>>hive numbers have fluctuated between twenty down to three and I'm now back up to nineteen.
>That is interesting.  Was that deliberate?

Not deliberate.  Part of it was the inability to move hives in a judicious manner.  Hives and cattle don't get along together.  But, from the three hives I salvaged, along with swarms, splits and queens from out-of-state and in-state, splits from developing swarms (not enough equipment to handle the rapidly expanding colonies), I've managed to cobble together nineteen hives at this point.  I've scavenging supers, adding shims to shallow supers, making my own bottom boards and hive covers, and managing to build up my equipment inventory to handle my present hive pressures, plus preparing for splits in a month or so.  I am moving over to all Illinois supers for my hives so as to pare down the lift requirements to something more manageable for me.  90 pounds or so for a full hive body is not something I like to consider now at my age.  BTW, I am located 1/2 way between Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama.  It always helps to understand conditions by
 knowing the location.

> Do you monitor pests like mites?

My yard was part of a national evaluation of bee conditions and my report came back pretty good.   Had some presence of Dwarf Wing Virus, a moderate to heavy varroa mite load, and that was it.  No tracheal mites, no sign of AFB or EFB, no evidence of either nosema.  Our bees here in Alabama turned out to be the healthiest bees that were included in the study.  Even though I have varroa problems, I have not seen evidence of any adverse affect from them.   I'm hoping that with my splitting and with a planned powdered sugar application program that I will be able to knock the mites back down to where they will have little effect on my winter bees in the fall.  I've heard various reports on the effectiveness of powdered sugar applications.  Guess I'll see this fall and winter.  Oh yeah, no indication of the presence of chalk brood.  Know that we have flying weather just about year around where I live.  Bees were bringing in pollen and nectar in
 the last weeks of December this past year and the pollen has continued unabated since that time.

Mike in LA (Lower Alabama)

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