Monitoring: An important practice that could save your colonies

The main objective is to avoid a critical level of varroa mite infestation that could lead to colony losses. Varroa monitoring is used to estimate the degree of varroa infestation, optimize the time of treatment, and confirm that treatment was successful.

Monitoring also makes it possible to choose the most efficient control product, determine if treatment is needed soon, or if you can wait until later in the year. Knowing your hives’ varroa levels in the late summer and fall will aid in making treatment decisions at that time, and help ensure that your colonies do not enter the winter with high mite loads. This will help reduce winter colony losses and give you stronger spring colonies.  The cost of replacing a colony of honey bees, feeding the new hive, and lost honey production is a good argument in favor of regular monitoring.

Knowing if the treatment was successful

It is very important to know varroa mite levels before and after treatment.

Very high varroa numbers prior to treatment will make mite reduction more difficult, and possibly allow virus levels to climb to the point where the loss of the colony is likely, despite later reduction.

Varroa numbers higher than five mites per 100 bees puts the colony at great risk. Monitoring after treatment will prove the effectiveness of your control effort or indicate possible re-infestation due to robbing or drifting of bees.