BH-79 – Varroa tester

Testing can be done in three ways – with an alcohol-based liquid, with powdered sugar, and with CO2.

Using the varroa tester with an alcohol-based liquid:

The varroa tester consists of three parts: a clear plastic cup, a white basket with holes, and a tight-fitting lid.

Step 1) Pour enough liquid (rubbing alcohol, vodka or alcohol-based winter windshield washer fluid) into the cup to cover the bottom of the white basket.

Step 2) Take a bee sample. The white basket has two lines on its inner surface between the rows of holes. 300 bees are needed to fill the basket to the upper line; 200 bees to fill it to the lower line. Insert the white perforated basket into the plastic cup and fill the perforated basket with bees (moving the basket carefully), as shown in the photo (for best results, fill it to the upper line, i.e. approx. 300 bees).

P.S. Be careful – do not include the queen with the test bees when taking the sample

Step 3) Close the lid and shake the cup with vertical movements for 60 seconds (do not turn the lid side downwards while shaking, so that mites do not get caught in the gaps on the lid side, which would give an inaccurate result when counting).

Step 4) Counting – after shaking, lift the whole tester up (without removing the lid) so that you can count the mites settled on the bottom of the cup (the clear cup makes counting mites easy, so there is no need to remove the lid).

P.S. – After the procedure is complete, the test liquid can be reused multiple times.

Step 5) Result – to calculate the percentage of varroa infestation, divide the number of varroa mites counted in the tester by 3 (if 300 bees were sampled) or by 2 (if 200 bees were sampled) – the resulting number gives the hive infestation percentage / or the number of varroa mites per 100 bees.

For example: if 5 varroa mites are found in 300 bees, the infestation rate is 5/3 = 1.66%, i.e. there are 1.66 varroa mites per 100 bees

P.S. These instructions are based on the VetoPharma website

Click here to watch the video instructions for testing with an alcohol-based liquid

Click here to watch the video instructions for testing with powdered sugar

Click here to watch the video instructions for CO2 testing