covering hives for weeks at a time to suppress queen from laying

here in the south it does not get cold all that much so my bees always have brood. my hopes is if i cover my hives with black plastic,they would think its dark and she would not lay. that way i would get a long break in brood to help keeps mites down. would this work or is it far fetch.

If you are looking to break the brood cycle, wouldn't it be better just to split the hive?

cage the queen for a few weeks

Temp is also a very important factor. The black plastic will just make the bees thing it is spring earlier.

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Originally Posted by monrovi

If you are looking to break the brood cycle, wouldn't it be better just to split the hive?

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I do that a lot but here in the south I can't split in the winter some nights it still get in the teens every once in a while. I still have good mite count this time of year. I figured if could do something like this in dec and jan I could cut down on mites going into spring, maybe get a head start on them. Also help my hives not have as much brood when those cold snaps come.

Don't think it will work, plus could cause other problems.

However, sounds like you want to do it anyway. So try it on a few hives, then you'll have a definate answer, might surprise!

If it turns out it doesn't get the desired result, I'm with Michabees, caging the queen would be the safest way.

Warning though, we have brood all winter where I am also, and I have tried caging queens for 6 weeks for the same reasons. But at the end of 6 weeks testing showed the mite count had not reduced much, if any. So I removed the caged queens, did something else to help the mites on their way, and put the queens back. All up though it was too much work, too complex, haven't done it again.