PLB: In the old days, beekeepers expected to divide their colonies in spring, to reduce swarming and bring up the numbers.

I agree.  But I should also note, in my 'old' days, coming from a winter state (Montana), I was taught not only to combine in the fall, but that stronger colonies had better survival, and big bee populations were desirable, even if that meant leaving more honey on the hives for winter.  In our short and fast summer season, we need bees to be ready to hit the season fast and furious - so feeding a few more bees in winter meant faster start in spring, better build, and more productivity.

Then I started going to places like Seattle, where big wintering bee populations could eat most of the previous season's honey harvest, so they put on queen excluders to reduce bee population size before fall (these go on in June).

Next step was an overall trend advising keeping bee populations down in size, select queens that stop laying early in fall, etc.  So I found the goal shifted to smaller wintering populations.  

Well, with mites and other problems, those small populations can't afford much bee loss in the winter.  So, I'll stick with feeding a few more bees in each colony for OUR geographical location.


J.J. Bromenshenk
Bee Alert
Missoula, Mt



             ***********************************************
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