At 12:43 PM 8/19/96 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>
>Therefore, my present practice is to give up the fall flow in order to save
>the hive.  I try to put in the Apistan strips as soon as the summer supers are
>removed.
 
        This has been my policy as well. The gentleman whom I consider to
        be my mentor taught me to give up the Fall flow (mostly goldenrod
        anyway) for the health of my bees thru winter; even before mites
        were a problem up here (Northern VT).
 
        Now with the extended treatment time (56 days) for apistan, it is
        even more important to insert strips by mid-August in order to
        maximize exposure before removing the strips when buttoning up
        the hives for winter. I installed my strips on 8-14 and will remove
        them the first or second weekend in October, depending on how our
        late-Fall temps are running. Generally, I don't want to be pulling
        hives apart later than that. When I remove the strips I will insert
        TM extender patties (plain grease/sugar patties till then).
 
        As a hindsight, I think that I dodged a huge bullet this past winter.
        Dumb luck must have been on my side. Through my own ignorance and lack
        of experience (no Bee-List to guide me then!) I mis-managed the
treatment
        of my hives for mites. No spring '95 treatment and an incorrect apistan
        treatment in LATE Fall (October). I misunderstood the instructions and
        put only two strips in each two story hive instead of the
recommended four.
        I did treat with TM extender patties. 4 of 5 hives made it through
winter.
        The hive that I lost was two late season swarms that I combined in
        September. They refused to store syrup, even though I was feeding them
        right from the start. Then I let spring 96 go by without treating with
        apistan (even though I knew better by then!). I found varroa infestation
        this summer, although, thankfully, at very low levels. I have found
several
        mite bodies on my grease patties when I opened my hives for re-queening
        yesterday.
>
>Incidentally, I am harvesting my summer flow now, and am getting up to 160 lbs
>per colony (average=126 lbs) from new package colonies (single queen).  Ever
>since the mites killed off the feral bees, I have had record yields.  Is this
>the case elsewhere?
 
        I am very happy to hear of your record honey crops. That has not been
        the case at KirBee Apiaries. I harvested a measly 2.5 supers of honey
        for the entire spring/summer of 96. My hives are strong though, so
        here's hoping for a better 97.
 
Regards,
 
 
Tim Peters, Kirby VT
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KirBee Apiary, Bear Bait Honey
I rather be flying!