Varroa mites: Beware the second sugar shake!

I did a second sugar shake on both hives, emptying one pound of powdered 10xxx sugar into each hive between the frames.

The ghost bees (see second picture) begin to clean themselves and in the grooming process, hopefully clean off any opportunistic varroa mite.

To check the mite count I cut poster board the size of the space under my hive beneath the screened bottom board (mine doesn't have a slot for sliding a sticky board in and out - bought from Dadant - don't do it!).

I covered the poster board with vaseline to make the mites stick and slid it under the hives. I'll check at 5 PM tomorrow - 24 hours later - to get a mite count. I'll report what I find here on the blog.