Hello All,
Randy said:
>The point is then to kill off all queens of colonies that needed help the
previous year, and only breed from those who didn't (or needed little).

 A quick look at commercial beekeeping:

I monitor what I call "dinks" during the year. Each hive is rated on every
visit. Then at the end of the season (or close to it) I kill off the queen
and give the brood to another colony or simply depopulate if not up to my
standards.

I keep excellent genetics and switch queen sources every year from my
suppliers. Out of a yard of 24 hives this morning I only put the hive tool
to four first year queens. My worst yard this season has 7-8 needing culled.
I do not keep a queen over two years.

Only the best queens/hives  are kept for winter. Many first year queens are
done in and some second year queens are left alone. Because of supercedure I
do not want drones from "dinks" in my yards. Almost all my queens are marked
and many times I will cull supercedure queens in spring if not building like
I think they should be.

My system is my own design and unlike my commercial beekeeper friends.

Once the season starts I do not try to solve a queen problem ( as too costly
and time consuming) but simply note the problem and provide a solution at
this time of year.

"dinks" are counted when figuring average production but as long as enough
bees in the hive to prevent pest problems I deal with at this time of year.

The only time I leave a hive to die would be in a special yard looking for
survivor queens but *now* I can buy those survivor genetics from Glenn
Apiaries etc. ( most likely better than I could find in my own bees) so I
keep each *production unit* ( hive) healthy (through IPM) and kept pest
levels low. If starving I feed. If they need pollen I give pollen but I like
moving onto other flows a better solution and well worth the fuel cost and
labor involved.

The above yard is ready for a move to fall flower sources. The bees were
trying to rob the supers on the truck and were pulling down honey into the
brood chamber from the bottom super. Two signs a move is needed to better
forage .

Management is the reason I make money at beekeeping. Leave alone beekeeping
would be a disaster.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

Ps. I will be at the Missouri State Beekeepers booth at the Missouri state
fair ( air conditioned Agriculture building) all day tomorrow as will the
owner of Bell Hill Honey. Stop by and talk bees! Bring your questions and
pull up a chair and we will try to provide information.


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