DevonBees_Em · Devon, UK · Pests & Disease · Nov 1, 2026

I've written down a varroa monitoring plan for next season for the first time — tear it apart

Devon, fourth year, seven hives. This winter I'm writing an actual plan, and I'd rather it was criticised now than discovered to be wrong next September. The plan. Alcohol wash on every colony, same 300-bee sample, once a month from April to September, plus a count after each treatment to check it worked. Decision rules set in advance, in winter, when I'm calm: a threshold that triggers treatment during the season, a lower one going into winter, and the principle that the last supers come off early enough that the main autumn treatment happens before the winter bees are reared. One broodless treatment in the winter window as a matter of course, not as a rescue. Also: rotate between product classes across seasons, and always follow the label of whatever I use. What's missing? The thing I'm least sure about is what to do with drone brood — whether uncapping drone brood as a monitoring method is worth the time, and whether drone brood removal is a real tool for a hobbyist or a lot of work for a small gain.

#varroa#monitoring-plan#thresholds#planning

▲ 9 votes 💬 4 replies ✅ Solved

4 replies

MayaBees · Nov 1, 2026 · ✅ Accepted answer

This is a better plan than most people manage in twenty years. Two additions. One: write down what you'll do if a count is high in July with supers on, because that's the decision that catches everyone and you don't want to make it in a hurry. Two: note your neighbours — if there are unmanaged colonies near an apiary, that yard needs watching in autumn regardless of your own numbers.

ImkerinLena · Nov 1, 2026

Agreed. On drone brood: uncapping drone brood is a genuinely useful qualitative check in spring — mites prefer drone cells, so it's a sensitive early signal — but it doesn't give you a number you can act on the way a wash does. Drone brood removal as a control measure works and is used seriously here, but it's labour and it only helps during the drone-rearing season. For seven hives I'd keep it as a spring indicator, not as your control.

AlpineCarnica · Nov 1, 2026

Tyrol. Add the date rule for your last supers to the plan in writing, with a specific week. I've just spent a whole post explaining how I got that wrong this year by leaving it to judgement in the moment. A plan's job is to overrule you in August.

DevonBees_Em · Nov 2, 2026

Both added, including the July-with-supers-on decision and a hard date for the last supers. AlpineCarnica, your numbers thread is half the reason I sat down and wrote this at all.

Join 12,000+ beekeepers logging hives, asking questions, and mapping forage.

Get the Beekeeping Community app

I've written down a varroa monitoring plan for next season for the first time — tear it apart

Wax moth still active in my comb store in November because the shed shares a wall with the house — now what?

Last mite counts of the season across 24 colonies — the numbers, and the three things I'm changing next year

Storing leftover treatments over winter and getting rid of used strips — what's actually the right practice?

How long do mites survive in a dead-out, and is comb from a varroa collapse safe to give to another colony?

Velutina nest found 200 m from my apiary in late October — is destroying it this late still worth it, and who do I call?

Reading the tray debris in October — what do wax flakes, chewed cappings and pollen crumbs tell me about the cluster?