How to Do a Mite Wash: The 5-Minute Test That Saves Colonies

How to Do a Mite Wash: The 5-Minute Test That Saves Colonies

A mite wash is the single most useful thing a beekeeper can learn to do. It is the only way to know your varroa level before the damage shows, it takes about five minutes, and it turns "should I treat?" from a guess into a number. Here is the alcohol wash step by step, what the number means, and the mistakes that make the test lie to you.

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Why a Wash and Not Just Looking

Most of a colony's mites are under capped brood, and the ones on adult bees are tucked under the abdomen where you can't see them. A colony can be at collapse-level infestation and show you nothing on a frame inspection. The wash physically dislodges the mites from a known number of bees so you get a real percentage. Sticky boards and drone uncapping are useful supporting signals; the wash is the standard, and it's what the treatment thresholds are based on.

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What You Need

• A mite wash kit. We use the Easy-Check: a two-part cup with a mesh basket that holds the bees and lets the mites fall through.
• Rubbing alcohol (70% isopropyl), windshield washer fluid, or water with a squirt of dish soap. Alcohol is the most reliable.
• A half-cup measure, or use the fill line on the Easy-Check basket.
• A white tray or tub to shake bees into (optional but makes scooping easier).

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Step by Step

1. Find the queen and set her aside. Pull a frame of open brood from the center of the brood nest. Check both sides carefully for the queen. If she is on it, put that frame back and take the next one, or gently move her to another frame. You are about to kill 300 bees; make sure she isn't one of them.
2. Collect nurse bees. Mites concentrate on nurse bees around open brood, so this is the frame to sample. Shake or brush the bees into a tray, then scoop half a cup, about 300 bees, into the mesh basket. Or run the basket's lip down the frame to scoop bees directly.
3. Add the liquid. Pour in enough alcohol to fully cover the bees. Put the lid on.
4. Shake for 60 seconds. A firm, steady swirl and shake. Hard enough to dislodge mites, not so hard you're pulverizing bees. Sixty seconds, not ten; short shakes undercount.
5. Count the mites. Lift the basket out. The mites are in the liquid below; the bees stay in the mesh. Count every mite. Swirl and look again; they hide against the sides.
6. Do the math. Mites ÷ 3 = mites per 100 bees. Nine mites is 3 per 100. That is your number.
7. Write it down. Hive, date, count. A number is useful; a trend is what actually tells you when to act.

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What the Number Means

Those are the Honey Bee Health Coalition thresholds, and most of our customers treat at the lower end of each range. A count of 5 or more per 100 means the colony is already producing sick bees and needs treatment now, not next weekend. Above 10, you are looking at the early stage of a collapse.

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Mistakes That Make the Wash Lie

• Sampling from a honey frame or the entrance. Foragers carry fewer mites. Nurse bees from open brood are the standard; anything else undercounts.
• Too few bees. A quarter cup and a guess is not a sample. Fill to the line.
• Too short a shake. Sixty seconds. A sugar roll takes longer and still misses some.
• Testing one hive and assuming the rest match. Hives a foot apart can differ five-fold. Wash every hive if you can, or at minimum a few.
• Washing once in spring and calling it done. Four times a year minimum: early spring, after the flow, late summer before winter bees are raised, and before winter. Plus two to three weeks after any treatment, to prove it worked.

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Sugar Roll vs. Alcohol Wash

A sugar roll uses powdered sugar instead of alcohol and returns the bees alive. It is a fine option for people who can't bring themselves to kill 300 bees, but it recovers fewer mites, is slower, and doesn't work well in humid weather when the sugar clumps. Given that a colony raises 300 bees in a few hours and a missed mite count can cost the whole hive, we use alcohol.

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After the Count

Above threshold? Our dosage and schedule guide tells you how many oxalic acid treatments and how far apart for the season you're in, and the treatment comparison covers every other option if oxalic acid isn't the right fit. Then wash again in two to three weeks and confirm the number came down.

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Happy Beekeeping from the Lorob Bees Team

Keep reading: Explore all Lorob Bees beekeeping guides — varroa, oxalic acid vaporization, pests and diseases, all in one place.

Sources

• Honey Bee Health Coalition, Tools for Varroa Management, 8th ed. (2022): sampling method and treatment thresholds

General beekeeping information, not a substitute for the product label.