I want to be treatment free, but after losing all my hive 2 yrs ago I have a new approach: monitor, and treat as needed, until I find mite resistant genetics that I can propogate.
So ... my daughter and I did inspections today. H1, h3, & H4 are chugging along as usual. This is a story about H5, and H10.
Both H5 & H10 were swarms this yr that my buddy called me to come get. Here's a quick background:
I had high hopes for H5. Large swarm captured 3-23-19, small bees, installed completely foundationless, filled 5 frames by 4-2-19, and 4 8-frame med boxes completely by 5-15-19. I treated them when they arrived, (just in case - since I had them broodless). Testy bees - they sting me when I go by on the tractor. They bump me when i walk by. They've raised havoc in the Apiary, raiding & destroying every Nuc I've tried this season. Every day they hang out in a large cluster on their doorstep. I took 2 more boxes to install on them today. ... I really had hope they'd be the genetics I was looking for.
H10 (4-6-10) was a disappointment from the start. Very gentle, slow growing, barely filled 10 medium frames by 5-15-19. I did not bother to treat them when they showed up - figured it wasn't worth the bother. They are side-by-side with H5. They survived H5's constant onslaught, but no more than that. The entrance to this hive is always so quiet, I often wondered if they were still there ...
Here's the inspection results from today :
H5 - less than 10 frames of bees inside, regardless of the large frontal cluster. Queen is there. Maybe 1.5 frames of brood. Testy as always. 4 mostly empty [of bees] boxes. Alcohol wash mite count: 58 mites - w-w-way too high. After building out 32 frames, this hive is basically dead at this point not even 3 months after capturing them.
H10 - surprised me - 3 5-frame boxes were completely filled out. Brood, Burr comb, and honey tucked everywhere. I gave them more room today and they moved right in. Even more suprising, alcohol wash mite count ... was Zero .... so I swished, shook, and swirled for an addition 60 seconds ... and then 1 lowly mite slowely drifted to the bottom. .... almost, ... but not quite girls ....
I don't know what the future holds for these hives. Maybe I've found what I'm looking for, and maybe I haven't. ... but I did learn this: Never pre-judge a hive from the outside .... thought I'd share that.
Have a great evening - cheers!