I have 2 top bar hives based on Les Crowder's design. I populated both just this year, one with a swarm and one with a nuc (yes, I had to trim the nuc langstroth frames to fit in my top bar but that will have to be the topic of another thread). Anyway, in my attempts to follow Mel Disselkoen's advice I killed both queens in both colonies (i know, he recommends doing it on July 1st but I've got too much other stuff going on tomorrow so I did it today). It wasn't easy especially since the queen from the swarm was performing well. The one from the nuc didn't have a great laying pattern so that wasn't as difficult. I also notched some comb on bars that had 3 day old larva. This is suppose to stimulate the bees to create queen cells there. I guess now I need to check in a week to make sure queen cells have been made and capped. If everything goes as planned, I will split the swarm hive because it appears to be the stronger hive while letting the other just recreate a queen and hopefully carry one.
I guess my real question is not "am I crazy" (I already know I am). I'm really wondering if anybody else has done this sort of thing and what the results were?
Also, I'm trying this because I lost 2 hives last year from mites and this brood break is supposed to be a lot harder on the mites than the bees. In addition, I will be getting, hopefully, local genetics which should result in bees better adapted to my area. Trying to be treatment free last year failed miserably so I'm also considering treating the hive with oxalic acid on July 25th. There should be no capped brood in the hives at this time so it seems like a great opportunity to treat only once and get all the mites.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I guess my real question is not "am I crazy" (I already know I am). I'm really wondering if anybody else has done this sort of thing and what the results were?
Also, I'm trying this because I lost 2 hives last year from mites and this brood break is supposed to be a lot harder on the mites than the bees. In addition, I will be getting, hopefully, local genetics which should result in bees better adapted to my area. Trying to be treatment free last year failed miserably so I'm also considering treating the hive with oxalic acid on July 25th. There should be no capped brood in the hives at this time so it seems like a great opportunity to treat only once and get all the mites.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.