Last week we collected mite samples to test their resistance against a Varroa Mite Treatment called, "Apivar." This experiment is a trial-run for a future experiment a scientist in the lab will be working on.
We collected about 300 bees and placed them into the containers pictured below. We glued a piece of the Apivar treatment to the top and placed a mesh lid to allow the mites to fall
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The bees were left in the cups for about 3 hours before we collected them and washed to bees to see how many mites were still alive. Just from our preliminary findings, we discovered that the Apivar was killing the mites. We also collected mites by doing powdered sugar shakes in the colonies. We then performed Varroa mite bio assays. I am excited to see the official results of this experiment.