At our place, stopping her to lay will mean less bees which should nurse winter bees and at the end less winter bees. Our carnies also by themselves decrease brooding as season is going to an end. Since at my place there is no now significant forage I do stimulative feed to queen don't even more due to lack of forage decrease or stop laying. Stopping queen to lay at my place I believe will be suicide..
Yes stopping queen from laying for s long, would be suicide for you and me... BUT!
Eyeman said it just about right.
The guy who sold me bees, does more of professional bee production, than honey production. I asked him how to fight varroa. He said it like this (and this happens naturally for him):
After Acacia has passed, split hives in order to make more colonies. Newly formed colonies, are with old queen (or new if you work a little bit more), and by default without any comb, and any brood. You treat those newly formed colonies with any kind of treatment you prefer right away. You can even use amitraz since there is no comb yet.
The old hive, in which there is brood, you wait some time until all cells are hatched. Than you treat, and you introduce new queen (or if you caged old one...).
Obviously, you can wait for old colony to raise new queen, but if you don't want to loose time you will prepare queens by raising them in April or May.
This way you wait for winter treatment with OC, and that's it.
It is very logical. Especially if you are new beekeeper and you want to expand, or if you are already commercial beekeeper, and you want to sell nucs. In second case, it would be matter of good business habit to supply your customers with new queens, instead delivering them your old queens.
Yes it seems like a lot of work, and it is, but if you love your bees, than there is no such thing as a lot of work. (Same goes for any animals. I keep two goats, and i have to the same amount of work for them, as for ten goats. I used to keep 20 goats, so i would know)
Cheers all.
