>>Do you really believe that in treating sideline outfits and
commercial outfits that all the hives are broodless and no
brood can be found, nor fresh eggs/larvae if looked for?  Somehow I 
have never seen that across the board.....

No, I don't but does it matter?  Let me explain.  Up here, 'in 
northern country', colonies go broodless sometime in November or 
December... except this year. :)  I inspected my hives every few days 
in December and in early January before treating with OA.

Every inspection, with one exception, revealed a small cluster of 
fresh eggs and some very young larvae.  This was strange because each 
time the situation was the same - no capped brood.  I think, because 
the weather kept changing from warm to cold back to warm every few 
days, the bees were trigged by warm spells to raise brood only to 
canabalize it during the return of cold weather.  The cycle would re-
start with the next warm period.   

When I finally treated with OA in mid-January - I could not wait any 
longer because fresh pollen started coming in! - each hive had at 
least fresh eggs again. 

The OA may have damaged some eggs and young larvae but the amount was 
insignificant when compared to what the bees had canabalized.


>>As for the apistan mentioned at bottom of recent post with paper 
showing acids bad, then memory retardants are better to inhibit 
foraging and clustering, etc.

Can't speak for apistan (I would not use it in my hives) but I have 
not seen OA affect clustering or foraging.  By the time foraging gets 
seriously underway in the spring, the winter bees will have raised a 
new generation and are themselves in a small minority.

Waldemar
Long Island, NY

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