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Share your experiences and advice on using treatments to become treatment free (TF).
I have similar climate. Mine survived last year on 1 deep and 1 med super fullI suspect that in MA you will need two 10 frame mediums of capped stores per hive going into winter. If your bees store more than that, maybe save it for spring but do not try to "manage" their carb intake. I missed a feeding on an overwintered nuc that had run out of stores and and they starved to death in four days.
Find a location to keep bees that has a robust and sustained population of feral bees nearby. Cutout some old established colonies, trap some feral swarms, or purchase some untreated and long established bees. Don’t treat them. Keep fairly small, natural sized colonies. Make nucs or trap swarms to replace colonies that are lost. Keep a few more colonies than you want to use for producing honey. Relax, take deep breaths, and let the bees sweat the hard stuff.Share your experiences and advice on using treatments to become treatment free (TF).
I'm not moving!Find a location to keep bees that has a robust and sustained population of feral bees nearby. Cutout some old established colonies, trap some feral swarms, or purchase some untreated and long established bees. .
Who is 100% denier?Another heretic;
What's the difference in "stress" on the bees (or soft Bond) between hard treating and soft treating? Either way you are making them survive in the hope you can spot the cure. If it were not for the 100 % problem, no treatment and breed from the survivors is the obvious long term path.
Lecture all you want for "stressing" the bees, just don't be a 100% denier.