In a message dated 07/10/2009 15:35:32 GMT Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Next  year, you have a number of cheap IPM options.  Personally, I am a fan 
of  drone brood culling.  A few special frames per hive and some freezer  
space are all it takes.  (As a hobbyist, my time is essentially free -  I'd 
be in the hives anyway.)  Sugar dusting and vinegar sprays have their  
proponents.  Or you could gradually switch over to more resistent  bees.  The 
archives are full of IPM suggestions, most very  reasonable.



If you want your drones to mate with queens don't cull them!  There  have 
been lots of queen mating problems reported recently and it has been  
suggested that over-enthusiastic drone culling may be among the causes.
 
A favourite method of mine is (at swarming time) to make an artificial  
swarm with the queen being placed on the old site with a frame of unsealed  
brood.  A majority of the mites on the adult bees will go into that comb  
before the cells are sealed.  You remove and destroy it when it has been  sealed. 
 The part of the colony with all the rest of the brood will rear a  new 
queen (you can use the opportunity to do all the other things that can be  done 
at this time eg inserting a queen cell from selected stock). When she is  
mated and has started to lay, all the other brood should have emerged before 
the  new queen's is ready for sealing. Again remove and destroy the first 
sealed  brood.
 
You can then re-unite the colonies or maybe use the Pagden method to build  
a strong colony in advance of a honey flow. There are many options.
 
Total cost: 2 frames of brood.  Benefits: Varroa dealt with for a  season, 
no chemicals in the hive, re-queening, comb renewal, a strong colony for  
the honey flow.
 
Chris

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