> > 'Time for artificial swarming has arrived - so the two halves of a
> > colony can be treated efficiently for Varooa when broodless.
> Curious what this means.'  I'd have thought that all hives would now be
> brooding up in the UK, so at least one half would have brood.

Yes, most brood nests seem to be at their peak, so the colonies are starting
swarm cells.
The colonies are artificially swarmed within the long box that takes 21
frames,  each 14"x12".  The queen plus 2 food frames plus a frame of
unsealed brood plus 6 frames of foundation is left at the front , and the
rest of the brood frames and food go to the back. A vertical division board
goes half way down. 2.  The 'swarm' at the front has no sealed brood so can
be treated for Varooa strainght away.  The lot at the back start raising a
new queen but the new brood is not sealed  when the old brood has all
emerged , 3 weeks after the division. So it is treated then.  The Varooa
seem to drop within a couple of days when they are all 'phoretic' and
dripping oxalic between the frames may work very well. .   This method is
really just Demareeing but all done on the level , so u don't have to lift
any heavy boxes - only single frames.  My hive is a deep long hive, so does
have supers - but these are hald normal size with 5 frames only, so weigh
only 16lbs.

Thanks for the links on sources of oxalic.

Robin Dartington.

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