just got my reports from the USDA lab & so now i have no idea why 3 of my hives died. BUT....the good news is:
hive 1-3.4 mites per 100 & NO nosema
hive 2-NO MITES! NO nosema!
hive 3-NO MITES NO nosema
I hope I haven't just jinxed myself by going public with this. so now i'll save y'all the questions. I have no idea why. just kidding. what i've been doing. as soon as it gets warm enough in late february or in march i zap the hives with O.A. at least twice. in mid august i treat with apiguard. in mid november 2 more O.A. treatments. i also have been making queens off of some saskatraz queens. i watch these queens for hygienic behavior & choose the best of the lot. i haven't really got my act together to raise queens so what i've done is allow the hives with the best queens build up to the point of swarming & then i start nucs with frames that have swarm cells. i'm pulling supers now so when i'm finished extracting i'm going to try to raise some queens.
