Yesterday was the summer solstice (also sometimes referred to as the change of days) in the northern hemisphere. I don't have any pictures to post about this - just wanted to note that beginning with the summer solstice, the queen in the bee hive slows down her laying. She continues to slow until the winter solstice when she begins to build back up for spring.
Ross Conrad gave a talk at Young Harris a couple of years ago in which he said that splitting your hives after the solstice would be a good varroa control. The split causes one half of the split to be without a queen until they can make their own, so the varroa mite foundress (the great mother mite) has nowhere to lay her eggs until egg laying begins again with the new queen. This interrupts the varroa cycle and helps your bee hive rid itself of mites.
Apparently despite the slow down of the queen in a hive that is chugging along toward winter, the queen in a new split after the solstice acts like a spring queen and works hard to build up quickly, knowing that winter is just around the corner.
Ross Conrad gave a talk at Young Harris a couple of years ago in which he said that splitting your hives after the solstice would be a good varroa control. The split causes one half of the split to be without a queen until they can make their own, so the varroa mite foundress (the great mother mite) has nowhere to lay her eggs until egg laying begins again with the new queen. This interrupts the varroa cycle and helps your bee hive rid itself of mites.
Apparently despite the slow down of the queen in a hive that is chugging along toward winter, the queen in a new split after the solstice acts like a spring queen and works hard to build up quickly, knowing that winter is just around the corner.
Thanks for posting this. I have a nuc with queen cells that should have emerged this past weekend. Hopefully, she'll be "gearing-up" for the fall.
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