I've been thinking about my mite treatment strategy for the upcoming season, and I always seems to run into the same problem. The recommended best time for any treatment, chemical or mechanical, is always late June/early July, so that the bees who will be raising the winter bees are the healthiest and most mite-free. My problem is that one of my biggest flows of the year, the sourwood flow, is on at the same time, which makes treating in any fashion complicated or impossible, depending on the treatment. It basically means any chemical treatment is out, and I'm unsure about how to time any form of brood break in the middle of my season without affecting the productivity of the hive during the sourwood flow. My season is basically mixed early trees in March, blackberries/raspberries in April, mixed medium flow until early-mid June when we sometimes have a dearth. The sourwood hits at the end of June and lasts into July in a good year, and then we move into goldenrod and native sunflowers in August. If I wanted to do a brood break for mite control, when would be the best time?
In my opinion the best time to treat is never. :) Easy to work around the honey flow.
>If I wanted to do a brood break for mite control, when would be the best time?
Two weeks before the main flow. You'll make more honey than if you don't do a brood break.
Quote from: Michael Bush on January 22, 2024, 06:34:50 AM
>If I wanted to do a brood break for mite control, when would be the best time?
Two weeks before the main flow. You'll make more honey than if you don't do a brood break.
Why is that? Because there won't be much brood in the hive, so there will be more foragers?
Precocious recruitment for foraging. Since there is no brood to care for the otherwise nurse bees get recruited to forage at just the right time to maximize the forager population at exactly the right time, which is the main flow.
Thanks, Michael. Maybe I'll give that a try this year.