Our bee's are for 100% honey production, so it would not be good to pull supers to put on medications any time through our short season. Drone brood management will be top on my list for next season. I dislike using chemicals but right now I do not have too many options. Stan’s equipment and bees had got into disarray, it is like most tragic stories, death and money. He had kept from 250 to 300 hives when he was younger. At 90 years old 50 hives is enough though he still dreams of more. So I started to help and I am learning as much as I can as fast as I can. 

We took off the supers in one location yesterday. The supers are in the extracting room, you can’t prevent bees coming home with you no matter how well you blow them out and those bees will be on the window this morning. I will jar them, shake them and check for the mite load. But… would the mites drop off or stay with the bees through all the excitement of blowing, transporting and banging against a window for a few hours. Probably not the most scientific way to collect bees but I know there will be plenty for a sample on the windows this morning and they are on death row since there is no place for them to go but in the jar. We will be back to that bee yard to feed and medicate in a few days and I will do another shake just in case my window bees are a bad way to sample.

Thanks for all your replies,

Karen

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