Regarding apistan timing:
Ted Fischer wrote: "...Therefore, my present practice is to give up the
fall flow in order to save
>the hive.  I try to put in the Apistan strips as soon as the summer supers are
>removed.
>
>Incidentally, I am harvesting my summer flow now, and am getting up to 160 lbs
>per colony (average=126 lbs) from new package colonies (single queen).  Ever
>since the mites killed off the feral bees, I have had record yields.  Is this
>the case elsewhere?
>
>Ted Fischer
 
Thanks, Ted.  Your experiences are well noted.  I for one plan to risk it
this year and get the fall flow (at least part of it) and treat later.
Time will tell how bad a plan this is for my area.  This will only be 30
colonies, but I guess I'll have to see what pulls through.  Regarding
drones, interestingly I often have them in the hives well into the winter.
They hang around the upper entrances alot; perhaps the workers discourage
them from hanging around in the main cluster.  Anyway, I often see drone
brood still waiting to hatch well into the cool weather -- unfortunately
sometimes it is in the honey supers I planned to harvest!  The yields you
are experiencing are wonderful; I wonder if there is significantly less
competition now that pretty much all honey bees are "kept" ones, and that
has influenced yields noticeably.  Cheers,...  J.