Last week, I implemented my home-built drone/mite catcher, an integral component of a Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy targeting varroa mites. This week, I observed remarkable progress as the bees have constructed approximately 80% of the comb in the designated space, notably bypassing the plasticell foundation above. Upon close inspection, it is evident that the queen has already laid eggs in nearly every cell. The next critical step is to precisely time the removal of the comb, ensuring that I’m not raising mites but killing them before emergence. If I recall correctly, let's see, how many days is it? 24? And they are probably already 3 into it so, that makes it about June 14th and I want to be early so I’ll mark my calendar to extract them on the 10th or 11th.
Additionally, I have one hive that is struggling due to the previous queen's failure to survive, necessitating a requeening. As a result, the population in that hive has been declining due to no brood. To address this, I transferred a few strong frames from the robust hive to the weaker one to provide additional heat and increase the number of workers. This intervention should bolster the weaker hive's recovery and strength.