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Field Sampling
Opening a colony
Picking a frame to sample
Frames are visually inspected in the field
Upon shaking bees fall off the frame
Bees can be scooped for sampling
Scooped bees are added to sampling bottle and box
Frames are safely bumped against the pan to collect brood samples
Brood samples are important for screening against invasive mites
Brood samples are bottled separately from the adult bees
Varroa, Nosema, Tropilaelaps Lab Screening
Our “wrist action” shaker, shaking samples for Varroa
Varroa shaken off the bees are counted
Heather, our UMD lab manager, processing a Varroa sample and preparing Nosema subsample
Nosema spores inside a bee do not shake off, so further preparation is required
We count Nosema spores under a microscope using a hemocytometer
Brood bump samples ensure Tropilaelaps are not detected within the United States
US Honey Bee Health Survey