On Wed, 10 Apr 1996, Jerry J Bromenshenk wrote:
 
 
> On the other hand, the Seattle beekeepers that we worked with have a
> vastly different climate.  Their bees sit around for a "long, cool"
> winter, and apparently eat lots of stores over the winter.  Because the
> temperatures are mild, the bees stay more active, and seem to eat more.
> So, smaller cluster sizes for winter seem to be a reasonable goal - but I
> don't have the data to truly access this outcome.
>
> In these times where tracheal and varroa mites impact colonies, we may
> want to revist the minimalist approach to overwintering.  Maybe we ought
> to aim for stronger colonies going in to the winter, to help offset the
> mite impacts.  This assumes you use some form of treatment to control
> mites, or have some mite resistance in your colonies.  Otherwise, strong
> colonies may just end up with more mites and even bigger piles of dead bees.
>
 
 Hi Jerry and All,  Being in the Seattle area and have tried different
ways to set up for winter. I find that strong colinies in two or three
brood boxs do better come spring time. I leave 60 pounds of honey on the
hives as a minimum.What I have found is a very srong hive in the spring
for the early flows and I start getting honey in April. You will have to
do some splits and if you requeen in the spring I don't have a problem
with swarms. Give them room and a new queen and you will get plenty of
honey. The down side is moving the hives.Some you can't move in June
because of the populations are large and 3 deeps full of brood and bees.
 The mite problem has me rethinking everything I do. This coming year I
will do 2 nucs on top of my normal hive above a double screen.A thought,
warm air holds more moisture and if it is able to excape out of the top
of the hive, you will have less condesation in the hive. Large
populations generate more heat. There is a trade off, like everything
else. You can sell a little more honey if you winter over with smaller
hives. I look at my bees for the answer, the better I do my job in
concert with the bees , the more honey I get from them.Each area has its
own right way. I did 10 hives in singles this year and they are building
up now in two deeps. We had a mild winter so it worked.
  I don't use excluders , so I get a few queens up in a western now and
then. If you rotate 3 deeps you should not have a problem with the queen
up in the supers. Its a lot of work. Over 100 hives you need help.
 A  note about a good laying queen. Don't stop her. I have had hives
going great and not give the queen enough room and she would stop
laying.They seem to never get back to the same rate of laying as they did
in the begining.
 Best Regards
  Roy