Bee inspection time! We want to sell a few nucs so we called up the bee inspector to take a peek and run a sugar shake test to check for mites.

So here’s my first time watching the shake get done.

As many bees as possible are captured and immersed in icing sugar in the jar to rid them of any mites they may have. Mites cannot hold onto bees with powder

After a couple quick shakes, the bees are released into the hive and their sisters indulge in their sweetness to clean them up quickly.

Meanwhile the contents (powder sugar and potential mites) are poured into a container of water. If any mites are present, they would now be floating on the top but do you see any? I don’t! I think our bees are mites free.

Hip hip hooray, our bees passed the test! We couldn’t find a single mite. Pretty pretty good.