Journal · Varroa · by Laszlo Kun
What Varroa resistance means for Victorian beekeepers — and why monitoring matters more than ever
For three years, the question every Victorian beekeeper asked was “will Varroa reach me?” In 2026, the question changed — and the new one is harder: “will my treatment still work when it does?”
Here’s what’s happened, what it means for your hives, and why checking that your treatment actually worked is now the single most important habit a beekeeper can build.
The situation in 2026
Varroa was first confirmed in Victoria in August 2024. The national response had already shifted from eradication to management, and Victoria’s two-year transition program wound up in February 2026.
Then came the development that changes the game. Early in 2026, Varroa mites resistant to our main chemical treatments turned up in New South Wales and Queensland — and testing traced them to a separate, more recent incursion than the original 2022 arrival. These mites carry genetic resistance to both major synthetic treatment groups: the pyrethroids (Bayvarol, Apistan) and the amitraz-based formamidines (Apivar, Apitraz).
In May 2026, an apiary in north-east Victoria was confirmed with pyrethroid-resistant mites — the likely pathway being hives moved interstate and sold to a Victorian beekeeper. Resistance to both major groups has now been confirmed across most affected states.
The honest summary: the two chemical groups most beekeepers have relied on can no longer be assumed to work. A strip in the hive is no longer a guarantee the mites are dying.
Why this is the real turning point
The mite arriving was always going to happen — we’d watched it spread for years and prepared as best we could. But mites shrugging off the treatments we reach for is a different kind of problem.
If you treat, assume it worked, and move on — but the treatment failed — your mite load keeps climbing invisibly. By the time you see deformed wings or a collapsing colony, you’ve lost months. Worse, an untreated, mite-heavy colony becomes a source that spreads mites and viruses to every hive nearby, including your neighbours’.
That’s why the official advice has shifted. Agriculture Victoria now urges beekeepers to monitor mite levels both before and after treating, to confirm the treatment actually reduced the load — and to rotate between chemical groups rather than leaning on one.
What you can actually do
This isn’t a counsel of despair. There’s a clear, practical path:
- Monitor regularly, with an alcohol wash. It’s the most reliable way to know your real mite load. Sugar shakes and sticky boards have their place, but the alcohol wash gives you the truest number.
- Check after you treat, not just before. This is the new non-negotiable. Wash again a few weeks after treatment and confirm the mites actually dropped. If they didn’t, you’ve learned something vital — early.
- Rotate chemical groups, and lean on organics. Industry advice is clear: where resistance is suspected, the organic acid-based treatments (formic, oxalic) have no known resistance. They’re not a silver bullet, but they’re not failing the way the synthetics are.
- Report suspected failures. If a treatment doesn’t seem to be working, tell Agriculture Victoria (Exotic Plant Pest Hotline 1800 084 881) and your Bee Biosecurity Officer (136 186). It’s how the official picture of resistance gets built — and it’s a legal obligation if you detect Varroa.
Where BeesFriend fits in
We’ve always kept our bees chemical-free and welfare-first — and as the synthetics fail, the case for resilient, low-chemical beekeeping only gets stronger. But resilience starts with knowing what’s actually happening in your hives, and that means monitoring.
So we built a free tool to make the “did it actually work?” check easy. You do your alcohol wash, enter your counts on your phone at the apiary, and it tells you in plain language whether your mites are below the action threshold — and, if you’re checking a treatment, whether it worked.
It’s beekeeper-led, it complements official reporting rather than replacing it, and — this is the part that needs all of us — every wash that beekeepers contribute helps build an honest, region-by-region picture of which treatments are still working and where resistance is emerging. No single beekeeper can see that alone. Together, we can.
If you keep bees in Victoria, I’d genuinely encourage you to use it, and to keep using it.
Found Varroa? Reporting it to Agriculture Victoria is required by law — call the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881. This tool is a monitoring aid that sits alongside official reporting, not a replacement for it.