Sugar roll test

[MLuskin]

I've been taught that the sugar roll test for varroa is humane, as compared to the alcohol wash which kills the bees. I recently read that it is in fact traumatic and finally kills the bees. What are your thoughts?

Merry Luskin, Oakland CA 

Reference librarian 

[Bees & Beeks]

Because I don’t have an automatic shaker and counting 100 turns is tedious I find alcohol wash much more humane.  For me at least, 1/4 of the white sugar powered bees end up dead right away and it does seem like another large portion are cleared from hive by the following day.  It’s not worth the hassle to save maybe 100 bees. In wash you can just spin about 25 times then let them sit ~10 min for mites to fall off before pouring out wash to count mites.  

Mimi 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 18, 2026, at 9:15 PM, 'MLuskin' via The Alameda County Beekeepers Association <the-alameda-county-b...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



I've been taught that the sugar roll test for varroa is humane, as compared to the alcohol wash which kills the bees. I recently read that it is in fact traumatic and finally kills the bees. What are your thoughts?

Merry Luskin, Oakland CA 

Reference librarian 

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[Catherine Edwards]

I came to the same conclusion that shaking bees in a sugar roll did them no favor. I  switched to alcohol wash, which kills the bees quickly and honestly instead of pretending they would survive.

Catherine Edwards

(510)421-7206

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[yolanda huang]

Does anyone use a sticky paper bottom board method to count for varroa mites?  I've watched some youtubes, where you just roll on some petroleum jelly onto your solid bottom board and they say leave it for 3 days.  Any comments on how well this works instead of either the sugar roll or alcohol wash?

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[Catherine Edwards]

This method has its uses in some research situations where the mite drop over a specific time can indicate how a test product works, for example. It is less accurate for our purposes, not to mention tediously time consuming.

Catherine Edwards

(510)421-7206

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[Jennifer Radtke]

The mite wash (alcohol or Dawn dish soap) and sugar roll test are both quantitative measures of mites.  They tell you how many mites per 1/2 cup of bees (300 bees).  It's very possible to do the sugar roll test without killing bees.  It's also 90-95% accurate if you shake hard.  

The thing that kills bees with the sugar roll is if the bees get sticky.  If you keep the bees dry, it removes mites and keeps them alive.  Randy Oliver did a test a few years ago and none of the sugar rolled bees were pulled out of the hive.  I see them getting half cleaned off in half an hour, and probably fully clean in 1-2 hrs.  To prevent stickiness, I use extra sugar (1/4 cup rather than 2 TBSPs) and keep the jar out of the sun.  Overheating can also kill bees/make them sticky.

The sugar roll test is maybe more tricky to get right, so get someone to show you it that has done it for years and kept their bees alive with it.  If you can do the mite wash (with Dawn or alcohol), that's a great way to monitor too.  A lot of beekeepers I teach cannot stomach killing bees in the mite wash, and prefer the sugar roll.  But figure out what works for you!

The mite drop is not quantitative, but does give you a general idea of mites in your hive.   One researcher found that it varied greatly by day and that it seemed to correlate with how much brood hatched out in the bottom box each day.  The more brood hatched out, the more mites drop.  I prefer to do the mite drop sor 24 hrs.  If you leave the sticky board in longer, there is a lot more debris on the bottom board and harder to separate out mites.  With a small 1-box hive, maybe 3 day wouldn't be too much debris, but with bigger hives, there is a lot.

Lastly, there was a study on the sugar roll test done last year with researchers that always use the alcohol wash (read: they don't know how to do the sugar roll test correctly).  Researcher Katie Lee, from Univ. of Minnesota, has been a big proponent of the sugar roll test for years and saw them speak.  She told me they really did a disservice to the sugar roll test.  The bees that were killed in their study died because they let the bees/sugar get sticky.   That's a sure way to kill bees.  Maybe the takeaway is that the sugar roll test is trickier to do.  

Hope this helps!   Take care, Jennifer

Jennifer Radtke

Learn from the Bees

[Deborah Insel]

On the bottom board mile counting . . . a question.  I check my sliding bottom boards at every inspection.  (They don’t have anything sticky on them or a grid pattern.  They’re just foam core boards.)  I always feel like it gives me general idea of how the hive is doing.  I usually find a few dead mites and a few live ants.  Not many of either.  I think I read somewhere that the ants carry away and eat the dead mites, making the bottom board count inaccurate.  Is it true that the ants carry off the mites?  How much can a bottom board count be relied on?

Deb

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[Maryly Snow]

Far be it from me to choose which 100 to 300 bees to kill in an alcohol wash - it’s too much like

playing God, IMHO. And I haven’t noticed my powdered sugar bees dying. I empty them out on 

top of frames on the top hive box and close up the hive. Nor have I noticed a pile of dead bees

on the ground the next day or two.

Please tell me where you read that it is, in fact, traumatic. And what constitutes “finally” in the

short life of a honey bee?

Maryly Snow

On Jul 18, 2026, at 9:15 PM, 'MLuskin' via The Alameda County Beekeepers Association <the-alameda-county-b...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

[Gerald Przybylski]

To avoid SHAKING,  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¢

ps. 
If you shake ZERO mites out of 300 bees in your sugar roll, assess the colony for other clues.  
Are the brood-frames perfect, or nearly so? 
Are there zero deformed wing bees?  
Is there bald-brood?  
Cleared out cells in the pupa frames?   
    i.e. indications of resistant traits. 
You Certainly have some mites even in a colony with zero counted, but  none of those mites on any of  Those 300 bees.     
When the number of mites you count is small, the relative error in the count is large.    
The error estimate is the square root of the number you counted. 
i.e. one mite. ± 1    or  nine mites ±3   -    see?   The difference between a 100% error and a 30 % error in the measurement.  

j

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[yolanda huang]

Gerald,

Could you shoot a short video of you doing your shake.  I'm not sure I'm getting all the details from just reading.  From what I'm reading, the goal is to get the mites to let go of the bees!  So I can totally get that the right technique is important.  A video would be super helpful - or if there's a video on youtube where you think it's a good technique, that would also be helpful!!!  

Yolanda

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[Gerald Przybylski]

It's easy enough. 
Hold the jar in one hand, and thump on the bottom of the jar with the other. 
The thump should make the jar move down an inch or two.  
I don't really do videos. 

What gets the mites off of the bees is the coating with powder sugar, and the minute or two of resting after rolling the bees. 
The shaking doesn't get the mites off the beers.   Really!!    The shaking DOES NOT get the mites OFF OF THE  beers.
The shaking gets the powder sugar and mites out of the jar onto the counting plate. 

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[gmau...@earthlink.net]

An inexpensive sticky board can be made of white coroplast (the back side of a used political campaign sign is perfect).  Marking the board with a black permanent maker in a 1 inch grid makes counting MUCH easier.  Smearing it with a very light coat of grease/oil before putting it in place keeps the mites from crawling off.  Vaseline works but food grade mineral oil could also work.  Clean up between counts is far easier and less messy if you wrap the board with saran wrap before coating.  Wrapping also help keep the board from getting stained by all the detritus that accumulates on it.