Well, I dripped my hives yesterday! Since I've never been in my hives at this time of year before, it was fun to have the OA as an excuse to peak and see where everyone was at. I was pleased by the population in several of my boxes, most were about what I was expecting (again, good, I think), and there was only one that has a smaller population than I'd like. I don't have great expectations for them.
Finski, thank you for your constant reminders about not overcomplicating your recipe: 100 grams sugar, 100 grams water, 7.5 grams OA! Because, of course, I tried to find a conversion for grams to cups because I was making more than one batch. But when I got done putting the water in the pot, I thought about your advice and measured the water again on my kitchen scale. The weight was more than it should have been, so I reduced to what was proper. Might not have done that if you weren't here drilling it into our heads! Thanks, again!
Now I get to wait and see. I don't have a good way to try a mite count as my SBB are self made and I can't get a sticky board under them without tilting the entire hive. I also have entrance reducers permanently screwed onto the fronts so the skunks can't knock them off or the bees can't push them out. I will keep an eye one them, though, as I check for food stores. I have spacers on all my hives to allow for sugar feeding, so I can peak at them, if needed.