> One year I tried queen confinement in mid-summer and my conclusion was
> that, where I live, this idea was as good a method as any to increase my
> work and expense, reduce the honey crop, stress the bees, kill some queens,
> and reduce wintering success all in one go.
>
It's always so interesting to hear other's perspectives from around the
world, and how something that works in one place is a nightmare in another.
Beekeeping is very local indeed.
In my location, queen confinement itself is probably beneficial. Varroa
management during queen confinement is an added bonus. Our main honey flow
is over by mid-June. I try and pull all my supers by July 4th. Then the
dearth hits, and nothing substantial blooms until early September (at least
not enough for colonies to gain weight). Large, booming colonies in July
will starve by September, unless (i) you leave the honey on the hive, and
hope they don't eat themselves out of house and home (which they often
will), (ii) you continuously feed through the dearth (and hope robbing
doesn't become an issue), or (iii) you find a way to decrease colony
populations. The third is the most reasonable. For me, it usually involves
splits when speaking manipulation. Another method is queen confinement. Or,
more logically probably a combonation of the two (stronger splits, with
queen confinement). You want a smaller (not weak) population that isn't
growing quickly in July-August, and the opportunity for it to put on some
strength in September-November in prep for the winter. Low varroa
populations in August-September suits that bill very well.
The "best" performing queens usually shut down brood rearing on their own
during this dearth. Queen confinement during this period would be
accomplishing a similar result. Yes, more labor involved, but not
substantially more (as I'm already doing splits at this time anyway).
But, this system would be a disaster in colder, northern climates. Very
local indeed.
***********************************************
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
|