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Detecting Varroa Mites
First, determine your degree of infestation. Buy a spray canister of starting fluid at an auto supply store. Cut a piece of screen to fit over the opening of a glass jar. Collect about 300 bees in the jar, and give them a 2-second spray of the fluid through the screen.
The fluid is fatal to both the bees and Varroa mites, which fall off the dead bees. Shake the jar for 10 to 20 seconds so the fallen mites collect on its sides. If you find more than 50, says the Purdue University Department of Entomology, treat your hive immediately.
Using Apistan Strips
Apistan (fluvalinate) strips were the first EPA-approved product for treating Varroa mites. However, mite populations in the midwestern United States have become increasingly resistant to them. Test your mites' resistance by buying a picture frame that slides easily into the floor of your hive. Staple 8-mesh screen across its top. Attach contact paper face up behind the screen. Spray the contact paper with vegetable oil spray.
Varroa mites constantly fall off honeybees. The ones that fall through the screen will stick on the contact paper and drown in the oil. Leave the screen in the hive for up to two days and count the dead mites on the contact paper.
Repeat the process after hanging an Apistan strip in the hive. If it's working, you'll see many more dead mites on your contact paper. Use one Apistan strip per each five frames in your hives, leaving them long enough to expose adult mites emerging from the brood cells. Treat all your hives simultaneously unless you're certain that only some of them are infested.
Checkmite Strips
Checkmite strips contain the neurotoxin coumaphos, effective against Apistan-resistant Varroa mites. Wear gloves when hanging the strips. Avoid using them on colonies in which queen bees are developing. While the manufacturer says the strips can remain for up to 42 days, removing them after mites have left the brood cells and been exposed to the toxin will better protect your bees.
Thymol
Apilife and Apiguard are thymol-based gel tablet alternatives to chemical Varroa mite treatments. Place the tablets above the hive's brood nest and in its quarters, replacing them weekly for 2 weeks.
Seal the ventilation holes and partially seal the hive entrance to keep the thymol from evaporating. Don't use them when the temperature is above 90 degrees.
Warning
Don't apply Apistan strips when your hives contain honey supers (shallow wooden boxes with combs where bees store the marketable honey not used to feed the hive). Honey from hives in which you use Checkmite strips can't be legally harvested.