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Subject:
From:
Eric Brown <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 18 Nov 2007 08:39:04 -0500
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>The colonies can then be run on separately or re-united if that would be
>more advantageous.  You will have got rid of a high proportion of the 
mites  at a
>cost of 2 frames of brood; drawn new brood combs; re-queened; obtained the
>extra bees from running 2 queens for a while, and possibly gained an extra
>super  of honey while the foundation in the brood box was being drawn.

Chris, Thanks very much for the reply.  That sounds almost exactly like 
what I'd like to achieve (at least as one option).  The difficulty I see is 
in the timing and the way things get divided up.  When would something like 
the above take place?  As a swarm prevention measure it seems it would have 
to take place before the honey flow, which in my part of the world means it 
would have to take place when lows are in the 30s and 40s with occasional 
freezing temperatures.  If I separate all that brood from the majority of 
the bees, it might very well get chilled, and that's probably the most 
valuable generation of bees of the whole year, i.e. that's the generation 
that makes my main honey crop.  On the other hand, if I put more bees with 
the brood, then the remaining hive with the laying queen won't draw much 
comb and there won't be the comb or the nurse bees for that queen to 
continue producing.  I could almost just as well kill all my queens and let 
all my hive go broodless the month before the honey flow.  Is there a way 
around this dilemma?  The beekeepers that do employ similar methods in the 
UK, do they do this in the early spring?  Is there less cold during the 
main swarm season in the UK?  Does this kind of method simply require huge 
numbers of bees, where enough bees can be removed to care for 8 frames of 
brood and a full, strong colony still left behind, too?  Can anyone 
envision a solution in a kind of double screen board that would stop the 
return migration of the mites, or am I chasing a practical impossibility?
Thanks,
Eric

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