Either an ether roll or a sugar shake will work equally well:

http://www.coloss.org/beebook/II/varroa/4/2/3/1/2/1
Powdered sugar

http://www.coloss.org/beebook/II/varroa/4/2/3/1/2/2
Ether roll

http://www.coloss.org/beebook/II/varroa/4/2/3/1/2/4
Assessing the efficiency of dislodging method

The differences in the number of mites "found" by each approach is only a
concern to beekeepers who still believe in the fallacy of a "threshold".   A
single measurement of a hive's varroa population lacks context, and has no
meaning at all, as it should be clear that not all colonies have equal bee
populations or broodnest sizes.  

If one takes two or more measurements, they can be compared, to tell the
beekeeper which hives have significant increases and which hives have
insignificant increases.  A hive where the varroa population has started to
"go exponential" needs treatment.  One with only a small (linear) increase
over the last measurement needs no treatment.

But even the simple principals above are "too much" for many beekeepers, so
they treat everything on a schedule that is driven by their own activities,
rather than the population dynamics of the bees and the varroa.

Or, they don't monitor, they don't treat, and their hives become dying
public nuisances in fall, when bees from healthy (treated) colonies rob them
out, and re-infest their own hives in the process.

And so we have resistant mites, and nearly 30 years later, we still have the
same level of problem.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html