Well Phill I have this thing about treating bees. I don't know how that is going to go with the inspector.
Good morning Ace. I understand you are treatment free, ok by me.
FYI: the Italians the Germans rear hives by the thousands treatment free, successfully. I have been studying their methods very closely. They create brood breaks, cage the queen, remove capped brood, use trap comb, split. Time intervals are important.
Also, recently learned: When all capped brood is removed, Varroa change physiology. When capped brood is available, the Varroa change physiology again. The point being the change in physiology, a weakness of Varroa, can be exploited to the advantage of the beekeeper, no chemicals are used.
I am changing subject with this post so I am going to cut short and not go into the details of the successful treatment free methods by the beeks across the pond.
Bees can be managed treatment free, nothing to do with small cell nor a special gene pool, that is the so called hygenic bee.
