On 01/09/2012 20:17, allen wrote:
> I went out and did a sugar shake using two tablespoons of icing sugar 
> and leaving the bees sitting for a few minutes as Gary recommended.  I 
> then shook all the sugar through a screen onto a saucer and added 
> water.  I saw 17 varroa.
>
> The bees were taken off a frame with sealed brood in the middle and 
> brood being sealed around the outside.
>
> I then added alcohol to the same bees and did the Alberta Bee Shaker 
> thing and got an additional 21 varroa -- besides the first 17 that 
> were still in the saucer.
>
According to
Macedo, Paul A., Judy Y. Wu, and Marion Ellis. 2002. “Using Inert Dusts 
to Detect and Assess Varroa Infestations in Honey Bee Colonies.” 
/Journal of Apicultural Research/ 41 (1-2): 3–7.

icing sugar should dislodge more than 90% of mites from the bees.
I'm impressed from your results... of course it is only one colony but 
it is impressing how many mites were not dislodged.
We leave bees sitting for 1 minute and then we shake for 90 seconds 
(usually all mites fall in first 30 seconds). We haven't (yet) checked 
with alcohol how many mites are still on bees.
Anyone else had similar experiences?


-- 
Umberto Vesco
DVM, PhD
Italy


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