I am wanting to start being treatment free beekeeper. I feel that ?man? thinks he knows how to make nature better by changing how nature intended. I feel we have weakened bees natural defenses with chemicals upsetting the homeostasis of hive and making things worse by increasing bee size with today?s foundation. Anyway, I want to begin changing to chemical free, small and/or natural comb. I follow Michael Bush mgmt introducing empty frames with starter sticks or comb. Try to place a few in each hive couple times during flow. Also going to introduce small cell wax foundation as I recycle out old comb. This will take some time to replace all my hives at this pace. How can I keep mite counts down during this long process without treating and tainting my ?new? comb? Any help appreciated....Matt
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Hi Matt
I'm in Charlotte NC surrounded by miticide dependent operations. I keep about 20 colonies (intend some increase in 2020) in three locations. I don't use miticides and have not for four years.
I am successful to the degree that my over-winter survival is as good or better than folks around me and I make increase every year with honey and bees to sell.
I take a beating, though, on my honey production on a per-hive basis. Part of that is because of swarm management choices but a lot of it is because my fall and winter bees are spending a lot of energy battling pests that they could be getting fat and happy. So my spring clusters are small and a generation or two behind the other guys' bees that got OAV in September and November. I try to make up for it by stealing brood from several hives to feed into one production hive. It works, but I still make less honey than if I had more, healthier bees.
I would recommend to find a TF queen producer local to you, make a purchase, and start a conversation about how that particular line of bees is best managed in your area.
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