Welcome, Honey Bee Friend! The Mitecheck survey is a national effort to collect Varroa mite infestation data and to visualize Varroa infestations in honey bee colonies across North America.
Who Can Participate
All North American beekeepers are asked to participate, in order to create a rich distribution of sampling sites in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. MiteCheck is open year round for you to share your data. We welcome honey bee associations to help lead this effort!
Data Collection
Participants monitor the level of mites (number of mites per 100 bees) using a standardized protocol utilizing two common methods of assessment (powdered sugar roll or alcohol wash) and then enter data, including location, total number of colonies, number of colonies tested, local habitat, and the number of Varroa mites counted from each colony. The published information will not identify individual participants.
You can also download the MiteCheck app for iOS or Android at the Apple App Store or from Google Play. This app includes tutorials on how to perform sugar shakes and alcohol washes to determine your mite load and provides a “trainer” to help you determine how long and how hard to shake your sample.
