large peanut butter jar. It keeps the bees lose and helps the fall of mites.
Keep up the good work. 👍🏻👍🏻

[russellkoopman]

Phil, very interesting. I agree with the comments below that you were probably vacuuming dead mites from the floor but it still means that there is more mites in the Hopguard compared to the others.
My take away from your video:
1). A tall skinny bottle is not good to do a shake in. I would test an Easy Check with the tumbler against your jars. Maybe the small jars would work if you only sampled a hundred bees at a time.
2). This is winter and your bees probably don't have much brood so the mites are all on the bees. When bees have sheets of brood 80% of the mites would be under the cappings. The reduction of 80% would give a mite wash of 2% on the 3 treatments and a 7% mites on the Hopguard. Not bad actually considering you were vacuuming some dead mites off the floor.
3). I am surprised that the OAV performed that well. When and how many times did you use OA as your treatment?
If you get a warm day in the shed and the bees start to beard up on the outside of the hive, that maybe a good time to take samples avoiding vacuuming up dead mites.
Thanks for the video. I plan to use 1 Tablespoon of Dawn Ultra/gal of water and with my Easy Check run the sample twice to see if I 'm missing mites also.

[patrickwalther]

Hi Phil, three things you could improve, or at least I would do them differently... ;-)
First, use 70% isopropyl alcohol so it stays clear and the mites are very heavy in alcohol then they sediment faster and you can count them better. (we did bad with all other products...)
Secondly, to define the number of bees, you could pour 1/2 inch of isopropyl in your bee aspirator, so they will die from the vapors after that you can estimate them by volume 300 bees/ 1/2 cup.
Third, i would build a mite-washer like Randy Oliver did...., since we started using these machines, we do thousands of washes per season, that improved our queen selection by far! All other washing application don`t do a good job! double jars, Varroa easy check its never that accurate, they never give a safe number! Mite counts are our life insurance!!! That would be a nice Arduino or Raspberry Pi project for your son!!! :-) did you check the nebulizers???
Pat
😵‍💫

[robertstwalley]

Thanks for sharing the research, I am sure that took you alot of time before posting. One question if I may. You mark on your chart OAV, so I am I correct that you vaporize your Oxalic acid and not applying it in the dribble form?

[aCanadianBeekeepersBlog]

Take away, professional beekeepers take mite counts seriously and place a lot of rigger on tracking infections.
Count your mites, track your treatments

[MinnesotaBeekeeper]

How would you know, test the Apivar to find out if the chemicals were good and not another defective batch?

[toddhorting]

You had to have gotten a lot of those mite off the bottom board. There is no way your bees should be alive with that mite infestation. You vacuumed up a lot of wax cappings and I think dead mites came up with them. It was a cool test, but I am waiting who comes out alive in the spring. You should sample one of your normal hive and see what that sample has with your bee sucker. I have a hypotheses that you are having a sampling error, not that your bees are misrepresenting but that your getting dead mites of the bottom board.

That made me sick watching you count all those mites, you are a much better beekeeper than that and those treatments should have beat the mites back better. Am I wrong and the mites are concentrating down on the bees left in the winter? 36% should have killed the bees long ago, but you did say those hive were weaker I think.