Varrocheck
To ensure the health of your honey bee colonies, it is essential to regularly monitor and check varroa mite levels. There are a number of ways of testing and counting varroa mite but one of the quickest, accurate and easy ways is to use the VarroCheck recently launched by Vita (one of my sponsors).
How to use
You put diluted alcohol into the test bottle, choose two or three frames from the centre of the brood area, shake the bees into a large tub, scoop a full measure of nurse bees and put them in the bottle, clipping it shut. You shake the bottle to wet the bees and euthanase any varroa mites and count the varroa mites. You then do a quick calculation to work out the percentage infestation level.
There are a lot more details here.
How much does it cost
At the time of writing it cost less than £20 in the UK and less than $20 in the USA.
Happy beekeeping!
For further information, please see my guide to Varroa Management.
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