Three months ago we started a test cycle using norroa mite control at the apiary. On February 28,2026 we treated all hives except one with norroa and apivar. The one hive that we did not treat with norroa we treated with only apivar.
On April 23 we did a mite wash on six hives and the results were as follows: Four hives with a mite count of zero, two hives with one mite each. Excellent results.
On June 3 we did a mite wash on nine hives. The results were astonishing. Five hives with zero mites, three hives with one mite and one hive with 3 mites. The hive that was not treated with norroa had one mite. Results of this test are amazing.
Our method of mite wash was using water and dawn detergent, followed by an alcohol wash to determine if the dawn detergent was as effective as the alcohol was. The result was that the dawn detergent was equally effective as the alcohol.
Our theory on the hive treated only with apivar having a low mite count is that the rest of the hives were so low that mite migration did not happen.
We will follow up with another mite wash in 30 days with more results to follow. The expectation from the manufacturer is that norroa will work for 18 weeks. We will find out if this is true.
We are providing the results of our test to the OSU Bee Lab as they are very interested in our data on norroa.
Chris and Patsy Weber