Karen DeHond in upstate NY wrote:
>   Am just finishing my first season and am receiving conflicting advice from
> my mentors so thought I'd pick your collective brains.
>
> 1.  One mentor wants to harvest about Labor Day, this is in upstate NY,
> frost hits about 9/29 most years.    I'm inclined to think we could wait a
> couple of weeks.
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    Labor Day weekend provides the time for beekeepers to set up,
extract, and clean up. Then the bees have the next weeks to gather
winter stores. Labor Day weekend was the traditional extracting time in
my area, too. (In SE Pennsylvania, the honeyflow is in May.) Now, some
of us extract a month earlier so we can put Apistan on and have it work
before cold weather. Extracting can be done anytime after the honey is
in the hive. Extracting is easier in warm weather because warm honey
flows more rapidly.
*************
> 2.  The other mentor says NEVER use Terramyacin.  If foul brood is present
> it won't work and otherwise it weakens the bees resistance.  ?
*************
    An argument is that Terramycin merely covers up foulbrood and allows
it to infect more colonies. Some time ago, most apiaries were inspected
by the state every year or two for foulbrood which may have helped keep
the level of infection down.
    In our world of reduced budgets, inspection is a haphazard thing.
    So we can manage our bees with Terra, trying to control the level of
infection, or we can let the bees fend for themselves. A colony with a
heavy infection of American foulbrood is a disheartening mess. My bias
for treating shows here.
*************
> 3.  Once the honey supers are removed, what keeps the bees from feeling
> crowded and starting to swarm?
*************
    Swarming is unlikely in autumn.  Bees collect and store food for the
winter.
*************
 > 4.  When should I winterize the hives?
*************
    Mouse guards on before cool nights drive mice into colonies. I do
not know anything about wrapping hives for winter; we don't wrap
colonies in our milder climate.
*************
> 5.  Of 11 hives 2 aren't too big, my thought is to leave them alone and see
> what spring brings, any ideas?
*************
    The bees will do better if the colonies are combined for winter and
split in the spring. But the impulse to try to winter them is almost
irresistible to the beekeeper.
*************
> 6. Have been told to put apistan (2 strips/hive body) in when I close the
> hives along with menthol (1 pkg/body) and not to treat in spring. Does this
> sound ok?
************
     Some people here extract early and treat with Apistan in the second
half of the summer and again in late winter/early spring. Mid-summer
treatment assumes that the main honeyflow is over before that time.
    Varroa mite populations grow during brood-rearing time and kill
colonies in autumn.
    Upstate NY is probably too cool for menthol to work. Grease patties
probably are a better treatment for tracheal mites.
    Tracheal mite populations grow during winter and damage or kill
colonies in late winter.
Tim
--
Tim Sterrett
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(southeastern) Pennsylvania, USA
40.0 N 75.5 W