Mite Tests

[Sung Lee]

There are two types of test for mites. Powder Sugar Roll Test  and Alcohol Wash Test now Dawn dish soap is getting popular. 

I have done many comparisons between the two methods for accuracy of mite count. Alcohol Wash is known for accuracy by deeping the bees in the solution end up killing all the bees. Verses sugar roll test is after shake powder sugar then dump the sugar coated white bees back into the hive. 

What I did was first half cup of bees for sugar roll test. Shake the bees.  Then put these bees into alcohol bottle. Time after time I have gotten zero to one mite more from alcohol wash.  But Sugar roll test has little more detail on how to. How many times to shake and how hard.

About 4 years ago when Randy Oliver doing afternoon session at my place we did comparisons between the two. We decided to shake 100 times. We got 14 mites. Then put them in alcohol jar.  We got just one more mite. 

Now the question is that is accurate enough to know how mite infestations are? 

Also how to shake is another factor that doesn't kill the bees but get all the mites out of the jar.

Shake just enough to get the powder sugar out. I have not seen dead bees after the tests in front of the hive nor carrying them  dead bodies out.

To my conclusion is it doesn'tmatterwhich to use. Also I am not a commercial beekeeper that I don't need exact number. 

But I insist one must do the test by either method to see about mite infestation. By sacrificing 300 bees saving 20k bees? Yes it is worth it. Now you know 

then

Treatment is another task. 

 For me, I have  I.P.M. in place over 100 hives that I have not lost single hive by mites past 5 years. 

Sung Lee The Bee Charmer

[Maryly Snow]

Thank you Sung for this excellent test! I have long said that I don’t want to play God by randomly selecting 300 bees to kill in an alcohol wash.

Maryly Snow

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[Gerald Przybylski]

In case anyone missed it from 7/19, comparing "shaking" to "SHAKING"

To avoid the kind of SHAKING (that damages bees),  I do sugar-roll  this way: 
• First, I  roll the jar to thoroughly coat the bees in powder sugar (about half a minute),   
 then allow the jar to REST (in the shade) for a minute or two.  (be consistent with technique and timings)
• With one hand I hold the jar above my white plate with the Bottom UP - With the Other hand I strike the Bottom of the jar. 
The jar accelerates downward.  The bees are weightless for a tick, then they bounce off the screen on the Recoil of the jar. 
The bees lift off the screen and the powder sugar and mites fall through.
The bees fall back onto the screen with reduced impact!   
• One Hundred Strikes to the bottom of the jar, and I'm done. 
• When I pour the powder sugar coated bees onto the top bars they all scurry down between the frames.  
I don't see dead  sugar-coated bees on top of the frames, nor are any being thrown out later. 

- I did a check on this "technique"  a couple of times to see if any mites were left clinging to the bees.  
I dumped those bees into the soap solution and swirled. 
No more mites fell out.   
-  If you do sugar shakes, every once in a while you should Check Your Technique by doing a solvent or detergent wash on the bees you sugar-rolled. 
Pick a sample that yielded a lot of mites for a better chance at getting any that clung tight or didn't shake loose.

If you SHAKE by accelerating the bees into the screen (slam shaking), 
it is much more likely  bees will be damaged, 
or induced to regurgitate - which is what makes for the wet, sticky mess Jennifer mentioned. 

That's my 2¢

Let's look at two cases as comments on Sung's post. 
A -  Suppose the sugar roll yielded 15 mites, and following it with 'solvent' wash yielded one more mite. 
IMO this is nothing much to worry about since it's ~7% of the number of mites shaken out.  
If the wash yielded 5 more mites, then the sugar roll technique had a big problem.  Like, not enough sugar, or not enough roll, or not a long enough wait, or too little 'shaking' 
B - Suppose the sugar roll produced 3 or fewer mites, and following up with a solvent wash produced another mite.  
IMO still not a problem since the TOTAL of the two shakes is below threshold.  
IMO if the wash following the sugar roll consistently yields one or more mites then
a) either stick with ONLY the solvent wash, or
b) Try to improve the sugar roll technique until the solvent wash checks yield 1 or fewer mites most of the time. 

To all who were bored by this, - good!  You've got it. 
I assume there are new beeks reading it who are still trying to work on their game so a summary like the above might be useful. 
a) develop a good technique
b) get good at doing it the same way every time so the results are meaningful and not random. 
c) look for trends.  Are things stable or growing? Does the time of year matter, or the weather recently? Is forage (dearth) a factor?  
This "system" has many inputs and they're often interdependent, and we don't know what all the inputs are.   
We can get to comfort in beekeeping, but not to certainty!!!

happy beekeeping

[Maryly Snow]

I have never seen dead bees while doing or after doing a sugar roll test.

I just drop the 1/2 cup of bees into the powered sugar. Oh! I like to fluff up

the sugar before hte test starts. Sometimes I have sifted the sugar. in advance.

But most times I just fluff it up with a spoon before adding the bees. I shake

60+ times, put the jar in the shade, wait 5 minutes. Then shake the sugar and the 

mites out into a pan. Once the sugar is out, I remove the lid, and gently tilt the jar of the

sugar coated bees onto the top of the inner cover. This is text book. My bee buddy Charles

confirms that we haven’t seen dead bees from doing this test. 

Maryly

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[Jim Veitch]

There is some technique to get the sugar shake mite test right.  I had been doing sugar shake and Jennifer Radtke corrected my technique and my mite counts were about 1/3 low.  I wasn't shaking quite hard enough.  So spot checking with a detergent wash if you have never checked it yourself would be a good idea. Or having your technique watched by someone who has checked their own technique with mite washes.

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