>>..... apiaries of at least 24 hives (I find that mite pressure appears to be greater in
>>apiaries of more than a few hives).
When speaking of apiaries, I'm thinking of the whole operation. When splitting the apiary up into smaller units, I'm calling each unit of hives a bee yard, or yard. 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? I've been checking and my county will support about 30 yards of 20 colonies each so I don't have to worry about forage areas, and I can locate my yards about five miles from each other so travel is kept to a minimum. Plus, I can advertise that my honey is produced and packaged all within the county.
Mike in LA
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