Great Video. Thanks for having the good sense to share this. this is so true for many beekeepers. I liked the way to say it may have robbed out a "nest in a tree"!! Yea, dont you mean something else??

Do not be embarrassed for this count, you are showing excellent beekeeping practices. Those who should be ashamed are who say they don't have a mite problem but never test and never treat, because "It's natural".

Thank you Kamon and Laurel for putting yourselves out there! I'm a 4th year beekeeper and the amount of mixed messages on mite treatments I get from more experienced beekeepers is overwhelming! The latest I was told was OA treatments don't work and is dated info. Very frustrating and makes the learning curve for beginners that much harder. The info you put out is very methodical and much appreciated!

I just did a check of my biggest hive and got 49 mites out of 300 bees. Two swarm hives I have had two and four mites. Check all your hives!

Excellent lesson. Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

Nicely done you gotta keep watching right to the end guys.

Wow! That's crazy, and you take good care of your bees. I never thought of only testing the nurse bees, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks Kamon!

Wow! This was an awesome video. I am sorry you have to deal with it but it is an amazing learning opportunity for us! I look forward to seeing how the treatment goes.

Wow! I counted uperwards of 60 mites. That would be an average of 5 mites per bee. We definitely need to watch our hives closely. Thanks for letting us see just how bad a hive can get.

I had one like that and took a pic of the inspection board after every OAV treatment , never counted all the mites but I show all the new beekeepers what kills the bees .

This spring Apivar didn’t do a thing on mite control in my colonies. I had it on my packages after they were established. ( I missed the window to do an oxalic acid dribble). This is why as you’ve said to re-check your mite levels after treatments. I now have apiguard on my hives. The state was out inspecting on August 2 and had the same results. As we went through the apiaries is when the treatment was put on. I’ll do the second treatment and then re-check the levels. Please listen to Kamon and the other professionals and manage your colonies. It’ll save everyone time, money, frustration, and your bees. Our other big problem in my area are the ‘natural’ beekeepers or the treatment free bee havers. I get hit in the fall with mite loads often known as mite bombs and this causes all kinds of problems. Please listen to

When you get that many mites, tap the mites into the corner of the jar. GENTLY pour off the liquid and measure the mites by the teaspoon full. For example, 1.5 teaspoons per three hundred bees.

Based on the mite load, would you hold off introducing the new queen until you're done with the vapor treatment?

Thanks for the video. Mites untreated is a dead hive waiting to happen. I just finished 3 treatment cycle of apiguard. Time to see if/how it worked.

I got a similar mite level at one of My hives. I removed All the brood and spraye alle bees with a 10% lactic acid mixture. And did the same the next day. That took care of the problem, then i will give them an oxsalic treatmen between Christmas and newyear when there is no, to little brood. That should kill minimum 95% of the mites

Did a treatment of Apiguard after your video with that product. Approaching end of week, only have 2 hive and one had a much bigger drop than the other. The one with the bigger drop has a new queen, not sure if they swarmed as the number of bees don't seem that much less, but who knows. It's been about a week I think since the replacement, not seeing much brood so not sure if the queen is mated and laying yet, found her on a full honey frame in the brood box with not much attention being paid to her. Thanks for the videos it sure helps this newbee understand how this all works without repeating others failings.

Ausome information and treatment techniques 🐝🐝🐝thanks brother

wow that is a high count. Hive is still strong, take credit where it is do. Wouldn't be alive if it wasn't strong.

Love the last 5 seconds of this video. :-) The rest of it was great as well.

Just like to say Thank You for your videos. I don't have bees found and subscribed to your channel while doing my research and I feel your content is excellent... definitely giving me clear understanding into what it is going to take to be successful in this hobby. Looking forward to learn how you overcome this challenge.

Kamon this is a good video. Please do follow ups on this hive regularly on KZfaq whether it either overcomes or fails? This will be a GREAT educational series if you are willing? Thanks, Phillip Hall

Holy sheep and goats! I'm going to test my hives now!!

Well I guess I need to test them, I was just going to treat and not test, but you brought up some good points.

very good video. need to look at mine now. we are in tarweed bloom but low broad.

Thank you for this video and all of your videos for that matter. I'll admit it that I first started watching your videos because I liked to laugh at your "down home southern charm." Seriously you look and sound like Opie Taylor grew up and became a beek. But in fact, you have proven to be a great source of knowledge and your videos present a lot of information in a very enjoyable way! The real and refreshing shocker is that you shatter the stereotype of the southern, good ole boy beekeeper. You are clearly intelligent and capable. Keep up the good work!

Great video! Couple years ago I had 30 mites/half cup using sugar roll. None of my hives were previously treated. Performed three oxalic acid sublimations in 3 weeks. Haven't seen but two mites since last October. Curious why you plan to treat 5 times. Also, someone is adding a third "R" to Varroa. That someone creates some good beekeeping videos. Sorry, it's the previous career coming out. I'm sure I've misspelled word in the comment, so don't take it too serious. Guessing you prefer the old veil to the new one.

Just noticed the bug noise. Cicadas? Up here in Illinois we have two varieties. One is large and green. Sounds like weeeeuhhh weeeeuhhh trails off... kind of nice. The little red ones go click click click by the thousands and drive a guy crazy. I'm so glad the red ones don't come around here but east, west, and south...oh boy they're thick..

Thanks for sharing.

Wow, just Wow.

dang that a lot of mites... treat treat treat

Wow .. going to be huge mite drop

Try dusting with suger. It stimulates them to groom one another getting rid of mites.

Wow, Let us know the out come. When will you introduce the queen? that is going to cause so strategy issues given the mite load.

Great video keep them coming. Insect fogger didn't work for me wouldn't recommend it.

We had a 49 mite count in one of our colonies this year (16.3%). treated with Randy Olivers OA shop towel method. re checked after 6 weeks and that colony was down to 1 mite! we have about 28 hives and we got a kill rate of 80-99%. just wondered if you have tried this method? seems easier than vapor application every 3 or 4 days for a few weeks? we are from central california so don't have much of a brood break during the year. Usually very mild winters, no snow where we live. Love your videos!

I realize this was almost a year ago but here's another thing to do if the queen is still good but the hive is infested. Treat first with apiguard, to shut the queen down. Then 10 later hit with a follow-up treatment of choice

Wait....wait...what was the count? I know it was over, but what was it over??? I knew this beekeeper (she was funny), she put each mite in a line of 10 and counted each one. Her end count was something insane like 168 total mites total/half cup. The adjacent hive had a mite count of zero. & it was zero, she tested the adjacent hive 6 times with different methods and several of those were alcohol (she was a real beekeeper, a master beekeeper). She ended up saving the really badly infested hive with a formic acid treatment. They also requeened themselves. But please tell us how many mites were in that tub + the mites/100 count.

New record smashing the old one

That beehive reminds of Alabama's defense...

When was this colony last treated and how was it treated? Did you do a follow up mite count after treatment to confirm that the treatment worked? Trying to understand how quickly the numbers increased.

Requeen is important as the old girl did not show resistance. How do you manage drift within your yard if you suspect a hive like this?

Oh my that's scary! I've been treating mine with OA...3rd treatment coming up!

What is the alcohol that is used? I don’t want a vodka treatment, keep that for Friday nights! Is this just rubbing alcohol? Love your videos and the passion. Good work all around

Good vid. WOW

Wow !

Hi Kamon, I’d be interested in seeing how this colony that has the insane mite load bulked up for winter if you have time. Were your treatments effective sufficient for them to get strong & healthy enough going into winter?

Wow 😮 😲

I just got 2 colonies from a bee yard not too far from me, and one was fine but the other was infested similar to yours, I just did my 4th treatment, and the mites are still dropping like crazy. Do you think it's genetics? If so should I try to re-queen now (in California where the flow is still on for another month or so), or wait till spring and do it then? Or see if 5 treatments will make this hive thrive next year. The brood pattern has gotten much better since the treatments started.

Now I don't feel so bad, I have the same Varro checker., 14 mites, but,but ,,,I filled the basket full of bees,,, so how bad was the mites in this hive?😎😎😎

OMG

Thanks for the video. Would you please add the mite count to the description? After reading & reading comments, could not find it. Looked to me to be upwards of 25%? Did anyone else see Kamon's count?

Did you eliminate totally that infected brood frames and then treat with OA vaporizations?

How embarrassments. In Australia we don’t have these mites yet ( touch wood). But we do have beetle problems.

👀 👀👀 ya that’s a mite problem

Another excellent tutorial, thanks Kamon. As an alternative to an alcohol wash, what are your views on the CO2 method of assessing Varoa levels? If it's accurate, I'd be interested in trying it as it doesn't kill the bees. Stuart

It happens when I do it and done shaking I strain out alcohol thru an old white T shirt and separate bees from mites so easier for me to count.Question if you took a half cup of bees not containing to many nurse bees would you still find some mites ?

Kaymon, have you ever used vinegar?

Very interesting, what alcohol do you use?

Buzz buzz

wow, did you ever get this colony back or did it collapse?

I have never seen a varroa mite in any of my 450 hives

When do you suggest we treat if we have honey supers on? Do we remove them, treat (I have a vaporizer) then put super back on? Or wait til fall flow is over and supers are off and treat weekly for a few weeks then? Thank you!

How do you feel about Mite-Away-Quick Strips (other than the cost)? I vaporized in Spring and now put the Quick-Strips in August.

Wow. Interesting video. Curious...are certain months the mites going to be bigger than others? (Is it possible its high from a temperature/time of year spike?) Do you think the mite problems in recent years is partly related to the fact that humans put the hives close together (because of something called mortgages) and that if this weren't the case there'd be no mite problems? Does it matter what kind of alcohol you used? Would any cheap alcohol work?

Are you treating every 7 days for 5 weeks?

Great video. Thanks! I had 1 colony like this in july. Vape them suckers!

I'm wondering, why do beeks treat on a 21 day cycle when drones are on a 24 day development cycle? Varroa prefer drone cells. When I treat, I do an OAV one week + one day apart to reach that 24 days so as to get those little buggers when the drones emerge. Does anyone else use this method or is my thinking flawed?

Have similar problem - 4 weeks ago, did a wash and had mite count of 7 per 100. Started Oxalic Vapor treatment. After 3 treatments (7days apart) mite load is up to 15 per 100 (similar to your results). WTH! I’m starting Vapor treatment again in hopes of avoiding a colony collapse. Am I wasting my time ? Is this a “Dead Bees Walking” hive?

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

I guess I just messed up with the fb sign up. Do I cancel the sign up or something else. I read the rules after my mess up. But I still can't get back to the sign up page.

Kamon, did you do the provape and how well did the mite kill end up?!?!? I’m tying to figure out what all I need to buy cause I just seen a mite on a bee!!

Wooooof! Are they bad genes for hygiene or amazing genes for tolerance?

A test of your mite treatments is a good use for that colony. Otherwise I'd seriously consider freezing all the comb and toasting the box. What if the spotty pattern was caused by viruses killing the pupae instead of a failing queen? What's the value of a few pounds of summer bees and a couple frames of brood during a dearth anyway? Come to think of it, I haven't seen a beekeeper video of how to kill off a colony safely, quickly and thoroughly. Near Africanized bee territory, that would be a useful thing to know.

Why not the bee-friendly sugar-shake varroa count instead of the alcohol-kill-them-all count? Thanks for the vid!

I have a question, where do the mites come from? And I hope you can kill them for the sake of the bees. Thanks for for showing how to check for them!

no gloves your nuts

how did a professional or commercial bee keeper let their hives get so bad?