I have bee yards that have 12 - 14 colonies in each and I run into a three year "wall" if not treated.  I agree that you will see varroa pressure diminish in single isolated colonies but I do not think this will happen in any bee "yard" be it 4 colonies or 100.

My question is, can a bee keeper run an operation that accepts the loss, assuming a three year cycle of mite free to collapse and replace its losses with non-purchased splits.  I think it can.  

As to the Apiary thing, the State of Ohio Department of Agriculture considers each geographically individual location an apiary.  When I am taxed each year my 5.00 it is "per apiary".  I call it a tax since it funds ZERO beekeeping inspection or research.

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106
http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com
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On Aug 27, 2011, at 1:13 PM, Mike S wrote:

>>> I'm hoping to get to around 200 to 300 hives within a couple of years and splitting those colonies into yards of about 20 hives per yard.  How would that affect the dynamics of varroa pressure on the hives in a yard as apposed to yards with a greater number of hives?  Anyone know?

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