Varroa are nasty little beasties. They eat the body fats of bees that weakens them and they spread diseases like Deformed Wing Virus.
If untreated they can kill a colony.
There's no way of completely eradicating them but bee keepers use various methods to try and keep the mites in check.
I treat for the mites twice a year, once in the Autumn and again in December/January time.
Its recommended that a beek should monitor mite levels in a hive so if they start to increase steps can be taken before things get too far advanced.
I do check my bees for mites but I will admit I don't do it regularly enough.
However this year I am going to try to be more methodical and check the mite levels on a [fairly] regular basis.
As with all bee related activities there are numerous methods of doing this and the way I do it is to use what are known as sticky boards.
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However this year I intend doing it monthly.
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