Hello Beekeepers,
Congratulations on joining the journey to move toward self-sufficient & resilient beekeeping that has the potential for improved winter survivability and healthier bees. With your Lloyd St. VSH virgin queens you may observe the post summer solstice mated queen phenomenon of a vibrant young summer queen that is an egg laying machine while spring queens are slowing down egg laying. Post summer solstice mated queens are less likely to swarm the following spring. With the brood break caused by making a summer split Varroa mites can be nearly eliminated prior to winter.
Managing VSH virgin queens:
- For virgin queen installation success please follow Trevor Bawden’s instructions
- Please remember after removing the plugs on the queen cages during the next couple of days do not “peek” into your splits for at least two weeks. During the two weeks wait period you may observe forager bees bringing pollen into the splits, a sign that there is a mated virgin queen.
- Prior to the capping of brood use an oxalic acid treatment. You can use the dribble or vapor techniques. My preference is the 42 to 56 day VarroxSan strip treatment. The oxalic acid treatment coupled with the VSH genetic trait of the queens will increase the odds for reducing the damage of Varroa mites.
- If you feel the need to feed the summer splits wait until the virgin queen is mated with capped brood. In July we discuss ideas for feeding the summer split in preparation for winter.
If you have questions, please let me know.
Happy Beekeeping!
Tim Olsen
507-227-5919
