(A response to David Martin's thoughts from Pollinator:)
 
>On Jan. 21, Dave Green of Hemingway, SC wrote:
 
>>...This
>>winter I have seen quite a few colonies that really packed in goldenrod
honey
>>(it is distinguishable by taste and yellow cappings), but now are either
very weak or dead.  Some have been robbed out, some not.  Some thoughts:
 
>>1.   It is unusual here in SC to see that much goldenrod honey.  Was there
some mechanism that stopped the brood rearing during the goldenrod flow,
allowing them to save more than normal (ie plug out), but then go into winter
with mostly old bees....
 
 
>I have heard reports, as yet only anecdotal, that when Apistan strips are
placed in a hive to control Varroa mites, the queen stops laying while the
strips are in the hive (28-45 days), and resumes when they are removed.
> Fall is a popular time to medicate against Varroa (though we don't know
Dave Green's treatment schedule), after all honey for human consumption has
been removed, with goldenrod honey usually left for winter food.  If the
queen stopped laying because of Apistan treatment, during the goldenrod flow,
the result would be lots of honey but few "winter" bees.
 
>Any comments or observations on this theory?
 
>David Martin, Raleigh, NC, USA
 
   Thanks Dave M. for your thoughts.  I will be watching to see if there is
any basis for this in the future.  I don't think it was the main factor here.
 The hives referred to were placed on fall cucumbers. While a few singles
were treated as they were placed in the fields in Aug-Sept, most had supers,
so we waited until they were removed from the fields and supers taken off.
 Our goldenrod flow is in October.
 
   We are just now finishing gettting some of the last of these, where soggy
fields and flooding have prevented us from access, so they are getting the
treatments late.  There seems no difference between those who had no
treatment and the few that did.
 
   Back when the state was first testing for varroa, the inspectors  insisted
on placing two strips into 4 and 5 frame nuc boxes, because the directions
said >two strips per hive.<  We did see dead brood, and empty cells in the
immediate area around the strips.
 
   I am seeing another curious thing.  While we saw a number of heavily
varroa infested hives in October and November (scaring me), we are now seeing
only very low levels or no varroa.  There has been a lot of discussion of the
collapse of hive populations attributed to the switch of mites to worker
brood, when bees stop raising drones.  I think we did see some of this.
 
   But I also wonder if there is a healing effect once they are through this
danger time  - a great reduction in mite levels, when all brood rearing
ceases altogther.  In this area many hives stop all brood rearing by mid-Novem
ber, though some strong ones will continue with a little.
 
   Are the mites unable to survive at all, when there are only adults?  Or
does this break their brood cycle sufficiently to greatly reduce their
numbers?  If this is the case, I would expect to see very few varroas
surviving winter in more northern locations, where brood rearing stops
altogether and for quite a while. I haven't had bees in northern winters for
quite a few years, so I'm just speculating.
 
  Appreciate the response.  Gotta' keep thinking, if we are to survive.
 
[log in to unmask]   Dave Green, PO Box 1215, Hemingway, SC  29554
 
>moment (mo' ment) n. 1. the interval of time between one's formulation of a
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