MayaBees · Oregon, US · Pests & Disease · Jul 14, 2026

Seeing K-wing and a couple of deformed wings — treat immediately, don't wait for a wash number

PSA post, because I nearly talked myself out of acting this week. Inspecting my Willamette Valley hives on Sunday I spotted two bees with the classic K-wing posture on the top bars, then a young bee crawling on the landing board with shrivelled, stubby wings. Did an alcohol wash expecting maybe 6-8 per 300 — it came back at 14. Here's the thing I want beginners to hear: visible DWV symptoms mean the wash number almost doesn't matter anymore. Deformed wings = varroa has been vectoring virus into the brood for weeks already, and the phoretic mites you wash off are the tip of it. Waiting for some textbook threshold at that point is just letting the virus load climb. Formic strips went on that evening since I've still got supers on and temps cooperate here. Wash your bees, but trust your eyes too.

#varroa#dwv#k-wing#formic-pro#alcohol-wash

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4 replies

ImkerinLena · Jul 14, 2026

Completely agree, and worth stating the mechanism: by the time deformed adults are visible, transmission has been happening in the sealed brood for at least one full brood cycle. Thresholds are for deciding when to act in the absence of symptoms. Symptoms ARE the decision. Also check your other colonies — apiaries share mites through drift far more than people think.

CorkBeeRon · Jul 14, 2026

Well said. Small pedantic note for readers: K-wing on its own is a less specific sign — you'll see it with tracheal mites and general viral load too — but paired with shrivelled wings there's no ambiguity, that's DWV and that means varroa. Either way the action is the same. Treat.

TexasBeeSam · Jul 15, 2026

This is why I envy your Oregon summers — 14 per 300 here right now and formic would be off the table at 38C. I'd be pulling supers and doing something else entirely. Good reminder to wash the OTHER hives too, drift is real, my worst mite bomb last year was the hive 3 feet from the symptomatic one.

NalediBees · Jul 15, 2026

Winter here in Mpumalanga and it's actually my favourite varroa window — broodless-ish colonies, so I've just finished oxalic dribbles across the apiary. Different hemisphere, same lesson though: the year I ignored two crawlers in autumn cost me that colony by spring. Eyes are data.

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