Chris asked: > So if your monitoring tells you that the brood is heavily infested with > Varroa, why not take it out and freeze it and treat with oxalic or whatever else is > legal and appropriate when the only mites in the colony will be phoretic? The > bees will recover better from a brief broodless period and no mites than from > having the mitey brood emerge and endure a more prolonged treatment later in > the year. By treating as the correct time, i.e. as soon as the crop is removed, we avoid heavily infested brood. If brood is heavily infested in late autumn then it will be too late to do anything - the bees that we need for overwintering will have been lost and it will be too late for the colony to rear more. Peter Edwards [log in to unmask] www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/ :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::