{"id":8711,"date":"2011-08-25T07:33:08","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T06:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=8711"},"modified":"2011-08-24T07:37:01","modified_gmt":"2011-08-24T06:37:01","slug":"beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/","title":{"rendered":"Beekeeping &#8211; How is our Varroa Count?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As well as our recent <a title=\"Testing for Nosema in beehives\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/beekeeping-testing-for-nosema\/\">test for Nosema<\/a> in our bee colonies, another important aspect of beekeepeing \u00a0at this time of year is to assess the levels of Varroa infestation in the hives.<\/p>\n<h1>Varroa<\/h1>\n<p>Varroa Mites are a very common, almost universal parasite of Honey Bees. The mite itself,\u00a0<em>Varroa destructor<\/em>, attaches itself to the body of bees and breed within the brood cells of a colony. Although the mites can weaken the bees, they also spread diseases.<\/p>\n<p>There are various ways of checking for Varroa and we placed a Varroa board into two of our hives for a week and then examined their contents. The idea is that any mites that die in the hive or are knocked off by the bees during normal grooming practises will fall through the mesh floor of the hive and accumulate on the Varroa board. If the &#8216;mite drop&#8217; reaches a certain level then it is wise to treat the colony to reduce the number of mites.<\/p>\n<p>Treatment can be in various forms, chemical treatments can be applied such as Api-guard and these are usually added to the hive at this time of year after removal of any honey. Physical or mechanical treatments are also popular such as coating the bees with icing sugar to increase grooming behaviour in the bees and make it more difficult for the mites to hold on to the bees. Removal of drone brood can also reduce Varroa populations due to the\u00a0Varroa\u00a0mites&#8217; preference for the longer living\u00a0drone\u00a0brood.<\/p>\n<p>From what we&#8217;ve heard almost all hives in the area have Varroa, but we checked our Varroa boards after leaving them on the hives for a week and were pleased to see that there wasn&#8217;t a mite on any of them. A varroa count of zero and therefore no need to treat the hives. That&#8217;s good news.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As well as our recent test for Nosema in our bee colonies, another important aspect of beekeepeing \u00a0at this time of year is to assess the levels of Varroa infestation in the hives. Varroa Varroa Mites are a very common, almost universal parasite of Honey Bees. The mite itself,\u00a0Varroa destructor, attaches itself to the body&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1312,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[672],"tags":[1517,1013],"class_list":["post-8711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beekeeping","tag-beekeeping","tag-varroa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Beekeeping - How is our Varroa Count? - A Simple Life of Luxury<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beekeeping - How is our Varroa Count? - A Simple Life of Luxury\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As well as our recent test for Nosema in our bee colonies, another important aspect of beekeepeing \u00a0at this time of year is to assess the levels of Varroa infestation in the hives. Varroa Varroa Mites are a very common, almost universal parasite of Honey Bees. The mite itself,\u00a0Varroa destructor, attaches itself to the body&#046;&#046;&#046;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life of Luxury\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/justal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/justal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-25T06:33:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/SLOL.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"419\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"187\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alan Cole\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@justalcole\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@justalcole\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alan Cole\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alan Cole\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372\"},\"headline\":\"Beekeeping &#8211; How is our Varroa Count?\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-25T06:33:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":322,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372\"},\"keywords\":[\"Beekeeping\",\"Varroa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Beekeeping\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\\\/\",\"name\":\"Beekeeping - How is our Varroa Count? - A Simple Life of Luxury\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-25T06:33:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Beekeeping &#8211; How is our Varroa Count?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Simple Life of Luxury\",\"description\":\"Tales from a down-shifted family - Making the most of modest means in West Wales\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372\",\"name\":\"Alan Cole\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Selfie.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Selfie.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Selfie.jpg\",\"width\":950,\"height\":713,\"caption\":\"Alan Cole\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Selfie.jpg\"},\"description\":\"Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports &amp; Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad &amp; husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pixelwave.co.uk\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/justal\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/justalcole\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/justal123\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Beekeeping - How is our Varroa Count? - A Simple Life of Luxury","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Beekeeping - How is our Varroa Count? - A Simple Life of Luxury","og_description":"As well as our recent test for Nosema in our bee colonies, another important aspect of beekeepeing \u00a0at this time of year is to assess the levels of Varroa infestation in the hives. Varroa Varroa Mites are a very common, almost universal parasite of Honey Bees. The mite itself,\u00a0Varroa destructor, attaches itself to the body&#46;&#46;&#46;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/","og_site_name":"A Simple Life of Luxury","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/justal\/","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/justal\/","article_published_time":"2011-08-25T06:33:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":419,"height":187,"url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/SLOL.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alan Cole","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@justalcole","twitter_site":"@justalcole","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alan Cole","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/"},"author":{"name":"Alan Cole","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372"},"headline":"Beekeeping &#8211; How is our Varroa Count?","datePublished":"2011-08-25T06:33:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/"},"wordCount":322,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372"},"keywords":["Beekeeping","Varroa"],"articleSection":["Beekeeping"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/","url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/","name":"Beekeeping - How is our Varroa Count? - A Simple Life of Luxury","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-08-25T06:33:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/08\/beekeeping-how-is-our-varroa-count\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Beekeeping &#8211; How is our Varroa Count?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"A Simple Life of Luxury","description":"Tales from a down-shifted family - Making the most of modest means in West Wales","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372","name":"Alan Cole","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Selfie.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Selfie.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Selfie.jpg","width":950,"height":713,"caption":"Alan Cole"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Selfie.jpg"},"description":"Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports &amp; Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad &amp; husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pixelwave.co.uk","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/justal\/","https:\/\/x.com\/justalcole"],"url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/author\/justal123\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1312"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}