>Most beekeepers' problems come from not doing the right thing at the right time. 

Truer words were never spoken. This discussion is veering from how best to manage a honey flow, which is a very local consideration (has anyone ever said that all beekeeping is local ?) to observing colony behavior in a "natural" state and trying to extrapolate best management from that. Most of us here are managing for a purpose. Honey production involves pushing the colony to produce more than it needs. Pollination requires unnatural colony size at specific times. Nuc and package production increases then disrupts natural population dynamics. 

Not so long ago we were discussing Darwinian beekeeping. That may give insight into how the bees regulate themselves, interesting on a scientific level, but not much help if trying to make a profit. Skillful beekeeping is all about getting the bees to do what you want and it is helpful if they think it's their own idea. 

I get a long honey season. Starting in May and ending in Sept. I run big colonies and attempt to manage supers for varietal flows. I want lots of bees of all ages all summer. 90# is a disappointment and at 300# I start bragging about what a good beekeeper I am. Haven't been bragging much lately! Varroa management is the thousand pound gorilla in the hive. Beside the pure logistical difficulty of queen caging I don't see the time frame when it would be helpful in honey production. My cynical self thinks it is yet anther fad that will pass. Seems like an awful lot of work to achieve a result better obtained in other ways. If I keep ample empty super room above double deeps plugging is seldom a problem. It can happen if the darlings are reluctant to go above the excluder and I don't allow brood in my white wax supers so they get another brood box until they come to their senses. When plugging is a problem is in late Aug and the supers have to come off for varroa control. I will use formic when down to 1 supper but we often are still getting 100 F days and it can be tricky. By then caging I believe would be disruptive of winter bee production. Tymal has never worked for me. So it is a dance. Less that full strength formic (50 ml X3) or multiple OAV applications. EROA will surely be our salvation. What could possibly go wrong?

Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA

     

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