Mite Kill Efficacy 2025 Season
**This is not a scientific study. This is field results from our own apiary. We had 100% winter survival rate last year. We have not used chemicals in our hives for the last 3 years.
Hive Start date Starting % End Date End % High Low # of Tx
Rivermont 5/24 ?? 9/18 0.3% 2.9% 0% 1
10 frame
Annabelle 7/7 63% 10/21 0.5% 63% 0.5% 4
10 frame This is not a typo!
Cedar Hive 6/12 14.3% 11/5 22% 22% 1.2% 7
10 frame
Green Hive 6/25 13% 11/8 11% 18% 3.4% 7
8 Frame
Conclusions:
1. Efficacy varied from hive to hive. Some required multiple heat cycles to reach acceptable threshold levels. Treatments at a lower threshold had better response rather than the hives that had a high mite count. Although the high mite count hives responded to the treatments there was a definite decrease in the hive population and a recovery phase.
2. The mite wash is a less than perfect metric. Bees were obtained from frames with open and capped brood. We did a triple wash with each test with 70% alcohol. Bee counts varied from a low of 89 to a high of 466.
3. There was an increase in mites during and after the nectar flow, even with treatment, emphasizing the fact that the worker bees possibly do not focus on hygienic behavior when the flow is on. Treating during supering would be advantageous to help with the post flow increase in mites that we saw.
4. The multitude of mite washes that we did gives us the advantage to see which hives are candidates for requeening and which ones would be candidates for splitting.