> "We are staying on top of the Varroa mite population and definitely taking
> more trips to the bee yard taking care of the bees. That is making a big
> difference in the overall health of our bees,

Little has changed in this respect since the introduction of varroa. Most
commercial outfits which see big varroa losses happen when their treatment
or treatments are failing to control varroa and the beekeeper discovers the
problem too late to change the scenario.


" Bob Seifert said. "It used to
> be you could let the bees go for awhile in the fall and not worry about
> them. Now if you don't look at them for more than a week or a week and a
> half at a time, they can collapse."

I agree hives need checked in fall but wonder at the weekly schedule and
also if not the bees will collapse.  Some hives certainly will need looking
at but I would say 90% should be fine *unless* the beekeeper is trying to
winter "dinks" or keep "dinks" around hopefully to sell into almonds. I hear
beeks going to almonds say:
I am taking every box which has bees in it to California. I can turn the
"dinks" around before almonds.
The method is profit motivated and not a method I would use or recommend.
Culling is important in beekeeping as well as livestock raising.

What I see this year right now is beekeepers not wanting to spend the money
on syrup to get the hive weight to a proper wintering weight in our area.
They might get lucky and get a super mild winter but if not many of those
big strong hives will starve. Experience has shown me i need a certain
weight to winter.
If in doubt I weigh the hive with a scale ( Paulose) like Mike Palmer uses
but only rarely needed now.I like the scale with the reader which can be
read from a few feet away. The cheaper scale needs you to get down and try
to read the scale underneath a hive of bees without a bottom board and many
coming out of the hive. I use a wooden platform I made for the hive to sit
on the scale.  I use a two wheeler ( sold by Mann lake) to lift the hive off
the pallet and set on the scale (sold by Grainger) and reset on the pallet.
I mark the weight on the hive and the number of gallons of feed (if needed)
to reach winter weight. In other words some hives may not need feed , the
next might need a gallon. Some a higher amount. "dinks" are depopulated or
combined with a strong hive. I do not combine two "dinks". Combining two
"dinks" many times means you end up with one super big "dink".
Failing queens are one of the main reasons for "dinks".

I also have found my bees used 10-20 pounds of winter stores over this last
cold period *or* because of the cold the bees did not gather 40-50 pounds of
fall aster honey to maintain their winter weight the bees usually do at this
time of year.

off to check bees like Bob Seifert above  suggests.


bob

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