From MAILER-DAEMON Sat Jun 17 06:53:29 2000 Received: from listserv.albany.edu (listserv.albany.edu [169.226.1.24]) by luna.oit.unc.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id GAA29401 for ; Sat, 17 Jun 2000 06:53:28 -0400 (EDT) Received: from listserv.albany.edu (listserv.albany.edu [169.226.1.24]) by listserv.albany.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id GAA10470 for ; Sat, 17 Jun 2000 06:53:11 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <200006171053.GAA10470@listserv.albany.edu> Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 06:53:11 -0400 From: "L-Soft list server at University at Albany (1.8d)" Subject: File: "BEE-L LOG0004D" To: adamf@METALAB.UNC.EDU Content-Length: 100472 Lines: 2134 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 22:25:58 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Bob Harrison Subject: Dr. Erickson apology Dr. Erickson, I would like to apologize for mistakenly believing that it was your experimental hives you were personally using in resistant experiments for Varroa,that the strips were in along with the patties,even though I had heard it from participants from the conference,and just assumed that they were the same hives,because of your recently published article in the American Bee Journal page 931 in December 1999. Further I had no idea that the Tucson Bee Lab had other hives and those were actually being treated with strips and fed pollen patties because of stress and being in an underfed apiary used in other experiments. I publicly apologize for my obvious mistaken belief that it was Dr. Ericksons experimental hives and would promise to be more observant and factual checking out the apparent misinformation received from the convention participants before saying something like that again about treated hives with strips and patties. Bob Harrison U.S.A. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 11:10:18 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Rodney Angell Subject: how long will queens survive Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit MIME-Version: 1.0 (WebTV) I received three queens three days ago so they have been in the cage for about a week. The bees are moving around slowly in the cage so I placed them in a hive with the corks still in so they couldn't get out. Is that the correct thing to do seeing that the weather is rainy for the next couple days. Will the bees tend to them in the hive and feed them. I have heard that they will and if so how long can i leave them there. Any reponse will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Rodney ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 22:50:55 -0500 Reply-To: busybeeacres@discoverynet.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: bob harrison Subject: Re: how long will queens survive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Rodney Angell wrote: > > I received three queens three days ago so they have been in the cage for > about a week. The bees are moving around slowly in the cage so I placed > them in a hive with the corks still in so they couldn't get out. Rodney, How long will queens survive? Everyday they are in a queen cage away from a hive of bees in my opinion lessons their chances. Queens can be kept in the house for a week but i like to have nucs allready made up before queens arrive. I have put many queens in in the rain when nucs are allready made up. Just cut out the queen cells later if any. If your queens were sent with a apistan queen tab take those off as soon as you receive. Most queen breeders send instructions saying to remove upon arrival. Bee supply houses have noticed the systems you describe when Apistan tabs have been left on cages. I get my queens in a box with a couple pounds of bees around them and without attendents. I believe queens ship better that way. A old package box you can usually get free for the asking works great when a pound or two of bees are shook in on top of queens. The syrup feeder can be filled and you can keep that way. The best senario is to be ready when queens arrive. You don't want to be standing in the yard with a queen in your hand and realize you don't have enough brood to make splits. Also the first thing i do upon queen arrival is put a drop of water on screen of queen cage and everyday if kept in house. You will probabbly be ok by putting queens in a queenright hive but a queenless nuc or nuc with a couple pounds of bees and a frame of honey might be a better choice. You didn't say which queen cages you received and if you were using the queens for requeening or increase. I might have been able to help better with more information. Bob Harrison U.S.A. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 20:50:48 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Mike Subject: Re: re breeding for varroa tolerance (or resistance) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit John Mitchell wrote, in part, "they can live together, the way a parasite and its host are supposed to live,". Living together and host and parasite are not mutually compatible. If he were to change the word parasite to symbiote then the statement might work. By definition, parasite means one organism living upon another to the detriment of the host organism. From my moderate level of knowledge, I don't think that will ever happen in the case of Varroa and honey bees. Mike Stoops Lower Alabama, USA ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 12:55:38 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: HStarJE@AOL.COM Subject: Re: Counting varroa MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Where can one get a copy of the random grid pattern of back/white squares for sampling varroa drop? Apologies if I missed this earlier. Cesar Flores Colorado ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 08:01:21 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Richard Drutchas Subject: Chalkbrood MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Has anyone out there ever heard of putting a cut up banana into your bee hive to clean up chalkbrood. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 08:13:34 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "C.R. Crowell" Subject: Re: how long will queens survive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Three queens, caged, placed on a small scrap of wood, on top of a queen excluder, covered with an empty super above a queenright hive - lasted better than two weeks before being "called to report for duty". The bees came up and tended to them (It even snowed the second day they were housed this way - a late spring snow in Central New Jersey). Some attendants didn't make it but all three queens were OK. /C.Crowell ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 06:54:20 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Flumethrin MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" This message was originally submitted by mts@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU to the BEE-L list at LISTSERV.ALBANY.EDU. It was edited to remove all but the original query which originated as off-list correspondence between Mr. A.A. Moulder and Dr. Malcolm (Tom) Sanfordand, who forwarded the correspondence to BEE-L for comment. If anyone has a response, please respond to BOTH BEE-L@listserv.albany.edu AND aam@argonet.co.uk (Mr. Moulder is not a BEE-L subscriber). "Mr. A.A. Moulder" wrote: > > Hello Malcolm > > forgive me for bothering. > > I am trying to find methods for determining > > the above in wax & honey. > > I wonder if you could help ? > > Best regards > > Albert Moulder > -- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 09:07:05 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: Re: URGENT INFORMATION REQUEST Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit it is my sincere belief that the lamentable but inevitable introduction of varroa into nz will result in a significant disruption of the apicultural scenario... however, in my opinion, the direct effect of varroa will not be as damaging as the many misguided attempts to manage the mites, ranging from quarantines to treatments... would strongly suggest a laissez-faire approach towards natural/ artificial selection of survivor stocks, both feral and domestic, with minimal manipulations in order to reduce beekeeper-induced stress and encourage tolerance/resistance in the bee population as a whole... a careful review of the global experience with this parasite will reveal that the indirect effects of secondary pathogens (especially activated/ vectored viruses) as well as the strain/species of varroa introduced may well be the critical factors, and the maintenance of biodiversity in the exotic host species (apis mellifera) is crucial to their survival... with this in mind, aided perhaps by beekeeper subsidies to stay the course, the situation should stabilize within a decade or so and a re-normalized apiculture will be the result, avoiding bee-products' chemical contamination and perpetual pharmaceutical dependency... best of luck in your monumental endeavor! ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 09:58:46 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Elizabeth Petofi Subject: Re: Chalkbrood MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wouldn't that be just the thing to attract wax moths? Richard Drutchas wrote: > Has anyone out there ever heard of putting a cut up banana into your bee > hive to clean up chalkbrood. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 09:37:04 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Re: Chalkbrood MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > Has anyone out there ever heard of putting a cut up banana into your bee > hive to clean up chalkbrood. This may be a revelation that is getting out of context and proportion. I heard such a story at the fall meeting of the Empire State Honey Producers Association meeting at which a Florida queen breeder spoke. When asked for his recipe for supplemental feeding, the recipe included the usual stuff (pollen, pollen substitute (such as Bee-Pro or soy flour and yeast), sugar syrup) and the "secret ingredient" was mashed banana! The mashed banana as part of the recipe for pollen substitute was reported to clear up chalkbrood. The Florida queen breeder got the tip from some Eastern European beekeepers who visited the Florida operation. The eastern European beekeepers purportedly have inserted a sliced banana (lengthwise, skin included) into the hives to clear up chalkbrood. Claim is it works. The Florida queen breeder claims no chalkbrood problem and attributes it to the banana. I have not tried this home remedy nor have I even seen anything in print quoting scientific studies. Aaron Morris - thinking that's no banana, that's my nose! ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 10:47:11 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: Re: FW: Varroa Test Comments: To: peter@airborne.co.nz Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit see the fsba message board at: http://www.coolboard.com/boardshow.cfm/mb=363376572392178 or for the original report go to: http://ianrwww.unl.edu/ianr/entomol/beekpg/tidings/btid2000/btdjan00.htm#Article2 ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 11:06:59 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "David L. Green" Subject: Re: Chalkbrood MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 4/24/00 5:12:36 AM Pacific Daylight Time, stinger@TOGETHER.NET writes: > Has anyone out there ever heard of putting a cut up banana into your bee > hive to clean up chalkbrood. A friend of mine has tried it, with no apparent result. I've also heard claims about mineral supplements for livestock. I haven't tried them. Dave Green ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 12:20:45 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: Re: URGENT INFORMATION REQUEST Comments: cc: mts@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Dee A. Lusby 22 April 2000 Lusby Apiaries DBA: Arizona Rangeland Honey 3832 East Golf Links Road Tucson, Arizona 85713 Phone/Fax: 1-520-748-0542 Email: deelusbybeekeeper@mail excel.com . Subject: Reference your email Sat, 22 April 2000, 16:36:03 +1200 . New Zealand Varroa . To: Ron Law . Reference your email where you state you have been asked by the NZ Ministry of Agriculture and NZ Beekeepers Association to undertake an economic impact report into the impact that varroa mites might have on bee pollen, royal jelly, propolis and bee venom production. . You have asked me “From your experience and/or knowledge, could you please send me any information that you have regarding this. I’ve been asked to do a 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 year analysis.” . Response time required: Information to be collated within the next three days. Estimated date to respond therefore NLT 25 April 2000 if not sooner. . RESPONSE: . Having been through both Trachael Mites and Varroa Mites and come back, the following is forwarded: . Trachael Mites: Was then in the process of retrogressing our hives down from 5.44mm foundation sizing to 5.0mm - 5.1mm range. Period was: 1986 forward. Crash occurred 1988-89, climb back began with stabalization in 1990 and by 1993 numbers were back to near normal at approximately 900+ colonies. Began with 1,000 -1,100 colonies. Bottomed out at approx 395-400 colonies. . Varroa Mites: Was still adding 5.0mm - 5.1mm foundation when downswing started again, slowly at first, then gaining speed from about 1994 forward. This time began with approximately 900+ colonies. 1993 was a good wet year. In 1995 La Nina started to take effect adding much stress. In the fall of 1996 we had to make a choice after carrying water to colony locations for 2 1/2 years and dropping down in numbers to a little over 400 colonies. We decided no matter how bad the environment was, the bees had always survived before, therefore we decided to fine tune our hives further to match the environment. The lack of water and little natural forage helped to bring on much secondary disease even though we used no chemicals, drugs and antibiotics. (Dropped even use of PDB for honey super storage around 1995). . Decision was made to retrogress down again further to 4.9mm foundation beginning the spring of 1997. Hives were living with varroa, but production was now practically zero on all hive products; and high stress of carrying water and limited forage with La Nina was bringing on high levels of secondary diseases, namely chaulk, AFB, EFB and para-foulbrood. Disection of mummies in cells of dead worker bees showed mummies with varroa attached when pulled out with tweezers. Shook down hives old style, like AFB shakedown, in May of 1997 with a limited honey flow, on new un-drawn foundation. By August approx 250 colonies remained. Sampling was done for Varroa level by Tucson Bee Lab in September 1997 and results were pulished in ABJ in a Letter to Editor December 1997 after only five months of being on 4.9mm comb. (Suggested reading, no subsequent testing has been done, though requested.) . In the spring of 1998 we bottomed out at approximately 104 colonies having survived the shakedown and the winter. All colonies surviving were on 2-4 frames of drawnout 4.9mm foundation, with feeder packs sustaining them through the winter, with a policy to either kill or cure to get down to straight survivership only and cut out the weak genetics. We have now climbed back steadily ever since in numbers. . Only tradition beekeeping methods have been employed with no use of drugs, essential oils, or chemical treatments. With the shakedown, we stopped the use of propolis patties we were using in place of TM. Secondary diseases cleared up for the most part, so now we can look at an average of 300+ colonies and maybe find only a few frames to pull of any disease, to fill maybe one deep super if we are unlucky. . Colony number are now back up to between 450-500 colonies and at the rate we are drawing out foundation, hope to be well over 600+ colonies this year. The comeback has been slower than expected with both mites in the area as we felt we should have reached this goal a year ago. To augment, all available feral swarms are located and are absorbed into our outfit, to help give us the widest dispersal of genetic material available to work with. . We have gone for straight survivalability, then building of variability, while increasing colony numbers without the use of drugs, chemicals or essential oils. Now between 450-500colonies, we have achieved basic colony numbers in three major geographic local areas of Southern Arizona. This fall of 2000 we will finally start breeding again for selection for desired characteristics we wish to fine tune to add to survivalability. . Our colonies are now finishing drawing out the fourth deep super and in some cases the fifth. We expect to be back to extracting honey sometime in May 2000 and make our first decent crop with black ink since 1995. We have not trapped pollen also since the Varroa hit. Do not know if we will now resume trapping pollen or start making nucs for others next year. Many have been calling us to see if we will sell brood nest conversion packages of 3-4 frame nucs, with extra 4.9mm foundation, to complete a 1-2 box brood nest. That decision still has to be made. . Some limited statistics I can give you on production are: . Pollen Honey =============================================================== 1991 first yr trapping 1080 lbs 1990 ........................... 34 barrels (55gal) 1992 ........................ 7946 lbs 1991 ...........................53 barrels ( “ ) 1993 ........................10744 lbs 1992 ............................98 barrels ( “ ) 1994 ........................ 9191 lbs 1993 ............................96 barrels ( “ ) 1995 ........................ 4229 lbs 1994 ............................61 barrels ( “ ) Pulled off traps fall of 1995 and put 1995 ............................47 barrels ( “ ) into storage.Could see stress too 1996 ............................5.5 barrels ( “ ) hard on bees with La Nina and bees 1997 .............................3.5 barrels ( “) needed pollen more than us to live. 1998 .............................11 barrels ( “ ) . 1999 .............................15 barrels ( “ ) . We have with the help of BEE-L incouragement,and a Mr Barry Birkey, who has a great web site and given much support, posted our beekeeping theory and actions for biological beekeeping on the internet for all to read. We are standing on full biolgical methods using naturally sized foundation to fit ones own region without the use of chemicals, drugs, and essential oils. . We believe that what we have been through shows that breeding alone is not the solution. We figure comb matching natural environment is 1/3, diet is 1/3 due to stress induced without ample, and breeding is 1/3. . For those beekeepers in New Zealand wishing to read the full biological theory and what it requires go to Mr Barry Birkey’s web site at: www.beesource.com and pull up Lusby under Point of View. . As a final note. Suggest survey of colonies in New Zealand to see what size manufacturered foundation is in use. Anything larger than 4.9mm I do not feel you will survive on without much difficulty and treatment. Survey of climate and latitude and altitude zones for New Zealand would show to us that probably 4.8 - 5.0 is your comb size range, but only you can tell by accurate measurement of your feral population to see what they want to naturally build and survive on. . .Respectfully Submitted: Dee A. Lusby ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 20:53:58 -0400 Reply-To: mpalmer@together.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Palmer Organization: French Hill Apiaries Subject: Re: how long will queens survive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit C.R. - Try laying a cloth (I use a wool one) on top of the cages, covering the entire excluder. Keeps the heat in so the cluster won't recede from the caged queens. Mike C.R. Crowell wrote: > Three queens, caged, placed on a small scrap of wood, on top of a queen > excluder, covered with an empty super above a queenright hive > /C.Crowell ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 23:27:10 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Ted Fischer Subject: Re: how long will queens survive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I routinely bank all my queens on the top bars of queenright hives as soon as they arrive in the mail. I usually order 75 queens and install them all myself, so the job cannot be done in a day or two - usually takes about a week. The attendant bees always die or are killed within the first day, but the queen survives nicely and is in great shape until I can get around to installing her. I set the queen cages on their sides and invert a 1 1/2 inch high wooden tray with hive dimensions over the cages and put the cover over that. I pick the queens out then as I need them. Ted Fischer Dexter, Michigan USA ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 15:11:52 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Ed Costanza Subject: Re: how long will queens survive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Two years ago I had 30 queens shipped to do splits with. They were shipped in a bank with about a 1/2 pound of bees. I could only do about 1/2 the splits so I read somewhere that I could put them in a queenless nuk and the nuk would take care of all queens. So I took a queenless hive, put 2 frames of honey and 2 frames with pollen and placed the whole bank with the remaining queens in the center (still in their individual cages. I would then take a queen out from time to time to make splits with or to requeen a week hive with. I used this nuk with the bees still in thier cages for about 7 weeks until I had used all the queens. The bees in the nuk took great care of all the queens. I also noticed very little problem in the hives in which I put the queens as I used them. I intend to continue to use this method to keep queens I want to have on hand for requeening. From time to time I lose a queen or need to replace a failing queen. It convenient to go to my queen bank and remove a queen. It is also more cost effective for me to order more queens that can be shipped in a bank and easier on the queens when they have more bees to attend to them than when they are shipped in a cage with five or so attendant bees. I have had experiences where the queens that were shipped to me have arrived dead or near dead and the queen is so stressed that she has become ineffective. Even though the breeders have always shipped replacements immediately, the wait can be costly. Ed ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 17:15:25 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Adony Melathopoulos Subject: kill chalkbrood kill.. notes on thymol and a survey MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Since we are on the topic of fruity smelling things and chalkbrood may I add thymol on the list of potential cures. Vita Europe produces a thymol gel product called Apiguard. Their web page claims (get to it through www.beekeeper.com): ' (Apiguard) has a proven high efficacy against the varroa mite and is also active against both tracheal mites and chalkbrood.' There are in fact 2 papers which support the claim that thymol may inhibit chalkbrood growth. The first one was conducted by the USDA (Calderone, Shimanuki and Allen-Wardell) and showed if you dissolved as little as 100ppm thymol in artificial media, a mummy of chalkbrood would not grow for 72h (it will about 2.5 cm radially when no thymol is present). The second study, unfortunate for me, is in French. Reading from the translated abstract, thymol slowed the growth of chalkbrood in the lab. The use of oil of savory, which contains 4% thymol but 32% carvacrol (another very smelly plant molecule), incorporated into candy and fed to colonies sustantially reduced the number of mummies found on the bottom board compared to untreated colonies. Does thymol cure chalkbrood? From the litterature their seems to be some basis for this, however I have not seen a study where thymol is applied to a colony and chalkbrood is reduced compared to untreated colonies. That does not mean that the study does not exist. Maybe if there isn't one, this might be a study worth looking into. Should you use thymol to combat chalkbrood? I would say no. First of all thymol is not a registered antibiotic. Second, the margin of toxicity at which thymol kills chalkbrood may not be so much different from the dose that kills bees. Most likely it is unknown. Studies performed by Chris Lindberg at Simon Fraser University suggest that thymol kills varroa mites at only 10 times the dose needed to kill bees. If the same holds true for chalkbrood it means unless thymol is carefully formulated, there is a risk that you will do damage to your colony. Before I would use thymol I would want to see a study where I saw that their was very little reduction in adult bee population, brood area or queen survival following treatment- it just stands to reason. SURVEY WHO WOULD REALLY TREAT FOR CHALKBROOD ANYWAYS? I run into beekeepers who swear they are loosing reams of spring brood to chalkbrood and others who just shrug and say the odd colony is bad and all that is needed is to requeen. For the record, what does BEE-L think: 1. What percentage of your colonies has levels of chalkbrood that you feel are costing you money (choose the closest)? - 0% - 25% - 50% - 75% - 100% 2. What kind of reduction in disease severity would be worth the effort of going on to the bee yard to take some action (choose the closest)? - 25% reduction - 50% - 75% - 100% 3. If there was a product, queen source or management technique that would leave you free of chalkbrood what would you pay per colony per season (choose the closest)? - $0.50 - $1.00 - $2.00 4. How bad does chalkbrood have to be before you will requeen (choose the closest)? - I don't requeen, it is too much money and effort for the return - a single mummy on a frame or a bottom board - I do not have to look far to see signs of mummies - a big pile of mummies in the frames and one the bottom board 5. If chalkbrood were a Hollywood villian who would it be (choose the closest)? - Pee Wee Herman - one of the bad guys out of a Die Hard movie - Scarface Okay. Let the answers roll in and i'll summerize the results for the list. Regards Adony ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 22:14:06 -0500 Reply-To: busybeeacres@discoverynet.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: bob harrison Subject: Re: URGENT INFORMATION REQUEST MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit tomas mozer wrote: > in my opinion, the situation should stabilize within a decade or so and a re-normalized > apiculture will be the result, avoiding bee-products' chemical contamination > and perpetual pharmaceutical dependency... >Hello Mr. Mozer, Although we have never met or talked I have long admired you from a distance. Although i now live in Missouri i grew up in DeLand,Florida with the late B. Green and Horace Bell. If we are to solve the Varroa problem as you believe can be done what steps would you recommend. 1. get all our bees on 4.9mm foundation? 2. quit medicating for varroa and raise queens from survivors? 3. perfect the line by breeding from the best of the best survivior queens. With all do respect Mr. Mozer i believe step 2&3 have been tried with some success but not total success by E.H. Erickson,A.H. Atmowidjojo and L.H. Hines. Being a retired bee inspector from Florida, a state which has had mite problems from the start, I respect your opinion. Its your opinion then that the missing link we are all looking for might be the small cell size? A friend of mine tried steps 2 & 3 with a operation around two thousand colonies. When his numbers dropped below 200 and he was almost bankrupt he bought 850 packages from the south,bought honey to keep from losing honey accounts and went to medicating. He was from a three generation beekeeping family and Grandpa had advised son and grandson to do steps 2&3. What you propose for a large beekeeper is expensive. Wouldn't a start be replacing all foundation with the smaller size for you area and then buying survivor queens from the many people raising those? In my opinion i don't believe steps 2&3 will solve the problem by itself. You really believe the small feral colony cell size 4.8mm to 5.0mm might be the missing link we have been looking for? So simple and right before us all the time. If you are right this could be the most important beekeeping discovery of this decade! Bob Harrison U.S.A. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 10:21:41 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Swintosky, Michael D." Subject: Varroa IPM Workshop Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Those of you in or near Northeast Ohio may be interested in this workshop. Please address inquiries directly to me. VARROA IPM WORKSHOP The Carroll County Bee Club has invited Diana Sammataro to present Integrated Pest Management strategies for controlling the varroa mite. Included will be an open hive demonstration of methods to assess mite infestation levels and judging when to treat with chemicals. Speaker: Diana Sammataro has extensive experience working with both tracheal and varroa mites. She is currently a Research Associate with the Penn State Department of Entomology working on IPM varroa control. She recently published an extensive review of the literature in the Annual Review of Entomology (2000, 45:519-548). Diana is co-author and illustrator of The Beekeeper's Handbook, now in its 3rd edition. Where: Dellroy Community Hall (Dellroy, Ohio) When: Saturday, June 17, 2000 Time: 9am to Noon Cost: $10 in advance, $12 at the door Contact: Mike Swintosky, (330) 735-2865 (evenings), swintosk@timken.com (8am-5pm) Make checks payable to: Carroll County Bee Club Mail to: Mike Swintosky, 242 Clay Rd, Dellroy, OH 44620 PROGRAM Sign In & Socialize - 8am to 9am Formal Talk w/ Slides, etc 1. IPM techniques - when and how to apply 2. Counting mites 3. Threshold for using chemicals (choosing Apistan vs. CheckMite) 4. Resistance to chemicals 5. Other issues (e.g. illegal treatments) Hive Inspection (drive to location) 1. Evidence of the presence of varroa 2. Demonstration of varroa counting techniques POTLUCK COOKOUT (Monroe Township Park) You are invited to join the Carroll County Bee Club in a potluck cookout after the program. Bring your own covered dish and utensils if you wish. We are asking a $2 donation to offset the cost of burgers, hotdogs, drinks, setups, etc. The park is just down the street from the Dellroy Community Hall. NOTE: Diana has a "hobby" collecting honeybee motif fabrics. She will have fabrics and items sewn from them available for sale. DIRECTIONS Inquire, or send self addressed stamped envelope for map and detailed directions. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 20:28:10 +0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: crpost Subject: BEE COURSE - CAPE TOWN - SOUTH AFRICA MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit If I may respectfully submit the following notice: The Western Cape Bee Industry Association is convening its annual beekeeping course at the Elsenburg Agricultural Institute near Cape Town during May and June 2000. All welcome. For more information or a copy of the program, contact Robert or Deborah Post at (021) 988-8842 or e-mail crpost@telkomsa.net. Many thanks. Robert Post convener WCBA Bee course 2000 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 15:11:31 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: Re: URGENT INFORMATION REQUEST Comments: cc: busybeeacres@discoverynet.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit must start off by admitting we don't have the "correct" answers to any of these questions...the only "right" answers are the ones the bees give us, and they may or may not be appropriate to our own particular situations/conditions/locations/realities... my conjectures are based on circumstantial evidence at best, gleaned from observations made over nearly two decades of semi-professional beekeeping, but believe they are valid within certain sets parameters though by no means all possibilities... so much for the disclaimers, now for some replies to your questions...took the liberty of forwarding the lusbys' response to the original posting back to the list as well as wenner's since they had not appeared online and felt their experiences were representative of the alternative approaches we need to consider even if we don't agree with all of their assertions... 1. get all our bees on 4.9mm foundation? did not at any time imply that this was my recommendation or the "missing link", although do believe that appropriate (to the bee strain) combcell size may have an effect as reported by ericson et al.'s research at the tucson usda lab, and would suggest that replacement of contaminated comb likewise could be beneficial (ask h.bell about his culled-comb mound in deland) albeit something not all beekeepers could afford to do...the question is how long can they afford not to? 2. quit medicating for varroa and raise queens from survivors? that's the only way for natural selection to work, and even then the nature of the population as a whole is important...ideally there is enough biodiversity available for artificial selection to speed up the process, as is the case wherever africanization and/or european remnants of earlier introductions exist (like the southwest and parts of the southeast)...perhaps the minimal mainstream commercial beekeeping in some of these places has left refuges for those hardier strains to survive on their own? 3. perfect the line by breeding from the best of the best survivior queens...am not sure if our breeding strategies aren't a part of the problem, certainly what is advertised "resistant" is often suspect even with the best intentions of being the real "solution"...believe that the bees themselves will solve the "problem", especially as we come to accept africanization as part of the solution, including the inevitable impact of the cape bee thanks to the unavoidable effects of globalization... ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 11:22:15 -1000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Walter Patton Subject: National Honey Board Legislation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE US Beekeepers Pay Attention S.O.B (Save Our Beekeepers) Deadline for Comments April 28, 2000 three days from now Only yesterday did information from the National Honey Board arrive in my US mail giving notice of this proposed rule making by USDA. Unfortunate, or on-purpose for the short notification??? Copies of the Honey Research, Promotion and Consumer Information Order can be gotten from www.nhb.org see legislation box. On quick inspection this order seems to deal with all phases of the National Honey Board. I am still printing out hard copies 20 pages for Federal Registry Posting and 30 pages of redline proposal. How to make comments information is located in the text. Serious US beekeepers should be interested in this legislation as drafted with heavy influence by the US honey packers/foreign honey importers I would suspect that the packers have it in their best interest at the expense of the US beekeepers. Have the National Beekeeper magazines been advising the beekeepers about this legislation??? U S Beekeeper need to get off their lethargic backsides and stand united demanding the National Honey Board only promote US honey. Walter Patton ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 17:56:10 -0500 Reply-To: busybeeacres@discoverynet.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: bob harrison Subject: Re: URGENT INFORMATION REQUEST Comments: To: tomas mozer MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit tomas mozer wrote: > > must start off by admitting we don't have the "correct" answers to any of > these questions... I believe after over 10 years with the mites we have learned about all we need to know to solve the problem. I believe and have for over twenty years that man created the varroa problem with his large cell foundation. At Apis Cerana call size varroa can barely repoduce. At the size we use today varroa can repoduce at huge rates. If IPM is the solution for varroa our best beekeeping minds have come up with then cell size would be first on my list. How long can we afford to ignore cell size? > 1. get all our bees on 4.9mm foundation? > did not at any time imply that this was my recommendation or the "missing > link", although do believe that appropriate (to the bee strain) combcell > size may have an effect as reported by ericson et al.'s research at the > tucson usda lab. On this point i believe Erickson,Atmowidjojo, Hines and i agree completely that cell size should be researched further. I have allready seen enough of the results of Dee Lusby's research to convince me. I approached Dadant in 1985 about running the small cell foundation and they indicated they would if the demand was there for it. Around 1980 i began following the Varroa problem in Europe. I was amazed that history repeated itself and we did exactly like they did right down to the coumaphos. In my book mistakes are ok as long as you learn from and don't repeat them. In my opinion we should really think hard about the advice we give New Zealand. NZ is the perfect to try a different approach. They have got a world renown group of beekeepers. We did exactly like the european beekeepers did and ten years later had exactly the same results right down to coumaphos. Problem is we have never had a 100% varroa control with approved chemicals. Why not do strickly IPM in NZ and not use any chemicals? Do the old 1-2-3! 1. small cell size 2. breed from survivors 3. perfect strain from survivors thru selective breeding. WOULD WE NOT BE IN A BETTER POSITION TODAY IF WE HADN"T TOOK THE EASY ROAD AND FOLLOWED EUROPE'S EXAMPLE ? , and would suggest that replacement of contaminated comb > likewise could be beneficial (ask h.bell about his culled-comb mound in > deland) albeit something not all beekeepers could afford to do...the > question is how long can they afford not to? I never question the things my x partner in bees does as he allways makes me look like a first year beekeeper later. When H. Bell is talking I am listening and not talking. Kind of like the old E.F. Hutton commercial! I replace quite a bit of comb each year but have been waiting for Dadant to make good on their word and start production of the old "900" foundation from the pre 1940's era. I believe cell size is 5.0 mm-5.1mm. > 2. quit medicating for varroa and raise queens from survivors? > that's the only way for natural selection to work. I guess thats why i am such a big supporter of small call foundation. I can afford to start using the small cell foundation each year instead of the size available today and over a period of time IPM (in my opinion)should stop varroa in its tracks like it has at Dee Lusby's. However i can't afford to stop treating like Dee did and risk bankruptcy. I wish i could but the last 15 years have been pretty lean in the bee business! Maybe "Uncle Sam" would bankroll me for the next ten years while i do step 2 and then forgive my debt later like they do with the foriegn countries? Those people in congress need to quit sending the beekeeping industry "get well cards" and send money! Also i could afford to buy truly resistant queens from the sources out there if they can prove to me they are truly resistant. With the shape of the industry today i can'd afford to be wasting money on a dream but don't mind going out on a limb for a SOLUTION! Enjoyed your ideas and courage to express your opinions. Refreshing to hear new ideas. Especially with the developements in NZ. Bob Harrison U.S.A. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 11:42:47 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: glbarbor@JUNO.COM Subject: Re: how long will queens survive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Rodney, I agree with Bob Harrison that every day the queens are out of a functioning colony is bad, however, I have kept queens successfully for three weeks, and friends have kept them for five weeks by banking them in the top of a queenright colony. I suspect they might supercede quickly, but they do seem to function for a time. There are a number of articles in the BEE-L archives. Do a search on "BANKING" or "QUEEN BANKING." Jerry in PA ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 23:19:01 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Bob Harrison Subject: important bee sting research Hello all, I did a post on IBL regarding bee sting research so thought i would run on bee-L to try to find out if anyone knows if his research was successful. I have searched and can not find the doctors card. I believe if you contact Troy Fore of the American Beekeeping Federation he could supply the doctors phone number. I do believe i remember his name and city from his talk. Maybe a California beekeeper or ABF member at the convention could correct me if i am wrong. Dr. Steve Carstens MD. La Jolla , California Dr. Carstens gave a talk and took donated beekeeper blood at the 1993 ABF convention in Kansas City, Missouri. He had a nurse with him and was set up the first day. I came the second day and he allready had all the blood he needed. The doctor told us that from 2 liters of blood he could make 500 shots which when given to a person likely to experiance anaphlaxis they would not experiance any reaction at all just like the beekeeper with imunity. He had found in beekeepers blood the whatever that causes beekeepers to be imune from stings. He said in two years the shots would be available with FDA approval. If any readers of bee-l know if his shots were approved or the status of his research i have interested people. Thanks! Bob harrison U.S.A. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 22:37:07 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Scott Moser Subject: Beekeeper Olympics MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Greetings all, Since there are Olympics this year, I thought it might be neat to come up with a "Beekeepers Olympics" for our annual picnic this year. I have come up with 3 events so far, but need help from others. I have never heard of such a thing, but I can't believe that I am the first person to think of something like this. The 3 events I have so far are: 1. Smoker Lighting Contest-Contestants who successfully light their smoker the fastest. 2. Continuously Burning Smoker- Beekeeper whose smoker stays lit the longest without any attention. 3. Queen Finding- Contestant with the fastest time finding an unmarked queen. I could use more suggestions/ideas from people all over. If you have ever done anything like this, let me know. Feel free to e mail me at: s_moser@mailcity.com Thanks! Scott Visit the Jefferson County Beekeepers Association web site at: http://JeffersonCoBeekeepers.homestead.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 07:25:46 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "C.Crowell" Subject: Re: Laying workers - followup MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I had a hive with laying workers - tried to requeen twice unsuccessfully before I realized what I had. Hive was still in two brood supers (no honey supers). Put it on the truck & drove about 100 yards away across a small field. Dumped all the bees out, removed each frame and brushed the bees off, then placed the frames one by one in an empty brood super. Any scattered drone brood I uncapped. Then replaced the now empy hive back in its original position. The next morning there was a sizable cluster of field bees in the lower super, with few bees upstairs. I pulled off the upper super, put a sheet of newspaper over the bottom super, then replaced the upper super. Then I took out four frames of comb from the upper super and replaced them with four frames from a four frame nuc with brood and queen. I also added a division feeder with 1-1 syrup. Four days later the bees had worked through the paper and I just removed the rest of it - they seem to be doing fine. /C.Crowell ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 07:45:44 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Re: Beekeeper Olympics MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hive tool toss (sort of like yard darts). Honey bucket toss (like the discus). Equipment assembly judged by time and style. Aaron Morris - thinking go for the gold! ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 08:39:45 -0500 Reply-To: busybeeacres@discoverynet.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: bob harrison Subject: Re: Beekeeper Olympics MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Scott Moser wrote: > I could use more suggestions/ideas from people all over. 1. fastest time putting 10 nails into a frame 2. Hive hefting contest. Bob harrison ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 09:34:49 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "C.Crowell" Subject: Re: Beekeeper Olympics MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Here's an event I recently trained for: Timed re-entry into locked pickup (keys inside, engine running) while surrounded by cloud of angry bees from a laying worker hive you just evicted. You're only allowed a hive tool! Calls to AAA not permitted (even if they agree to come w/bee suits). /C.Crowell ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 14:58:11 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: Re: URGENT INFORMATION REQUEST Comments: cc: mts@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit compendium cross-posted from sci.agriculture.beekeeping newsgroup _________________________________________________________________ Carman wrote in message news:8d2lrg$2lm$1@news.wave.co.nz... > Greetings All > The NZ beekeeping industry and beekeepers are presently in turmoil. > Varoa mite has been confirmed at 5 sites in Auckland which is one of our > major ports, the Beekeepers assoc. is asking the hard questions of border > control regarding how this has happened when we have been historically free > from Varoa mite. > It is likely the mite has been here 4-5 years Very sorry to hear that you have joined the club. I do hope that your government will not now make the same mistakes as so many others. My advice would be: 1 In view of the length of time that you have had varroa you might as well accept that it is endemic. 2 There is therefore no point in destroying colonies or setting up exclusion zones. 3 It would be impossible for anyone to give you a simple 'answer' to varroa in a posting here - but have a look at the archives where you will find a great deal of useful material. 4 A search on 'varroa' will produce more web sites than you will read and digest in a week - perhaps a month! 5 There is a vast amount of literature that has been published - buy the books and start studying. 6 Treatment is broadly divided between 'hard' chemicals (e.g. Bayvarol, Apistan etc), soft chemicals (thymol, formic/lactic/oxalic acids) and mechanical (removal of drone brood etc). You will need to make up your own mind about them (hard chemical contaminate the wax and varroa is becoming resistant to them, soft chemicals may be less easy to use but some of us believe that they are more environmentally friendly, mechanical methods are hard work!). 7 Resistant bees are probably some way off - so do not rely on that one! 8 There is new hope the varroa can be controlled with fungi - some really promising work going on in this country. 9 Above all else - be vigilant. Varroa populations increase at an incredible speed and by the time that you notice that you have a problem it will probably be too late. Colonies can look very good at the end of the summer with huge populations which then collapse in weeks; the reason is that the brood is infested and the emerging bees will be damaged - so what appears to be a healthy colony is simply the old bees - and there will be nothing to replace them. I wish you the very best of luck and hope that you will learn from those who are already living with the problem. Don't give up - there is life (and beekeeping) after varroa - it is just a bit more difficult. [PETER EDWARDS, UK] Carman wrote in message news:8do1lh$u65$1@news.wave.co.nz... (shortened) > Now that Varroa is here in NZ....... > Anyway my query is this, in the countries which have the varroa mite, do > overseas beekeepers do migratory beekeeping? Hi Carman, Which part of North Is. are you? Varroa and migratory beekeeping: Yes, once the panicky stage is over and the V.j. are everywhere things get normal. I have seen migratory beekeeping big scale in Canada last autumn and it also happens small scale (nearer NZ scale, that is) here in UK. You are just going through an intermediate stage - so get ahead in your thinking and assume the V.j. are here to stay and that they are in every hive, whether it has been tested or treated, or not. That is to say - you can never get rid of them, there are always a few left, and it's a matter of keeping the numbers below the level when bees suffer big time from viruses. It's just a mental gearchange. N.Z. interests me from the point of view that you have a fairly homogeneous stock of bees, derived from a limited selection of genetic material. What are the consequences of this? - The most likely one is that they all suffer just as badly (or as little) as each other and you don't see such variation in reaction to V.j. as elsewhere. Could be bad news on the basis of 'all eggs in one basket'. Conversely, how few introductions of the mite do you have? Are the mites all alike and are they a strain that is already resistant to Apistan, for example? Tell us when you know, please. I can imagine the problems for people like Aretaki Honey, with bees stood still all over the island. At least it's the autumn and things have a chance to sort out before the new season. We think of you but we, some of us, do think that the New Zealanders were just a little bit smug about not having the troubles that the rest of the world has. Like you I leave honey in the hives in autumn - none of my hives has had any sugar syrup for years. It saves a lot of work and kit, which I pay for in less honey, but I'm just lazy, perhaps. (Nudge:- I hope I interpreted your term 'overseas' correctly as meaning everywhere except N.Z.) Martin MK UK Kia Ora ! "Carman" wrote: >Just heard on the news that the NZ beekeepers Association is recommending >the destruction of all Bees in the Varroa mite exclusion zone, which takes >in a big area. New Zealand is fortunate to be in a position to learn from the experiences in Europe and North America about varroa. Destroying hives with varroa is the most useless bit of beekeeping advice I've heard since the Texas Department of Agriculture established a quarantine zone for Africanized bees (the bees didn't obey). There may be some merit to the illusion that somebody is doing something about the problem but, unless there is 100% control of feral bees and swarming, it is almost certainly doomed to failure. On what basis is such advice given? Sorry to learn about the NZ mite problem, but best to face facts, learn from other regions, and deal with it accordingly. John Caldeira Dallas, Texas http://home.earthlink.net/~jcaldeira/beekeeping/ >I've never paid much attention to the varroa mite threads in this ng, as it >was not applicable to our situation, now i am forced to seek our as much >information as possble. It would be good to have as much information about >varroa mite as possible, and i would appreciate any good websites about >this pest and control measures. >How do you overseas beekeepers control or cope with the pest? Do you >destroy all hives? The bad news is that it will cost you more to keep bees. The really bad news is that those misguided persons who think they can exterminate it, when it has already become established may do a lot more damage. The good news is that it will make you a better beekeeper, if you allow it. You will become much more observant to tiny clues as you inspect your bees, things like the odor of the hive, for example. I'm not talking about foulbrood here; this odor is like getting hit with a bat. I'm talking about the faint sour odor that tells you that the bees are sick. If you are observant, the first place you are likely to see varroa is on the broken burr comb between the boxes, which has some developing drone brood. Each time you break apart boxes, check this drone brood. Don't be in a hurry to remove all burr comb; bees need some drones anyway. Of course hives that are already weak from varroa are apt to cease rearing drones, so the absence of drones in the season when they normally are present is another clue to trouble. >also i was reading a British book wish recommended a certain pesticide strip >to be hung between the frames. The book also spoke of a herbal essence >which could be attachedto sticky paper and hung between the frames, >non-harmful to bees but repellent to the mite, it was a herb i never heard >of and as far as i know is not grown here... Essential oils have been shown to give some control in some situations, but are not reliable as your total control program. Beekeepers who placed their whole trust in oils have lost bees, and the advocates have become a lot quieter. So caveat emptor. I think a four-pronged program would work, if you didn't want to use pesticides, but it is very labor intensive, and all parts would have to be in operation, along with careful monitoring of varroa levels. 1. Get the most resistant stock you can. Always breed from your best bees. Those who have a high varroa level despite your efforts are simply weak bees, and should never be allowed to reproduce. 2. Use screen bottoms on your hives. Varroa that falls off the bees may not be able to get back up to them. Even better, have the capability of inserting a tray of soapy water for a few moments a couple times per year. Then smoke the bees with tobacco smoke. Varroa drops off and dies in the soapy water. 3. Have one frame of drone brood in the hive at all times. When this is full of sealed drone brood, remove and use for fish bait, or freeze it and put it back. 4. Essential oils at least twice per year. I don't do this, but, as I say, I think it would work. As a commercial pollination beekeeper, there simply isn't the resources to do this. A beekeeper who has an outside job to support his beekeeping on a small scale could do it. It might also be possible for commercial honey producers who get a premium price for "organic" honey. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 12:55:31 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Rod Billett Subject: West Nile Virus - MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii FYI For Bee-l'ers. I just caught a post out on CNN's web site where the CDC is providing money to 17 Atlantic & Gulf Coast States for monitoring the spread of the West nile Virus. The one which caused massive mosuito sprayings in and around NYC last year. It appears that they have found a bird infected with the virus near Baltimore. If they are spending money for monitoring purposes, will increased spraying and moquito control measures closely follow? Here is the web site of the news post. http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/04/26/westnile.virus/index.html Rod Billett Lexington, SC ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 23:30:33 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: Re: URGENT INFORMATION REQUEST Comments: To: Pollinator@aol.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit sorry about my sloppy editing of cross-postings...dave green's signature should have appeared at the bottom of the last post, but was inadvertently cut off...my apologies to dave, who's contributions are obviously valued by myself and many others... ------Original Message------ From: Pollinator@aol.com To: tomasmozer@juno.com Sent: April 27, 2000 2:58:37 AM GMT Subject: Re: URGENT INFORMATION REQUEST Tom, Being quoted is a compliment. Being quoted without attribution is not. Dave Green The Pollination Home Page: http://pollinator.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 12:53:13 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Mitchell Subject: West Nile virus here to stay, officials say MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In recent posts, bee-l subscribers have talked about the repercussions on honeybees of malathion spraying to control mosquitoes. Last year, New York used malathion intensively in response to the discovery of West Nile Virus in human and mosquito populations around New York City. Officials in other states (Massachusetts, for example) have vowed to resort to malathion if they decide it is needed to control the mosquito population that carries West Nile. Malathion is extremely deadly to honeybees. Anecdotes reported in both the media and by beekeepers show sporadic, widespread misapplication of malathion in past actions taken by public health officials, in ways that threaten both human and honeybee health. Public health pesticide (mis)application by the state or federal government is an issue to watch for beekeepers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. West Nile virus here to stay, officials say >From Reuters wire service by Maggie Fox "The West Nile virus, which killed seven people and made more than 60 others sick in New York City last year, is probably in the United States to stay, government health officials said Tuesday. "But they said there is plenty people can do to control the mosquitoes that carry the virus and said they were doing their best to track its spread. "And, they said, if the public and health-care workers are aware of the symptoms of serious illness, they can be ready to treat those at risk of the deadly encephalitis and meningitis that the virus can cause. "'This virus is here and we have to understand that it is not feasible to think about eliminating this virus in the Western hemisphere,' Dr. Stephen Ostroff, West Nile virus coordinator for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS), told a news conference. "Checks on mosquitoes spending the winter in sewers and elsewhere show the virus remained in New York. So far it does not seem to have spread farther than Baltimore, where one infected crow was found last year." ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:07:11 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Susan L. Nielsen" Organization: Oregon VOS Subject: Re: Beekeeper Olympics In-Reply-To: <200004261156.HAA13817@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Wed, 26 Apr 2000, Aaron Morris wrote: [3 events deleted] But he neglected to mention the Three Bees in Your Suit Fastest Field Strip event. Susan -- Susan Nielsen | Beehive: If you build it, snielsen@orednet.org | they will comb. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 19:26:13 -0700 Reply-To: mejensen@att.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Mark Jensen Organization: No Junk Mail Subject: Re: kill chalkbrood kill.. notes on thymol and a survey In-Reply-To: <200004251426.KAA13632@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit On Mon, 24 Apr 2000 17:15:25 EDT, Adony Melathopoulos wrote: >1. What percentage of your colonies has levels of chalkbrood that you feel >are costing you money (choose the closest)? Going in to last season I had chalkbrood in almost every hive of the 30 in my home yard, making pollen collection almost impossible. In the preceeding years I had tried every recommendation I had heard plus some of my own ideas. I had found nothing that worked. Then last spring I decided to remove the bottom boards to allow the chalkbrood mummies to fall directly to the ground. The idea was to remove the source of the infection from accumulating on the bottom boards. Within 2 weeks every hive that had chalkbrood got rid of the infection and resumed normal growth and honey production. I could detect no ill effects from the period without the bottom board and the endemic chalkbrood in the yard went away and has not returned. >2. What kind of reduction in disease severity would be worth the effort of >going on to the bee yard to take some action (choose the closest)? > - 25% reduction >3. If there was a product, queen source or management technique that would >leave you free of chalkbrood what would you pay per colony per season (choose >the closest)? > - $0.50 >4. How bad does chalkbrood have to be before you will requeen (choose the >closest)? > - I don't requeen, it is too much money and effort for the return >5. If chalkbrood were a Hollywood villian who would it be (choose the >closest)? > - Pee Wee Herman Last year I would have said Scarface -- Mark Jensen Double J Apiaries mejensen@att.net ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 23:25:35 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: BeeCrofter@AOL.COM Subject: Re: West Nile Virus - MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The news on the radio stations out of the New York city area say they are not planning to do wholesale spraying of malathion to control mosquitos but will concentrate on controlling larvae with BTI and removing habitat. Here in coastal CT near the RI state line larvacides seem to be the choice. I am also hearing more talk about cleanup of tires ,buckets,puddles and the like. Maybe just maybe they are getting smarter. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 16:58:51 +0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Bernard Heymans Subject: Re: working with (jumbo?) dadant hives Comments: To: LibBEE@EMAIL.MSN.COM Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed The Dadant Hives are used in france... they are certainly popular... I work with them for years, and never had a problem. They didn't get discontinued. There seems to be confusion in the states has DADANT is a STANDARD dimension for hives, but there is a company in the states that is called Dadant and that produice hives. Mr Dadant lived on the same time as Mr Langstroth, both had the same problem, and both arrived to the same conclusion : If you make it properly, you can have a mobile frames hive... (see also Mr Voirnot (France) and others(germany)) There are no Jumbo Dadant Hives ... Brother Adam travelled through europe, had seem the hives in France, and started to use them (1924)... Poeples in UK didn't beleive such big hive could be of any use... read his books. See also http://www.fundp.ac.be/~jvandyck/homage/ven.html In 5 years, he converted ALL his langstroth hives into Dadant, because he add BETTER results. To compare DADANT and LANGSTROTH Dadant brood frame: 44.5 * 28.5 cm= 12.68 dm2 Dadant supper frame: 44.5 - 14 cm = 6.23 dm2 Langsthroth frames : 42 * 20 cm = 8.40 dm2 A normal dadant hive will have one brood box and two suppers, depending 10 or 12 frame. Mine are 12 frames... sizes are in square dm (inside, wood not included in surface mesures) frameDadant 10 dadant 12framelangstroth brood12,7126,8152,28,484,0 supper6,262,374,88,484,0 supper6,262,374,88,484,0 total251,4301,7252,0 Bernard. >At 12:00 AM 4/20/00 -0400, you wrote: >>I've only kept bees for five years so don't know anything about >>Jumbo Dadant Hives. Reading about them they seem like they would be easier >>to work and most beekeepers would only need one box for a brood chamber. >>Brother Adam used these at Buckfast Abbey. >> Why did they get discontinued? Since no one responded to your question, I will. The frames were too big. A regular sized frame can hold 5 or 6 pounds of honey and if it is not well built, it will break. The bottom bar may pull off or the ears of the frames may snap. This is especially a problem if the frames are old. I have no idea how working the jumbo hives would be, but I imagine the frames would be very awkward to remove. . - Bernard Heymans . " ` Mailto: Bernard.Heymans@advalvas.be . " ` . _- -_`-_|'\ /` . _/ / / -' `~()() . \_\ _ /\-._/\/ . / | | . '` ^ ^ . .///////////////// . In a world without fences and borders, why do we need gates and windows? ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 13:29:25 PDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: GREGOIRE@ENDOR.COM Subject: Re: Beekeeper Olympics MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII How about drone marking with a bottle of white out? Or a relay race with a hand full of bees that must be transfered to the next runner. Winner has the largest number of live bees at the end of the relay. No gloves allowed. Or how about a fresh pollen eating contest? Ernie Gregoire "Beekeeper," definition= partially brave, partially excentric Grist Mill Apiary Canaan, New Hampshire, USA ------------------------------------- 04/27/99 13:29:25 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 13:54:53 PDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: GREGOIRE@ENDOR.COM Subject: Chalk Brood,OMBB MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hello Gang, I placed Open Mesh Bottom Boards (OMBB) under all my hives a few weeks ago. The chalk brood is nowhere to be seen. I noticed that some bee parts were partially pushed through the screed (8 mesh). The bees were from winter kill that were sticking out of cells. I did not see any chalk, but will place a sticky paper under the mesh to see what is getting through the mesh when the weather finally warms up. There was a lot of chalk before I placed the OMBB. A hole in each super, (3/4 inch) provided better ventilation during the winter, so there was very little black fungus growing on the solid bottom boards and corners of the brood box where it usually does. I suspect the air flow has a lot to do with this. I further suspect that the OMBB provide added air flow to clear up the chalk. I plan to keep OMBB on all winter. I will report the findings here at that time. The OMBB are much cleaner than the normal solid bottom boards usually are. My design allows the screen to be removed from the back without lifting the hive off the OMBB. It simply is removed like a drawer to a pollen trap. Ernie Gregoire "Beekeeper," definition= partially brave, partially excentric Grist Mill Apiary Canaan, New Hampshire, USA ------------------------------------- 04/27/99 13:54:53 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 20:21:25 +0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: crpost Subject: BEEKEEPING COURSE - CAPE TOWN - SOUTH AFRICA MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit May I respectfully submit the following notice?: The Western Cape Bee Industry Association is convening its annual Bee Course in May and June 2000 at Elsenburg Agricultural Institute near Cape Town. All welcome. For more information contact Robert or Deborah Post at (021) 988-8842 or e-mail at crpost@telkomsa.net. May thanks Robert Post Convener WCBA 2000 Bee Course ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 01:30:08 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Ralston Subject: Re: Beekeeper Olympics In-Reply-To: <200004260442.AAA09959@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Ah, but no Beekeeping Olympics would be complete without the "biathlon" event: 1. Riding lawnmower long jump, followed by 2. 100 meter dash. James Ralston Pennsylvania, USA ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 02:39:44 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Sid Pullinger Subject: Dadant Comb Hives MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Apologies. I made a mess of sending my original letter and lost it and the quotation I was replying to. Briefly, a member wrote querying the demise of the deep Dadant comb. A reply came back to the effect that the combs were too heavy, leading to possible broken lugs and bottom bars. Having used this deep comb for some fifty years without damaged frames I thought I ought to write in its defence. Yes, the combs are heavy, around ten pounds when well filled with stores. I once had a comb, which I put on display, weighing fifteen pounds. It was, of course, a freak in that I had left a wide gap between it and the next combs and the bees had extended the cells to fill the gaps. Dadant combs are similar to the Langstroth, the only difference is the depth, which is 11.25 inches. The Dadant hive has external dimensions of 20 inches by 18.5 and holds eleven combs. Long ago I found it too large and switched to what we call Jumbo Langstroth. This has the same dimensions as the Langstroth, 20 inches by 16.25. Only the depth is different so all parts are interchangeable. Like the Langstroth it holds ten combs at a pinch. I prefer nine and a dummy board to fill the gap. This makes comb removal much easier. Only one brood chamber is required for the queen. We always use an excluder so brood and honey never mix. It would appear that the Langstroth is the most popular hive world wide but it has never taken off in England. We have several types of hive in general use. The National is popular but rather small for a prolific queen, requiring a second brood chamber or a shallow, the Commercial,with a much larger brood chamber and an excellent design in my opinion. Then we have the Jumbo Langstroth and the Dadant, both excellent to stay in one place but too heavy for migratory work. Sid P. Southern England. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 10:32:53 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Mitchell Subject: Headline: Killer Bees Flee the Dry Weather, for Cities MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Africanized honey bees are moving around more this year due to the drought in the Southwest, according to the following article from the Associated Press. What follows is only a partial quote of the article. It was published in its entirety on April 25th in the New York Times. It provides a fair amount of new information that I haven't seen on bee-l, and, IMO, should be introduced into the archives. Especially interesting to me is the assertion that July and October are the worst times for AHB attacks. Can anybody verify that? Seasonal aggressiveness of the kind referred to in the article would have more to do with nectar flows than with bee biology, wouldn't it? What about the assertion that AHBs move around in October. Is this why biologists think these bees might not survive in northern latitudes? Killer Bees Flee the Dry Weather, for Cities "Confronted with unseasonably dry weather, the easily agitated Africanized honeybees are moving from the parched desert regions to the bountiful cities. "The wild plants that normally provide nectar and pollen have shriveled up. So the so-called killer bees are heading into urban areas -- like people's backyards -- in search of new honey sources. "'In periods of dry weather, these bees will pack up and move on. They're going to where the water and flowers are,' said Dr. Dave Langston, an Africanized honeybee expert and superintendent of the Maricopa Agriculture Center at the University of Arizona. "'We have more bees looking for places to live. That increases bee-human interaction.' "The dry weather does not make the bees more aggressive, but increases the chances of swarming encounters. With fewer bees foraging for food, there are more bees in the hive to defend their precious honey reserves and brood, experts say. "'A colony of Africanized honeybees will employ more guard bees to fend off would-be intruders,' said Tom Martin, owner and president of AAA Africanized Bee Removal Specialists in Tucson and Phoenix. "Normally, most bee attacks occur in July, when honey stores dry up and in October, when the bees are looking for new homes and honey sources. "The bees hit Arizona in 1993 and have been blamed for the deaths of four people since then. The bees also have killed numerous animals that were penned and unable to flee." ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 11:27:03 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Mitchell Subject: Workshop on introducing bumblebees to Australia MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit A workshop was held in Nov. 1999 on the possible introduction of bumblebees into Australia. Web site is: http://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/workshop/proceedings.html It includes a good review of literature (by Roger Buttermore) regarding the introduction of honey bees to Australia. Buttermore cites a new report, still in preparation on honey bees in Australia: "There is a report in preparation for World Wide Fund for Nature (Australia) by Mike Schwarz, Caroline Gross, Penny Kukuk & D. Hobbs: "An Assessment of Competition Between Honeybees & Australian Native Bees". They conclude: "Our results do not provide clear cut evidence for negative impacts of honeybees on the native bee Exoneura bicolor. However, our findings include a variety of results that strongly suggest that honeybees do have an impact on the ecology of native allodapine bees. This raises the question of whether the ‘positive’ effects detected by our study might have negative consequences for natural ecosystems, or whether only ‘beneficial’ or neutral effects arise. This question has not been raised by previous studies of honeybees in Australia ecosystems... "…Consequently, we recommend that in areas where ecosystems are to be conserved in pristine states honeybees should be excluded. However, in ecosystems where perturbations are regarded as permissible (e.g.. forests which are used for timber harvesting or which have a low conservation status) then there may be a lesser case for excluding honeybees." On the possibility of bumblebees as vectors for diseases of honey bees: "Kevan & Laverty (1990) warned about the possibility of spreading Varroa mites (a serious pest of honeybees) by other insects, including bumblebees, although it is not thought to be a critical problem according to Chris Plowright. One virus has been linked to both honeybees and bumblebees. This is linked to the Varroa mite Barbara Ball, (Rothamstead Experimental Station pers. comm.) and causes acute paralysis syndrome of queens (Bailey & Ball, 1994)." Concerns of Australian beekeepers, as stated by a representative of the Australian Honey Bee Industry Council: "Our major initial concern is the possible introduction of Braula coeca from Tasmania to mainland Australia. Braula coeca is a wingless fly, which lives and multiplies in honey bee colonies. It would have to be demonstrated clearly that Braula could not live and travel in a bumble bee colony; or conversely, if Braula could live in a bumble bee colony, that a system would be put into place to completely eliminate Braula from these colonies." Tasmanian beekeeper's concerns include: "Pathogen introduction: This should be carefully checked out. The Tasmanian Bee Industry is currently strenuously working with mainland Australia to prevent the introduction of Varroa and Acarine mites from overseas. Any introduction of B. terrestris must be checked as to its freedom from these parasites." ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 11:53:11 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: Re: Headlines: Killer Bees Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cross-posted for information/discussion purposes: >> Forum: sci.agriculture.beekeeping >> Thread: ahb in southwest usa >> Message 16 of 565 Subject:ahb in southwest usa Date:04/27/2000 Author:Teri Bachus From: bob harrison Subject: Re: Dadant Comb Hives MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Then we have > the Jumbo Langstroth and the Dadant, both excellent to stay in one place > but too heavy for migratory work. Hello Sid, I believe the weight was indeed the reason why these were never very popular. I have seen many beekeepers going to all Illinois depth for brood and honey. Even with the Langstroth deeps todays beekeeping has caused older beekeepers to consider switching to a deep and a illinois. I finnished week before last pulling all my strips. They were in the lower box between two langstroth deeps. A job brought on by varroa! If i had to lift each hive body off i wouldn't be able to straighten up for a week. Even the way i do it is very tiring but easier than lifting off the top body. 1. I get down on knees by the skid and break the seal and tilt up upper box. 2. observe the amount of bees on bottom of frames in top box. You can get a real idea of colony strength and the amount of congestion. I then lightly smoke to check for queen cells on top box. If i find cells in the top i lift off and go thru bottom also. If not i remove strips and lightly smoke to keep from mashing bees when lowering. Sounds hard to do but after a few hives i believe you fill find its much easier than lifting off every top deep box. For a hobbiest IPM is wonderful but for a person trying to make a profit from beekeeping those extra trips to remove strips,remove drone brood or the countless other measures cut into the profits in a huge way. Granted they are a way of life in beekeeping today. Many commercial beekeepers complain about the cost of medications which are high but the cost in labor, milege and time taken away from other importent beekeeping tasks by doing treatments is significant. Applying strips,mixing patties,three treatments of terramicin, making up menthol bags and applying and testing with testing materials would be equal to or greater than the costs of medications alone. I long for the old days when all we had to worry about was American Foul Brood! Granted the thought of starting over after the government burnt all your hives was scary! I wonder if those U.S. beekeepers hives which were destroyed by our best beekeeping minds when the mites were first found shouldn't be reimbursed and apologized to! Lets not make the same mistakes in New Zealand! Bob Harrison U.S.A. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 20:00:14 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Dave Black Subject: Re: Dadant Comb Hives In-Reply-To: <200004281038.GAA21285@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 In message <200004281038.GAA21285@listserv.albany.edu>, Sid Pullinger writes >Briefly, a member wrote querying the demise of >the deep Dadant comb and, if I remember correctly, intimating that if Buckfast Brother Adam thought they were good, they must be! Mr Pullinger is right to point out news of the deep Dadants demise is greatly exagerated, but, as another of southern England's beekeepers, can I add another thought. Brother Adam was acutely aware that the Modified Dadant (not quite the Dadant actually) wouldn't suit everyone. It only suited him because it matched the strain of bee he ran, and the crop he was after. He used a paticularly prolific bee, needed good overwintering with low 'maintenance', and was going for a crop late in the season on a cold, damp heather moor. He had the vision to see his beekeeping overall and never got fixated by one hive type or another, or one bee strain vs another. It was the result of the whole package he sought to improve, the bee, it's opportunity, the beekeeper's labour, the extracting process and so on. He knew more than anyone that one element could never be divorced from another. For example he wrote a hive of the size such as used by us, would merely result in endless dissappointments unless it was stocked by queens of the highest quality and strain. It would be a grave mistake to pick and choose one element of his management style and not the other. Dave Black http://www.woodbridge-rd.demon.co.uk/beehive Alt.email dave.black@tfbplc.co.uk ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 12:18:04 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Comments: SoVerNet Verification (on garnet.sover.net) lindena from arc4a199.bf.sover.net [209.198.114.137] 209.198.114.137 Fri, 28 Apr 2000 12:19:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Charles Frederic Andros Subject: Workshop, nucs MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="x-user-defined" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Here is the workshop schedule for 2000: "Charles Andros, former NH/VT Apiary Inspector, will hold a beekeeping workshop from 1-3 PM on Saturday, May 13, at the Paul Harlow Farm on Route 5 in North Westminster, VT, 1/2 mile north of the I-91 Exit 5 ramp. Look for the "BEE" sign on the west side. Topics of discussion: finding queens, requeening and 2-queen colonies, pollen collection, swarm control, supering, and bee venom therapy. Bring a veil, if you have one, as we shall be opening some colonies. Rain date: May 14. Fee is $25 per person, kids free. To register by email: lindena@sover.net or call 603-756-9056." "Tracheal and Varroa mites are notorious killers of bees in New England. American Foulbrood disease is on the increase as dead hives are being robbed. Beekeepers must take timely steps to control these pests to SAVE THE BEES! Charles Andros, former NH/VT Apiary Inspector, will hold a beekeeping workshop from 1-3 PM on Saturday, July 22, at the Paul Harlow Farm on Route 5 in North Westminster, VT, 1/2 mile north of the I-91 Exit 5 ramp. Look for the "BEE" sign on the west side. The topics of discussion will be taking off and extracting honey, wax processing, treatment of mites and foulbrood, and making propolis tincture. Bring a veil, if you have one, as we shall be opening some colonies. Rain date: July 23. Fee is $25 per person, kids free. To register by email: lindena@sover.net or call 603-756-9056." "Charles Andros, former NH/VT Apiary Inspector, will hold a beekeeping workshop from 1-3 PM on Saturday, September 30, at the Paul Harlow Farm on Route 5 in North Westminster, VT, 1/2 mile north of the I-91 Exit 5 ramp. Look for the "BEE" sign on the west side. Topics of discussion will include treatment of nosema and tracheal mites, winter preparations, winter protein and carbohydrate supplements, and making beeswax handcreams. Bring a veil, if you have one, as we shall be opening some colonies. Rain date: October 1. Fee is $25 per person, kids free. To register by email: lindena@sover.net or call 603-756-9056." "Nuclei develop 5-6 weeks ahead of packages with much less supersedure problems. I’m offering nuclei with 3 frames of sealed brood and +/-3# of bees from my CT valley over-wintered colonies, and a 2000 mite-resistant Russian queen, for starting colonies. To secure an early date, send $65 for each nuc desired, or call with credit card information. Now booking for June 24th. Email: lindena@sover.net or call Charles Andros, former NH/VT Apiary Inspector: 603-756-9056." ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 13:09:21 -1000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Thomas W. Culliney" Subject: Re: New from NZ... In-Reply-To: <200004121220.IAA02633@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Wed, 12 Apr 2000, John Mitchell wrote [content edited and abridged]: > Question: > > Does Hawaii accepted imported queens from New Zealand? > Hawaii has not imported honey bees from anywhere, including continental U.S., since 1985 (state law prohibits it), and has no plans to alter the situation. Since varroa does not occur in Hawaii, we believe that the state will be exempt from USDA's plans to permit New Zealand honey bees to be imported into the U.S. We are also taking a hard look at the wisdom of allowing NZ bees to continue to pass through Hawaii. **************************************************************************** Tom Culliney Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry, 1428 South King St., Honolulu, HI 96814, U.S.A. E-mail: culliney@elele.peacesat.hawaii.edu Telephone: 808-973-9528 FAX: 808-973-9533 "To a rough approximation and setting aside vertebrate chauvinism, it can be said that essentially all organisms are insects."--R.M. May (1988) "Bugs are not going to inherit the earth. They own it now. So we might as well make peace with the landlord."--T. Eisner (1989)