> 
> Do you have any of your fall dribble experience to share,  or are you
> content to question my math and training??  I would love to hear from
> others with long winters who have done a OCT dribble and were happy
> with the results.

I live in Finland and we have looong winters. This winter has been 
typical with last flights in early November 2016 and we still have 40 cm 
of snow and -18 C today.  First flight will come sometime in April  so  
about 5 months with any flying other than dying bees going out, if the 
hives are not totally under snow. For me this is normal and there has 
been many longer winters, longest without bees flying this far about 6,5 
-7  months

For about 15 years I have treated all my hives ( now 1500) with OA 
dribbling in November / December or January. As late as possible, but 
trying to do it without having to dig the hives from snow for treatment. 
  We have about 55 000 hives total  in Finland and more than 90% are done 
the same way.  4 ml of OA /  seam full of bees in Langstroth box. max 40 
ml / single 50 ml/ strong double.  OA liquid is is done by mixing  75 g 
OA + 1kg sugar + 1 l water.

If there would be serious problems for bees from the OA treatment we 
would not do it. Some do sublimation and it is coming more popular. But 
it needs special equipment + protective gear, and results are not much 
better.  Question is more if beekeeper wants to pen the hive = dribbling 
or not = sublimation. I like to open so we see the hives with too little 
bees or food. We treat those too but put them in car and later to indoor 
wintering.

One thing about  OA dribbling. I also believe that it is harder to bees 
than sublimation. A beekeeping friend kept a very fine scale hive for 
years. Food consumption always become higher right  after dribbling and 
stayed on higher rate until spring compared to other hives. Sorry he did 
not compare to sublimation, only to non treated.

Ari Seppälä
Finland

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html