I wonder if there is any hard evidence that broodless periods contribute to a long term reduction in varroa. Even if it did, it would have to be counterbalanced against the loss to the colony of the bees that would have been raised and the honey they would have gathered.

Its all about timing.  If you do splits when   the time is right it a wash.  Call it a controlled swarm.  It can also be a great tool to do Multiple splits in which case you end up with several hives, timed properly those hives will make more honey than the one single.


For example I have one hive here that 8 boxes tall,  had I spilt that earlier I could have easily made 4 strong hives that all produced  honey  and ended up with more honey and less mites than this single monster hive.


Charles

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