Table 1.
Timeline of the manipulations and data collection during the experiment
| 2017 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-June | September 12 | October 12 | October 18 | November 5 |
| 45 colonies equally formed with sister queens | Colonies reduced to one brood chamber | Probiotic treatment | Probiotic treatment | Colonies moved to indoor wintering facility |
| 24L 2: 1 sucrose feeding | Fumagilin treatment | Varroa sampling | ||
| Thymovar (Varroa treatment) | Varroa sampling | Vairispora sp. sampling | ||
| Varroa sampling | Hive weight | Hive weight | ||
| Vairispora sp. sampling | Bee cluster size | |||
| Broad area | ||||
| Hive weight | ||||
| Overwintering period (November, 2017 to April, 2018) | ||||
| 2018 | ||||
| April 20 | April 27 | May 4 | May 11 | May 31 |
| Colonies moved to spring apiary | Probiotic treatment | Probiotic treatment | Brood area | Brood area |
| Colony survival | Vairispora sp. sampling | Hive weight | Hive weight | |
| Hive weight | Varroa sampling | Varroa sampling | Varroa sampling | |
| Bee cluster size | ||||