Regarding apistan timing: Ted Fischer wrote: "...Therefore, my present practice is to give up the fall flow in order to save >the hive. I try to put in the Apistan strips as soon as the summer supers are >removed. > >Incidentally, I am harvesting my summer flow now, and am getting up to 160 lbs >per colony (average=126 lbs) from new package colonies (single queen). Ever >since the mites killed off the feral bees, I have had record yields. Is this >the case elsewhere? > >Ted Fischer Thanks, Ted. Your experiences are well noted. I for one plan to risk it this year and get the fall flow (at least part of it) and treat later. Time will tell how bad a plan this is for my area. This will only be 30 colonies, but I guess I'll have to see what pulls through. Regarding drones, interestingly I often have them in the hives well into the winter. They hang around the upper entrances alot; perhaps the workers discourage them from hanging around in the main cluster. Anyway, I often see drone brood still waiting to hatch well into the cool weather -- unfortunately sometimes it is in the honey supers I planned to harvest! The yields you are experiencing are wonderful; I wonder if there is significantly less competition now that pretty much all honey bees are "kept" ones, and that has influenced yields noticeably. Cheers,... J.