From MAILER-DAEMON Sat Feb 28 07:44:48 2009 Return-Path: <> X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.8 (2007-02-13) on industrial X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-89.7 required=2.4 tests=AWL,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR, SPF_HELO_PASS,USER_IN_WHITELIST autolearn=disabled version=3.1.8 X-Original-To: adamf@METALAB.UNC.EDU Delivered-To: adamf@METALAB.UNC.EDU Received: from listserv.albany.edu (unknown [169.226.1.24]) by metalab.unc.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 06FFF4908E for ; Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:28:42 -0500 (EST) Received: from listserv.albany.edu (listserv.albany.edu [169.226.1.24]) by listserv.albany.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id n1SCP3se010167 for ; Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:28:42 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:28:38 -0500 From: "University at Albany LISTSERV Server (14.5)" Subject: File: "BEE-L LOG0204D" To: adamf@METALAB.UNC.EDU Message-ID: Content-Length: 70610 Lines: 1535 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 21:07:57 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Carpenter Bee Sting Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" We have had numerous postings about carpenter bees, including the following: >> The male carpenter >> bee has a yellow, or pale yellow, square mark on his forehead; the female >> does not. Yes, female carpenter bees can sting but do not do so unless one grabs them. As to descriptions of the bees, one should realize that many species exist, depending on geographic location. In our area we seem to have only one species. The females are coal black and shiny. The males are fuzzy and a golden brown; males set up territories and fly about in given spots. This week I saw 5 of them hovering above yucca plants near the beach. Adrian Adrian M. Wenner (805) 963-8508 (home phone) 967 Garcia Road (805) 893-8062 (UCSB FAX) Santa Barbara, CA 93106 [http://www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/index.htm] ***************************************************** * * "We not only believe what we see: * to some extent we see what we believe." * * Richard Gregory (1970) * ***************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 07:35:42 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Roy Nettlebeck Subject: Re: Screen bottom boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit LLOYDSPEAR wrote: > > > If used with a closed bottom the > > average > > decrease in fall mite counts is 37% on average but with important > > variations. It seems also that the genetic origin of the queen and the > > location of the apiary both have more impact on the mite levels than the > > screened bottom. Hello Lloyd and All, Thanks for the post. I have all of my hives on screens ( 150) with closed bottoms. I'm using Russian stock that has passed my Hygienic behavior check.Last year I saw mites come and go without treatment. It is more complex than just Russian queens and screened bottoms.Overall health and clean equipment , plus good management are needed. This spring my bees are in great shape and I have started to requeen. This is really difficult to do.What do you requeen? I will do some splits and save some of the year old queens. Best Regards Roy ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 11:09:29 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Adony Melathopoulos Subject: carpenter bees Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I have never seen carpenter bees as they only extend into the southern parts of Canada. I would love to see an active nest, but understand that they may become a nuisance in some contexts. My cousin in Ontraio had a problem with carpenter bees and used the following excellent reference to manage them: Common-sense Pest Control. 1991. W. Oldowski, S. Daar and H. Olkowski. 1991. The Taunton Press. Nestown, CT. ISBN 0-942391-63-2 Carpenter bees have a distinct preference for certain wood in nature; they do not like rotten wood, and will not make a nest in a live tree, preferring sound dead wood without bark. Although the bees are solitary, a system of nest galleries developed by several bees working in the same area over a period of time can extend as much as 6-9 ft. winthin a piece of timber. MANAGING CARPENTER BEES 1. Where carpenter bees are known to be a problem, keep exposed wood heavily coated with paint or varnish, or cover it with materials such as metal or fiberglass, into which the bees cannot tunnel. 2. Where damage is already underway, replace the damaged wood with painted wood or other materials that are not attractive to bees, or fill the holes with steel wool and staple on metal screenings after the bees have emerged. 3. If a pesticide is considered necessary, use one that is pyrethrum-based. Plug the holse after treatment, or replace damaged wood with undamaged chemically protected materials. Furthermore, benzaldehyde, which use to be used to drive honey bees from honey supers, is known to repel carpenter bees. Almond oil essence that you use for cooking, contains benzaldehyde and may be useful in driving the bees away during the active season until physical changes can be implemented. Adony ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 13:50:15 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Santiago Benjumeda Subject: To know about Remote sensing and bees Hi Everyone! I am doing a work with computers trying to develop a map with satellite imagery of a piece of land where loads of beekeepers are suppose to take their bees. I want to locate those fields on my map and classificate the flowers where they pick up the nectar. The place in in Ireland, exactly in Wicklow mountains, near Dublin, please help! I need to find people that actually know this area well and know where to locate all the fields, Thanks, Santiago _________________________________________________________ http://www.latinmail.com. Gratuito, latino y en español. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 12:56:43 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Mike Cooper Subject: Dairy Effluent killing bees Comments: cc: "ecmussen@ucdavis.edu" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I got a call from a Goat dairy who applies their effluent to their farm ground. Bees from a neighboring apiary come to get the water or maybe salts/sugar after spraying of the effluent on their farm ground. But they are dying rather quickly and those that make it back to the hive cause some mortality there also. I have not seen this first hand, does anybody have any ideas on this? This is a supposed "organic" dairy. Michael E. Cooper, Chief Bureau of Feeds and Plant Services Plant Industries Division Idaho State Department of Agriculture P.O. Box 790 Boise, ID 83701 Phone: (208) 332-8620 Fax: (208) 334-2283 e-mail: mcooper@agri.state.id.us ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 14:18:32 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Housel Subject: Re: carpenter bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The carpender bees are used in the green houses in the far north. They are brought out of hibernation in the heat of the green house. When they are brought into it for bloom pollination. You mght check in the area for large green houses in your area. Michael Housel Orlandobee ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 20:04:09 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Housel Subject: Re: Dairy Effluent killing bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am not the experts but the following will give you some water areas to look for contaminations. 1. Red ground or water is usually the color of any algae that has died in a pool. Water sample this to the county water testing. 2. Sentiment water pools with a slight scum collecting on the surface. Water sample this to the county water testing. 3. Grass or any vegetation that has an odd color (red or yellow). 4. Died bugs, frogs, and mice need to be sent to a diagnostic lab in the state. 5. Talk to the owner of the dairy farm to see if you can get any spray or chemical usage. Please explain that the bees are a first line help in the detection of virus problems that maybe developing on the farm. You may help him before it becomes a major problem for him. Or at the least explain that some chemical may have been used stronger than it would be required. 6. If you can get an aerial photograph it may show a natural arsenic water coming up because of the extensive use of the water in your area. The ground water has shown some properties from the gold mining with water. If this doesn't help contact me and I will give you some people to call to help. Michael Housel Orlandobee ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 20:25:05 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Housel Subject: Re: To know about Remote sensing and bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Click here: 2002 News Releases - Pictures from the Real Edge: NASA Posts U.S. Topography Data Another Is the www.geospatial-online.com I have been using the geospatial system in consulting for agriculture in percise application for effiencent farming and the best points for bee pollination. The other is to go to your county and/or library to get topagraphic maps. Michael Housel Orlandobee ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 22:46:45 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Brad Henry Subject: Re: carpenter bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Interesting that I've read so many telling about how carpenter bees cannot sting, but yet I've been a recipient of just such a sting. Was I mistaken or was I bitten? I had a very difinite puncture with a wheal. I disturbed the bee and it directly landed on my wrist with a noticible reaction. I've lived around them all my life and this was the first time to receive a negative experience. I'd rather be stung by honey bees. Brad Henry, Little Rock, AR ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 14:19:32 +0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Mats Andersson Subject: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hello you all. I have a question that i've been trying to find a good answer for. Do the bees really need a landing board on the hive? Some beekeepers claim it's necessary because the bees are heavily loaded and tired when they return and will fall down and die if there's no landing board. I still haven't seen the pile of dead bees on any of my hives without the board, so i'm doubtful. Others claim the landing board turns the hive into a bird feeder. We have some birds in Sweden who will knock on the hive with their beak and then eat the bees that come out to protect the hive. Still others claim the landing board, if it goes all the way to the ground, turns the hive into an ant-and bee hive. That may be correct in areas where ants are a problem, maybe. So far, i've figured bees have survived in nature for thousands of years without landing boards and will do just fine without them. What do you guys think? Are there any scientific experiments on landing boards? Do you use them and if yes, what benefits do you see from them? /Mats Andersson, Stockholm Sweden ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 09:14:40 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: BeeFarmer Subject: Re: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Do you really need landing boards? I don't use landing boards so to answer your question "Do you really need landing boads?" I would say nope! BeeFarmer Getting Kids involved in 4H Beekeeping http://www.homestead.com/BeeKeepers/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 09:49:22 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: LLOYDSPEAR Subject: landing boards Mats asks about the value of landing boards. Landing boards, like telescoping covers and several other items, are primarily for the benefit of beekeepers, rather than bees. It makes us feel good that the bees have someplace to land before walking into the hive. That said, for novices the activity visible on the landing boards, such as fanning, guarding, pollen collection, etc. is fascinating and probably worthwhile for the educational benefit. But if you don't have them the hives will still do just fine. Hope this helps, Lloyd Lloyd Spear, Owner of Ross Rounds, manufacturer of comb honey equipment for beekeepers and Sundance pollen traps. http://www.rossrounds.com Lloyd@rossrounds.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 09:56:08 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Robert Brenchley Subject: Re: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All. I've never used landing boards, and don't feel the need. I suspect they may be something for the beekeeper rather than the bees. I do have blue and great tits feeding on bees constantly in the season. I've often watched them, and have yet to see them attempting to take bees from the hive entrances; they always seem to take them from the ground in front of the hives. As far as I'm concerned they're welcome to that much. Wedmore lists tits as a common 'enemy of bees', and if I used landing boards, I'm sure they would be taking healthy bees rather than just culling the weak. Regards, Robert Brenchley RSBrenchley@aol.com Birmingham UK ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 09:22:23 -0700 Reply-To: lithar@hcis.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: AL Subject: Re: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mats Andersson wrote: > > Hello you all. > > I have a question that i've been trying to find a good answer for. Do the > bees really need a landing board on the hive? I have built bottom boards with spacious landing platforms only to observe the bees using only the first 1-2" at the hive entrance. So, for "landing" purposes I would have to say, no. All I've accomplished is providing a larger area to paint and maintain... FWIW, in the summer, when the bees tend to cover the front of the hives, they seem to prefer the large porch rather than hanging on the vertical surfaces. AL ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 13:58:22 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Kyle Lewis Subject: Re: Dairy Effluent killing bees To Mike Cooper, and fellow beekeepers, Mike, does this goat dairy produce milk only, or is cheese made there? If cheese is a major product of this dairy, the waste whey may be thrown out on the ground. Whey (and milk) contains lactose which is toxic to bees. Solutions: Dispose of the whey on the ground where it will soak in and not puddle. Dispose of the whey in the sewer or septic system if allowable. Feed the whey to hogs. Recycling is an "organic" principle. :) Cheers, Kyle ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 13:22:13 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Bob Harrison Subject: Landing boards Comments: To: lithar@hcis.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello All, >Do the > > bees really need a landing board on the hive? Landing boards really should be called spacer boards on Langstoth hives. They are mainly for spacing entrances apart when huge numbers are moved on trucks. Without the spacing hives would be pushed against each other without space for ventilation and clustering under the bee net. Bees do not need a landing board nor do they seek a landing space out when looking for a home in nature. Bees do seem to prefer more than one entrance/ exit in nature. Africanized bees fly into the entrance without touching the landing board most of the time. Sincerely, Bob Harrison ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 16:50:13 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Nathan W. Lawrence" Subject: Screen bottom boards Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" >Fairly large scale 2 years testing of the screened bottom board >tends to show that this equipment can increase significantly the >varroa population if it is used with an open bottom in the Quebec >context. It seems that a cooler brood chamber means better >conditions for the varroa to proliferate, thus meeting the recent >data collected by Kraus & Velthuis on the effect of temperature on >varroa development. If used with a closed bottom the average >decrease in fall mite counts is 37% on average but with important >variations. This leaves me with some questions regarding screened bottom boards and IPM for varroa. Basically, should I use them with a closed bottom board, or should my only bottom board be the screened one? Based on the quote above (thanks Lloyd for posting it), a screened bottom board ONLY will mean more mites because of the cooler temperatures. This sounds like a bad thing. On the other hand, if the screened bottom board was placed on top of a closed bottom board, (to achieve that 37% decrease in fall mite counts as claimed above), wouldn't the mites simply climb their way back up into the hive? Or do they simply keep still and wait for a passing bee to grab onto? (I've heard this claim before, but only from one source) I know there are sticky-boards that can be used to prevent this-- are these sticky-boards necessary? And if screen bottom boards ONLY are used, would this make it more difficult for the bees to keep warm in an upstate NY winter? Unfortunately, most of the books I have were written before Varroa mites came to the US, so topics such as this are not even mentioned. I guess that's what Bee-L is for. (And I need to get some up-to-date books). Thanks. --Nathan Lawrence ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 22:13:18 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Beenetuk Host Organization: ZbeeNet computer networking for beekeepers Subject: Apis-UK and Bee Biz Hello Bee-L, News about two beekeeping magazines.. The First issue of Apis-UK the new monthly beekeeping web magazine can be downloaded from http://www.beedata.com/apis-uk/ Bee Biz Re-launch The international English language magazine for the professional beekeeper IS BACK.. Visit http://www.beedata.com/beebiz/ and download the April 2002 issue. Regards Steve .. When you go in search of honey all you get is spam. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 09:58:34 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Dave Cushman Subject: Re: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Mats & all The bees do not 'need' a landing (or alighting) board, but they can be of good diagnostic help to the beekeeper... A few moments observation can tell a great deal about what is going on inside the hive. Fixed alighting boards are a nuisance when moving hives, but I use some that can be pushed into the entrance slot (I only use them to reduce the entrance size, or as a marker, if I shift the entrance further up the stack) I do not use them on every hive. Best Regards & 73s... Dave Cushman, G8MZY Beekeeping & Bee Breeding Website... http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 08:08:02 -0500 Reply-To: apism@attbi.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Apism Subject: Re: Screen bottom boards In-Reply-To: <200204232148.g3NBUUHV000544@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit "This leaves me with some questions regarding screened bottom boards and IPM for varroa. Basically, should I use them with a closed bottom board, or should my only bottom board be the screened one?" I have used Screened Bottom Boards for two years now. The version I use is from BetterBee and has a screen over an open drawer arrangement. Within this open drawer area goes a monitoring tray (cafeteria tray). The idea is that you have a built in, reusable and easily monitored catch-all for anything small enough to fall through the mesh floor. The tray is pulled out from the back of the hive which does not interrupt the front entrance nor the bees above the floor. I like this arrangement better than sticky boards because the tray is always in place, I can check on its contents anytime and I do not have to fool around with the front entrance to retrieve it. I do monitor mite thresholds this way and after each reading I simply scrape or brush off the dead mites and any other debris. The separation between the mesh and the tray prevents any bees from coming into contact with the fallen mites and the mites die when separated from their food source. Also, you mentioned new data showing hive temperatures affecting mite densities, while I have not seen this actual study, if this is the case, the Betterbee Varroa Screen arrangement does allow you to minimize the bottom board inside area to the outside ambient temperature. The tray fits in tightly enough to essentially close off the drawer to the outside. Additionally, if added ventilation is desired in the summer, the tray can be removed or pulled out slightly to provide free air movement. By the way, I firmly believe and practice OMF's as only a part of my IPM strategy. Betterbee can be reached at 800.632.3379 e-mail betterbee@betterbee.com They do not currently have a website Ken Haller Viking Honey Farm Arlington Heights, Illinois USA vikinghoneyfarm@attbi.com AIM Screen Name: kenhaller ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 08:41:06 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: LLOYDSPEAR Subject: Screen bottom boards In the course of thinking about screen bottom boards, Nathan asks "And if screen bottom boards ONLY are used, would this make it more difficult for the bees to keep warm in an upstate NY winter?" I think the answer to this question is a resounding "NO", as at least one commercial beekeeper has been using nothing else for over 30 years! (And he does not migrate.) I have just 2 years experience, but the same results. The more important question is whether we should keep using screens alone. While the Canadian researchers are well respected, their data and methods have not been peer-reviewed so I am going to continue to use screens alone until there is more information. I am also going to keep my solid boards...which I was planning on disposing of. Next year may be another matter... Lloyd Lloyd Spear, Owner of Ross Rounds, manufacturer of comb honey equipment for beekeepers and Sundance pollen traps. http://www.rossrounds.com Lloyd@rossrounds.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 10:27:00 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Kilty Subject: Re: Screen bottom boards In-Reply-To: <200204232148.g3NBUUHV000544@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 In message <200204232148.g3NBUUHV000544@listserv.albany.edu>, Nathan W. Lawrence writes >Basically, should I use them with a closed >bottom board Are there not 2 separate functions for screens - to let the varroa fall through and ventilation? A permanent tray (cleaned regularly along with counting) and screened ventilation holes, in the back of the hive under the main screen, would provide permanent ventilation (without propolis) to a degree that suited the location. -- James Kilty ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 10:20:58 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Kilty Subject: Re: Landing boards In-Reply-To: <200204231242.g3NBUUXN000544@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 In message <200204231242.g3NBUUXN000544@listserv.albany.edu>, Mats Andersson writes >Do you use >them and if yes, what benefits do you see from them? Some hives have them, most don't. I agree with you, and adjust the entrance size to suit the conditions. -- James Kilty ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 17:26:03 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: CSlade777@AOL.COM Subject: Re: Landing Boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit These are of more use to the beekeeper than to the bees. It gives a few seconds extra to watch what's going on. The bees don't need them at all. Chris ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 19:53:40 -0400 Reply-To: "jfischer@supercollider.com" Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Fischer Subject: Pfizer Terramycin (TM-25 6.4 oz packets ONLY) Shortage MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The Virginia State Apiarist, Keith Tignor, issued the notice below to all members of the Virginia Beekeepers mailing list. Keith is sure to have checked his facts. I know him, and he is very diligent about his work. In short, the yellow 6.4 oz packets of TM-25 are in short supply, but there are 2-pound packages of sugar-added pre-mix available. He makes an excellent point about other forms of TM that one might find at the agricultural co-op. They are "too strong", and I doubt that anyone attempting to "cut" one of these other formulations could assure an "even" final mix. Please note that I am saying nothing about the merits of "preventative" treatment with TM, nor am I saying anything about the merits of TM as a valid approach to dealing with Foulbrood once it has been detected. I'm just passing along Keith's warning, and my asbestos suit is at the cleaners this week, so please don't start a flame war. (I think it is ironic that Virginia has combined the positions of State Apiarist and Endangered Species Coordinator, but the irony/humor is likely lost on non-beekeepers, and not very funny to beekeepers.) jim ================================================== ===== If you cut here, you will break your computer monitor ===== ================================================== Several beekeepers have reported unsuccessful attempts to obtain Terramycin for the treatment of foulbrood in their beehives. Catalog suppliers of beekeeping equipment indicate that Terramycin in the soluble powder formulation is not available. This is the 6.4 ounces package of TM-25 formulation. Dadant and Sons, Brushy Mountain Bee Farm and others have sold out of this product. Their supplier, Pfizer Inc., has been unable to fill orders for additional supplies. It appears the manufacturer is not providing this material at this time. Pfizer representatives are in discussions to obtain additional supplies for distribution. Terramycin SP is widely used in dust, syrup, and extender patty treatments to control American foulbrood. The product contains 25 grams of active ingredient, oxytetracycline, per pound. In response to unavailability of Terramycin SP, beekeepers are turning to alternative suppliers for antibiotics. Formulations of Terramycin for animal use are being purchased from farm and agriculture suppliers. These products are not packaged for use on honeybees; and, usually contain a higher concentration of active ingredient. Terramycin packaged for animal treatment may contain 50 to 100 grams of active ingredient per pound. A severe problem in brood and adult mortality may develop if beekeepers do not adjust treatment dosage accordingly when using these more potent materials. Users of these animal products should read labels carefully to determine the amount of active ingredient in the package. Other antibiotics are currently being studied for use against foulbrood. The USDA bee laboratories in Beltsville and Weslaco have been working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to obtain approval for Tylosin and Lincomycin use in hives. These medications show promising control of American foulbrood; and, offer an alternative for controlling resistant AFB. However, the earliest approval is not expected until next year. These products should not be used in beehives until such approval is obtained. Studies on contamination of honey and effects on honeybees have not been completed. Both the Lynchburg office for Dadant and Sons and Brushy Mountain Bee Farm in North Carolina indicate abundant supplies of pre-mix Terramycin are available. This is a mixture of Terramycin and sugar for dusting application. A two pound supply of this product costs between $8.50 to $9.50. Such a quantity would provide 32 treatments at one ounce per hive. Dusting with Terramycin is the recommended treatment for foulbrood in honeybees. This is the most efficient means of administering the medication. Syrup mixtures may breakdown rapidly. Extender patties should not be used to treat brood diseases. The development of resistant strains of American foulbrood has been link to extender patty use in hives. Beekeepers are encouraged to obtain pre-mix Terramycin formulations from their supplier of beekeeping equipment. The Office of Plant and Pest Services will continue to monitor the supplies of Terramycin SP, or TM-25. Updates on the availability of this product will be forwarded to the local associations and interested beekeepers as they are received. This is believed to be a temporary problem. However, it is unknown when this product will again become available to Virginia beekeepers. Please, advise your fellow beekeepers about using approved alternative formulations of this antibiotic. Sincerely, Keith Tignor State Apiarist/Endangered Species Coordinator Office of Plant and Pest Services Va. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Phone: (804) 786-3515 Fax number: (804) 371-7793 Website: www.vdacs.state.va.us ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 22:14:28 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: waldig Subject: Re: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > I have a question that i've been trying to find a good answer for. Do the > bees really need a landing board on the hive? Some beekeepers claim it's > necessary because the bees are heavily loaded and tired when they return and > will fall down and die if there's no landing board. I still haven't seen the > pile of dead bees on any of my hives without the board, so i'm doubtful. I noticed that on rather cool days a few returning bees will miss the landing board and fall in front of the hive. Most of them will take a while to gather up their strength (regain temperature ?) and fly up again. Some will perish. A landing board may save a few bees under such adverse conditions. In general, it's benefits may be neglible except that it's a great tool for the beekeeper to observe the bees. Waldemar ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 18:42:51 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Paul Cronshaw, D.C." Subject: Grapefruit leaves Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Anyone had experience with using grapefruit leaves in their smokers as a way to combat mites? -- Paul Cronshaw, D.C. Hobbyist Beekeeper Santa Barbara, CA USA This material is presented for private discussion, research and educational purposes only. Do not publish, broadcast or otherwise distribute this material without prior written authority. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 21:45:41 -0400 Reply-To: "jfischer@supercollider.com" Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Fischer Subject: Re: Screen bottom boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nathan Lawrence said: > On the other hand, if the screened bottom board was placed on top of > a closed bottom board, (to achieve that 37% decrease in fall mite > counts as claimed above), wouldn't the mites simply climb their way > back up into the hive? Or do they simply keep still and wait for a > passing bee to grab onto? > (I've heard this claim before, but only > from one source) I was led to understand that the rationale behind the screened bottom board was that varroa mites cannot (or will not) climb back into the hive once they have fallen below the screen. I was led to understand that it was a simple matter of distance, and a sticky-board was not required. (The critical distance is less than the height of a screened bottom above a traditional solid bottom.) One can test this with ease, by putting a sheet of paper or cardboard under the screen, and seeing of the mite drop is about the same as the equivalent prior period with a sticky board. With some care, one can remove the non-sticky board without the mites sliding off. When I do this, I see live mites on the non-sticky paper. If they could climb back up, I would not see many live mites. Heck, the mites I see don't even make much effort to crawl around on the paper, and upon close examination, many appear to be undamaged, and capable of crawling around. > I know there are sticky-boards that can be used to > prevent this-- are these sticky-boards necessary? I certainly don't think so, but it is a risky thing to say much of anything about varroa. The more they are studied, the more is found that was unknown before. I am not sure what to think about the study at issue, but I have traditional solid bottom boards under my screened bottom boards simply to act as a tray for the slide-in sheets of paper. Clearly, one could close off the original bottom board entrance with a wooden plug, but I have never done this. I did staple some 8-mesh over them to keep bees and other creatures out of the space, stapling at the top only to create a "door" of sorts. The question in my mind in regard to the study at issue is about the reaction of the bees to any "excessive ventilation" caused by an open screened bottom: a) Let's assume for a moment that the statement as made is strictly true, that a screened bottom board actually increases the overall varroa population. b) We know that the bees do their best to tightly regulate the temperature and humidity of the brood area. They at least do well enough at this to avoid dead brood. c) If a screened bottom lowers the humidity and/or temperature, one would presume that more bees would participate in "climate control" activities to maintain acceptable parameters for brood development. d) If one accepts (a) through (c), the study would imply that bees cannot maintain "tight" control over the brood chamber environment, but can only maintain a "range". It also implies that varroa can "better thrive" at the "cooler, dryer" end of the "acceptable" range for brood. e) It follows from the above that a hotter, more moist environment (still within the acceptable range for brood) would inhibit varroa reproduction, but this would be at the "price" of reducing honey production, according to the many studies on ventilation that have stated the obvious (more ventilation making it easier to evaporate moisture from nectar). If all of the above is taken as "true", then the study would suggest to me that one would want to limit airflow through the brood area, while maximizing airflow through the supers. One might attempt this by decreasing the bottom entrance opening, plug the opening between the traditional bottom board and the screened bottom board, and provide WIDE upper entrances above the brood chamber in the location where one might place a queen excluder (a sort of "Mega-Imirie-Shim"). To avoid a convection flow between the brood area and the honey storage area, one might want to consider making this "Mega-Imire-Shim" out of an inner cover, to restrict airflow between brood and honey areas. (Another approach would be to offset alternating supers forward and backward slightly to create bee-sized openings between each super.) Stuffy brood boxes, and (still) breezy supers. It can be done, but would it help? I dunno. I'd bet that more bees would fan at the brood chamber entrance more often to overcome the "stuffy" effect, as they can clearly be seen doing this even with a screened bottom that has nothing below it. (At least it can be seen in summer in Virginia, your mileage may vary.) jim ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 00:22:40 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Housel Subject: Re: Screen bottom boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have screen bottom, 1/4 hardware wire, queen extruder, open bottom, and solid bottoms on nucs. The screen bottom has the highest success rate. This is setting 100 nucs with queen cell in the citrus bloom and also the gallberry and palmetto bloom (still in bloom). Also the bees must have a good time on the screens as one will hear them using the screen as a trampoline. The tension of the aluminum screen is where you hear the bongs. Plastic window screen I didn't try. I wonder if the bounce has an effect in the mite reduction. The best results was with the screen tilted from 1 inch in the back to the bottom of the 2by4 screen frame in the front. Top bars was used to frame the screen to get the best angles. It also left the bees to clean the screen which will keep debree if flat while the 1/4 hardware wire dropped most of the debree thur to the ground. No chemicals used. Two outside frames were plastic and wood without being drawn. Sprayed with sugar water if nuc was low on bees. This was done to help keep beetles out. Lost two frames in 1/4 inch hardware wire but no nucs lost to beetles. The queen extruder had died bees, Drones and workers, stuck in it. Was unable to be sure of any benefit in keeping the drones out of the hives. Removed drone frames to a separate medicated drone hive in hope to trap and remove mites. Unable to establish a useable result. Will run it again this fall when I need extra drones from best hives for mating. Michael Housel Orlandobee ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 23:50:19 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Dick Allen Subject: Re: Dairy Effluent killing bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Kyle writes: >Whey (and milk) contains lactose which is toxic to bees. On page 206 of The Hive and the Honey Bee: “Sugars which are either toxic to honey bees or reduce their longevity include mannose, lactose, galactose, and raffinose.......Both lactose and raffinose reduce the longevity of bees when offered to caged honey bees. Lactose is found in milk and milk products, and raffinose occurs naturally in soybeans. The toxicity of lactose is due to the effect of one of its components, galactose.......these sugars were still toxic when fed in sucrose syrup...” On page 217 of THATB: “......Haydak found that colonies fed soybean flour or mixtures of skim milk powder with cottonseed or soybean meal reared brood normally, although the amount of brood was less than in a caged colony of bees fed pollen......Haydak recommended the most effective pollen substitutes should consist of three parts soybean flour...., one part dried brewers yeast, and one part dried skim milk.” I’m confused. Dick ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 11:46:40 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Kyle Lewis Subject: Re: Dairy Effluent killing bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit To Dick Allen and fellow beekeepers, Dick quoted The Hive and Honeybee, about lactose and raffinose being toxic to bees, yet one researcher recommends soybean flour (containing raffinose) and dried milk (which contains lactose) as ingredients in pollen replacer. Dick's conclusion: >I’m confused. Yes, I'm confused too. I found a reference from Oregon State U, stating that soybeans contain 0.1 to 0.9 percent raffinose. Perhaps this is concentration is too low to be fatal to honeybees. Soybean flour is one of the standard ingredients in pollen replacer, so it is not immediately terminal in its toxicity. On the other hand, milk powder has quite a high concentration of lactose, I believe over 50%. And milk powder is not included in most pollen replacer recipes. >From what I have gathered from this list, pollen replacer can be used for a few weeks, then real pollen must replace the replacer. Perhaps this is due, in part, to the toxic effects of raffinose (and lactose). Cheers, Kyle ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 21:49:28 +0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Vincenc Petruna Subject: House colour problem MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1250" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable My friend, who is also a beekeeper, has serious problems with bees in = the walls of his new yellow repainted house. His apiary is in the nothern side of the house with entrance to = the SE. During the day, the southern side of the house became warm and = plenty of bees stopped there and the new repainted wall became dirty. = My friend don't want to move the bees neither to repaint the house with = the different color. Has anybody any advice for him? Has anybody ever = met with such problem? Thanks for your answers, Vincenc Petruna, Slovenia ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 16:09:31 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: dan hendricks Subject: Screened bottom boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi, all. I haven't seen this mentioned. When I first cut and screened my bottom board last summer, many bees clustered on the bottom of the screen. The top of the screen, of course, was covered with bees, making those outside feel at home there. Will the outside bees decide later to move inside, I wondered? So I stapled a sheet of plastic to the 1 1/2" spacer I located below the bottom board (to keep the mites from crawling back up). This decreases the drastic ventilation, of course, but I keep the entrance open all year so that likely doesn't matter much. I would like to read comments on this matter. Dan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 04:30:22 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Dennis Murrell Subject: Re: Grapefruit Leaves MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Paul and Everyone, I had a couple of large boxes of grapefruit leaves shipped to me from Florida. My relatives there have a tree in their backyard that isn't sprayed and they shipped the best grapefruit I have ever had wrapped in green grapefruit leaves. I wanted to use the smoke as an easy way to access the mite level in small cell foundation based hives that I have been playing with without contaminating the wax with chemical residues. I used lots of smoke to completely disrupt hive activities when smoking the hives with the grapefruit leaves. The leaves were mostly dry as I got the fruit in late winter and smoked the bees in mid summer. They were stored in a box in the dark in our very dry and cool Wyoming climate. The smoke did drop a number of mites. When the hives were dusted later in the day with powdered sugar the mite drop was much increased. The smoke would drop about 10 to 30 percent of the mites that the powdered sugar did. The intense smoking also seemed to disorient the bees longer than the "normal" pine/wood based smoke that I use. I tried the grapefruit leaves on several other occasions with the same results so now I used powdered sugar. I figure that the grapefruit smoke only knocked down 30 percent of the mites on the bees at best. These results differed greatly from the 90+ percent that the researchers obtained from caged bees. My question was whether the dried leaves made any difference. Maybe they should have been very green. Best Wishes Dennis ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 18:00:32 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: CSlade777@AOL.COM Subject: Re: Screen Bottom Boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit At a lecture at the Stoneleigh (UK) convention almost exactly a year ago Dr Jeff Pettis described experiments he had conducted to see how far the tray had to be below the mesh for fallen living varroa not to get back onto the bees. At a half inch space they all got back. At 2 inches none did, with a numerical gradient in between these extremes. He was careful not to say that the mites jumped the gap. He was unsure how they bridged the space, but offered the suggestion that proximity to the bees above the screen provided the stimulus to make their way back up. Chris ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 06:16:11 -0400 Reply-To: Buckner Lewis Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Buckner Lewis Subject: Re: Screened bottom boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dan, I would not be concerned about the bees on the outside of the screen bottom boards. They seem to congragate there, but will move into the hive once they figure out the situation. This has been my meger experience with screened bottoms. Mites, it seems will not crawl back into the hive once they hit the skids, but lay in wait for another ride, so I would remove the plastic and let the air flow. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 13:25:42 -0400 Reply-To: "jfischer@supercollider.com" Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Fischer Subject: US Farm Bill - Honey/Beekeeper Related Items MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The current bone-gnawing over the US Agriculture bill is difficult to follow, but two items of interest to beekeepers appear in the current "offer" by the House Of Representatives to the Senate, as found in http://agriculture.house.gov/fbhouse.pdf An interesting item is the creation of a stronger "country of origin" labeling requirement on nearly all commodities, mandatory in 2005: "Country of Origin Labeling: For meat, fresh fruits & vegetables, and all other commodities addressed in the Senate bill, require the Secretary to issue rules for voluntary labeling by September 30, 2002. This program would become mandatory on January 1, 2005 unless the Secretary determines that it would not be in the best interests of producers and consumers. Criteria to be used by the Secretary include at the minimum: - Potential costs outweigh benefits to producers. - It could interfere with U.S. access to international markets for producers. - It would result in no significant positive impact on producer's incomes." This should make things a bit more clear on grocery-store honey labels, and start to force some hands. The full text of the legislation can be read at http://agriculture.house.gov/2646hea.htm in: "SEC. 18. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING OF PERISHABLE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES" I sure hope that someone does not try to claim that honey is not "perishable", and start yet another convocation of the chowder and marching society. :) For the big boys, the honey loan program looks like it will be restored, but the hopes for $0.65/lb appear to be dashed: "Honey Commodity Loan Program: Maintain House/Senate loan rate at $.60/lb." ...but not a word on the specifics regarding the Bee Labs. Anyone have a clue on the restoration of funding for the bee labs? jim ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 22:36:48 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Carmenie Stemmler Subject: Screened BB, construction Hello Bee-L'ers I was looking at the plans for screened bottom boards at www.beesource.com Anyone that has built them have any suggestions for improvement on those plans? I am planning on using 7/8" lumber, and I guess I will go with 1/4" plywood on the bottom board, making it removable, as well as I think will make the screened bottom board frame removeable from the front. Anything else I could improve on? BTW, I did check the archives. Lots of good ideas there. Thanks alot. Best regards, Carmenie P.S. What is the biggest diadvantage with adding just the screen part of the bottom board on top of your existing bottom board? ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 18:25:06 -0500 Reply-To: Golden S Bee Ranch Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Golden S Bee Ranch Subject: Robbing bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I was reading about robbing bees in The Hive and the Honeybee 1966 ed. page 250. It states that "Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the physical appearance of robber bees and others, although robbers eventually become smooth, shiny, and almost black." I thought that robbing bees were just field workers from other hives that were taking advantage of a food source. Could someone explain the physical change in appearance? Thanks, Tim Tim Stalnaker Golden S Bee Ranch Rock Island, TN 38581 USA BeeRanch@Multipro.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 23:57:58 -0400 Reply-To: "jfischer@supercollider.com" Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Fischer Subject: Re: Dairy Effluent killing bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > I got a call from a Goat dairy who applies their effluent to > their farm ground... The discussion of lactose, while interesting, seems to me to be a side-issue. I dunno much at all about whey (or curds, either for that matter), but when I hear the phrase "effluent", I presume it would refer to a mixture that is mostly made up of the liquid and solid wastes produced by the goats themselves. Anyone who has smelled a herd of goats can testify to the surprising quantity of powerful volatile compounds produced by the typical goat. (In general, strong odors are the result of highly volatile compounds "being volatile".) I'd focus on the analysis of the "effluent" itself. I'd send a grad student too much get some "pure" samples of goat urine, goat feces, and whatever other components make up the mix of "effluent", and a sample of the final mix as applied to the fields. (One can re-assure the grad student that shoveling such things will be good practice for writing grant applications in the future...) This can't be the first beekeeper to have hives near a diary or a large herd of goats. If such operations caused bee kills as a side effect of "normal operations", one would expect that this would have become common knowledge among beekeepers long ago. Does anyone else have a nearby goat herd? My farm borders a fairly significant cattle dairy, and we have not noticed any problems, including a lack of problems after the annual odiferous machinations of the dairy's manure spreader. (The dairy owner did not consider beekeeping to be "real farming" until I asked him if he'd like to assist with spring ear-tagging at the apiary. I even offered him appropriate props for my prank - a headband magnifier, and a pair of tweezers, and mentioned that each hive had, at most, 60,000 bees...) Therefore, one is forced to conclude that there is something very obvious and nasty to be found here that should stick out in an analysis of the effluent, the land, or the soil. > ...they are dying rather quickly and those that make it back to > the hive cause some mortality there also. To have both bees dying "in the field" and "upon return" from a single source or single toxic item is the most interesting part of the question. Has anyone ever heard of ANY single item that kills bees in the manner described? Sounds to me like we have multiple nasty things here. jim ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 19:26:38 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: darrells Subject: Re: Mite thresholds In-Reply-To: <200204141855.g3EIgJUr012469@listserv.albany.edu> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hi Tom & all I use full bottom screens and do 24 hr natural mite drop counts every two weeks throughout the season. My experience is that mite counts are low most of the time then take off exponentially. I use a treatment threshold of 40 mites,and believe that the use of 30 40 or 50 for your threshold doesnt matter because they will be passed before the next 2 weeks are up. If I find a hive with 32 mites, I treat even though my threshold is 40. I make my judgement based the level two weeks ago and interpolate the likely count 2 weeks from now. I find that I must treat some hives while their neighbour is clean. Genetics I guess. Bob Darrell Caledon Ontario Canada 80W44N ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 08:32:24 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Andrew Dewey Subject: Terramycin application questions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello All, I've just purchased some Phizer Terramycin-343 from my local Agway, and while it is labeled for bees, it is lacking in application directions, other than a 200mg dosage. I'm aware that most often it is mixed with powdered sugar (should I powder my own in a blender or use commercial powdered sugar?) but I haven't been able to find any proportions as to the mix. (either in THATHB or the archives) What would be the correct amount of the sugar mix to give to the bees? Thanks for any help. I want to do this right. I have one over wintered hive in 2 deeps, and 3 new hives created from purchased nucs. Andrew Dewey andrew@acadiacomp.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 01:00:45 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Rich Bruno Subject: Re: Screened BB, construction I would keep the screen 2 inches away from the bottom board. I read a post where a study was done showing that a 2 inch distance prevented mites from reentering the hive. putting a screen mesh onto your existing bottom board will do nothing to prevent mite infestation. The idea is to let the mites fall through the screen onto the bottom board. I would also recommend having a sticky material on the bottom board so the mites wont go anywhere. regards Rich B ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 11:34:30 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Jeffrey R. Hills" Subject: Screened Bottom Boards as trampoline MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have screen bottom, 1/4 hardware wire, queen extruder, open bottom, and solid bottoms on nucs. Also the bees must have a good time on the screens as one will hear them using the screen as a trampoline. My bees, particularly the younger ones, use the screen as a trampoline, too. I feel certain that they are having a good time. Jeff Hills Dorset, Vermont ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 11:19:46 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Tim Vaughan Subject: Re: Terramycin application questions Andrew, in the future, you might want to consider the terra-patties that are available inexpensively from Mann Lake. They are like hamberger patties that you just toss on top of the brood chamber, (actually in my experience, throw them in anywhere). I had one hive which had foul brood so bad that it stunk from outside the hive, and probably a third of the brood was putrid. I treated with these patties at the same time as with Checkmite, and that was a mistake, because after the 8 weeks as I took out the Checkmite strips, I couldn't remember which hive was infected, and all the hives were strong and healthy. Also, even though I doubt that people in my area of the Central Coast of California have big problems with Tracheal Mites, the grease in the patties makes me feel that I've done something responsible :-) Regards Tim ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 10:41:37 -0500 Reply-To: lkrengel@mc.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Larry Krengel Subject: Re: Terramycin application questions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In our area we have been unable to acquire the usual 6.4 gram TM packages. We have had to buy the same TM-343 you refer to. Our beekeepers association discussed this recently. If our calculating is correct, this package would provide 512 treatments - a bit more than most of us need. Here is how we decided to solve the problem after doing a little measuring and calculating:: Mix 10 heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar with one level teaspoon of medicine. (this produced enough for ten treatments) Each hive gets one heaping tablespoon of the mix per teatment. Three treatments at 5 day intervals is considered appropriate. (In case you are interested... there are 51 level teaspoons in each TM-343 package.) Larry Krengel Northern Illinois Beekeepers Association Marengo, IL > > I've just purchased some Phizer Terramycin-343 from my local Agway, and > while it is labeled for bees, it is lacking in application directions, > other than a 200mg dosage. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 21:52:50 -0400 Reply-To: waldig@netzero.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: waldig Subject: Re: On Pierco plastic frames Comments: To: Pierco In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Nick, Well, I have tried Pierco plastic frames. I think they are very good and they were well accepted by the bees. I have one problem though. The sides of the frames that touch when all the frames are pushed together are hollow and every time I do an inspection I entomb a few bees in the hollows. And I hate killing bees. Is there a way to plug up those lethal hollows? I think it's hard to avoid hollows in your injection molding process (I know molding works best when wall thickness is uniform). Best regards, Waldemar Galka Long Island, NY From MAILER-DAEMON Sat Feb 28 07:44:48 2009 Return-Path: <> X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.8 (2007-02-13) on industrial X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-89.7 required=2.4 tests=AWL,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR, SPF_HELO_PASS,USER_IN_WHITELIST autolearn=disabled version=3.1.8 X-Original-To: adamf@METALAB.UNC.EDU Delivered-To: adamf@METALAB.UNC.EDU Received: from listserv.albany.edu (unknown [169.226.1.24]) by metalab.unc.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 06FFF4908E for ; Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:28:42 -0500 (EST) Received: from listserv.albany.edu (listserv.albany.edu [169.226.1.24]) by listserv.albany.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id n1SCP3se010167 for ; Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:28:42 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:28:38 -0500 From: "University at Albany LISTSERV Server (14.5)" Subject: File: "BEE-L LOG0204D" To: adamf@METALAB.UNC.EDU Message-ID: Content-Length: 70610 Lines: 1535 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 21:07:57 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Carpenter Bee Sting Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" We have had numerous postings about carpenter bees, including the following: >> The male carpenter >> bee has a yellow, or pale yellow, square mark on his forehead; the female >> does not. Yes, female carpenter bees can sting but do not do so unless one grabs them. As to descriptions of the bees, one should realize that many species exist, depending on geographic location. In our area we seem to have only one species. The females are coal black and shiny. The males are fuzzy and a golden brown; males set up territories and fly about in given spots. This week I saw 5 of them hovering above yucca plants near the beach. Adrian Adrian M. Wenner (805) 963-8508 (home phone) 967 Garcia Road (805) 893-8062 (UCSB FAX) Santa Barbara, CA 93106 [http://www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/index.htm] ***************************************************** * * "We not only believe what we see: * to some extent we see what we believe." * * Richard Gregory (1970) * ***************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 07:35:42 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Roy Nettlebeck Subject: Re: Screen bottom boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit LLOYDSPEAR wrote: > > > If used with a closed bottom the > > average > > decrease in fall mite counts is 37% on average but with important > > variations. It seems also that the genetic origin of the queen and the > > location of the apiary both have more impact on the mite levels than the > > screened bottom. Hello Lloyd and All, Thanks for the post. I have all of my hives on screens ( 150) with closed bottoms. I'm using Russian stock that has passed my Hygienic behavior check.Last year I saw mites come and go without treatment. It is more complex than just Russian queens and screened bottoms.Overall health and clean equipment , plus good management are needed. This spring my bees are in great shape and I have started to requeen. This is really difficult to do.What do you requeen? I will do some splits and save some of the year old queens. Best Regards Roy ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 11:09:29 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Adony Melathopoulos Subject: carpenter bees Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I have never seen carpenter bees as they only extend into the southern parts of Canada. I would love to see an active nest, but understand that they may become a nuisance in some contexts. My cousin in Ontraio had a problem with carpenter bees and used the following excellent reference to manage them: Common-sense Pest Control. 1991. W. Oldowski, S. Daar and H. Olkowski. 1991. The Taunton Press. Nestown, CT. ISBN 0-942391-63-2 Carpenter bees have a distinct preference for certain wood in nature; they do not like rotten wood, and will not make a nest in a live tree, preferring sound dead wood without bark. Although the bees are solitary, a system of nest galleries developed by several bees working in the same area over a period of time can extend as much as 6-9 ft. winthin a piece of timber. MANAGING CARPENTER BEES 1. Where carpenter bees are known to be a problem, keep exposed wood heavily coated with paint or varnish, or cover it with materials such as metal or fiberglass, into which the bees cannot tunnel. 2. Where damage is already underway, replace the damaged wood with painted wood or other materials that are not attractive to bees, or fill the holes with steel wool and staple on metal screenings after the bees have emerged. 3. If a pesticide is considered necessary, use one that is pyrethrum-based. Plug the holse after treatment, or replace damaged wood with undamaged chemically protected materials. Furthermore, benzaldehyde, which use to be used to drive honey bees from honey supers, is known to repel carpenter bees. Almond oil essence that you use for cooking, contains benzaldehyde and may be useful in driving the bees away during the active season until physical changes can be implemented. Adony ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 13:50:15 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Santiago Benjumeda Subject: To know about Remote sensing and bees Hi Everyone! I am doing a work with computers trying to develop a map with satellite imagery of a piece of land where loads of beekeepers are suppose to take their bees. I want to locate those fields on my map and classificate the flowers where they pick up the nectar. The place in in Ireland, exactly in Wicklow mountains, near Dublin, please help! I need to find people that actually know this area well and know where to locate all the fields, Thanks, Santiago _________________________________________________________ http://www.latinmail.com. Gratuito, latino y en español. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 12:56:43 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Mike Cooper Subject: Dairy Effluent killing bees Comments: cc: "ecmussen@ucdavis.edu" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I got a call from a Goat dairy who applies their effluent to their farm ground. Bees from a neighboring apiary come to get the water or maybe salts/sugar after spraying of the effluent on their farm ground. But they are dying rather quickly and those that make it back to the hive cause some mortality there also. I have not seen this first hand, does anybody have any ideas on this? This is a supposed "organic" dairy. Michael E. Cooper, Chief Bureau of Feeds and Plant Services Plant Industries Division Idaho State Department of Agriculture P.O. Box 790 Boise, ID 83701 Phone: (208) 332-8620 Fax: (208) 334-2283 e-mail: mcooper@agri.state.id.us ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 14:18:32 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Housel Subject: Re: carpenter bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The carpender bees are used in the green houses in the far north. They are brought out of hibernation in the heat of the green house. When they are brought into it for bloom pollination. You mght check in the area for large green houses in your area. Michael Housel Orlandobee ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 20:04:09 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Housel Subject: Re: Dairy Effluent killing bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am not the experts but the following will give you some water areas to look for contaminations. 1. Red ground or water is usually the color of any algae that has died in a pool. Water sample this to the county water testing. 2. Sentiment water pools with a slight scum collecting on the surface. Water sample this to the county water testing. 3. Grass or any vegetation that has an odd color (red or yellow). 4. Died bugs, frogs, and mice need to be sent to a diagnostic lab in the state. 5. Talk to the owner of the dairy farm to see if you can get any spray or chemical usage. Please explain that the bees are a first line help in the detection of virus problems that maybe developing on the farm. You may help him before it becomes a major problem for him. Or at the least explain that some chemical may have been used stronger than it would be required. 6. If you can get an aerial photograph it may show a natural arsenic water coming up because of the extensive use of the water in your area. The ground water has shown some properties from the gold mining with water. If this doesn't help contact me and I will give you some people to call to help. Michael Housel Orlandobee ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 20:25:05 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Housel Subject: Re: To know about Remote sensing and bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Click here: 2002 News Releases - Pictures from the Real Edge: NASA Posts U.S. Topography Data Another Is the www.geospatial-online.com I have been using the geospatial system in consulting for agriculture in percise application for effiencent farming and the best points for bee pollination. The other is to go to your county and/or library to get topagraphic maps. Michael Housel Orlandobee ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 22:46:45 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Brad Henry Subject: Re: carpenter bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Interesting that I've read so many telling about how carpenter bees cannot sting, but yet I've been a recipient of just such a sting. Was I mistaken or was I bitten? I had a very difinite puncture with a wheal. I disturbed the bee and it directly landed on my wrist with a noticible reaction. I've lived around them all my life and this was the first time to receive a negative experience. I'd rather be stung by honey bees. Brad Henry, Little Rock, AR ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 14:19:32 +0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Mats Andersson Subject: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hello you all. I have a question that i've been trying to find a good answer for. Do the bees really need a landing board on the hive? Some beekeepers claim it's necessary because the bees are heavily loaded and tired when they return and will fall down and die if there's no landing board. I still haven't seen the pile of dead bees on any of my hives without the board, so i'm doubtful. Others claim the landing board turns the hive into a bird feeder. We have some birds in Sweden who will knock on the hive with their beak and then eat the bees that come out to protect the hive. Still others claim the landing board, if it goes all the way to the ground, turns the hive into an ant-and bee hive. That may be correct in areas where ants are a problem, maybe. So far, i've figured bees have survived in nature for thousands of years without landing boards and will do just fine without them. What do you guys think? Are there any scientific experiments on landing boards? Do you use them and if yes, what benefits do you see from them? /Mats Andersson, Stockholm Sweden ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 09:14:40 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: BeeFarmer Subject: Re: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Do you really need landing boards? I don't use landing boards so to answer your question "Do you really need landing boads?" I would say nope! BeeFarmer Getting Kids involved in 4H Beekeeping http://www.homestead.com/BeeKeepers/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 09:49:22 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: LLOYDSPEAR Subject: landing boards Mats asks about the value of landing boards. Landing boards, like telescoping covers and several other items, are primarily for the benefit of beekeepers, rather than bees. It makes us feel good that the bees have someplace to land before walking into the hive. That said, for novices the activity visible on the landing boards, such as fanning, guarding, pollen collection, etc. is fascinating and probably worthwhile for the educational benefit. But if you don't have them the hives will still do just fine. Hope this helps, Lloyd Lloyd Spear, Owner of Ross Rounds, manufacturer of comb honey equipment for beekeepers and Sundance pollen traps. http://www.rossrounds.com Lloyd@rossrounds.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 09:56:08 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Robert Brenchley Subject: Re: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All. I've never used landing boards, and don't feel the need. I suspect they may be something for the beekeeper rather than the bees. I do have blue and great tits feeding on bees constantly in the season. I've often watched them, and have yet to see them attempting to take bees from the hive entrances; they always seem to take them from the ground in front of the hives. As far as I'm concerned they're welcome to that much. Wedmore lists tits as a common 'enemy of bees', and if I used landing boards, I'm sure they would be taking healthy bees rather than just culling the weak. Regards, Robert Brenchley RSBrenchley@aol.com Birmingham UK ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 09:22:23 -0700 Reply-To: lithar@hcis.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: AL Subject: Re: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mats Andersson wrote: > > Hello you all. > > I have a question that i've been trying to find a good answer for. Do the > bees really need a landing board on the hive? I have built bottom boards with spacious landing platforms only to observe the bees using only the first 1-2" at the hive entrance. So, for "landing" purposes I would have to say, no. All I've accomplished is providing a larger area to paint and maintain... FWIW, in the summer, when the bees tend to cover the front of the hives, they seem to prefer the large porch rather than hanging on the vertical surfaces. AL ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 13:58:22 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Kyle Lewis Subject: Re: Dairy Effluent killing bees To Mike Cooper, and fellow beekeepers, Mike, does this goat dairy produce milk only, or is cheese made there? If cheese is a major product of this dairy, the waste whey may be thrown out on the ground. Whey (and milk) contains lactose which is toxic to bees. Solutions: Dispose of the whey on the ground where it will soak in and not puddle. Dispose of the whey in the sewer or septic system if allowable. Feed the whey to hogs. Recycling is an "organic" principle. :) Cheers, Kyle ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 13:22:13 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Bob Harrison Subject: Landing boards Comments: To: lithar@hcis.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello All, >Do the > > bees really need a landing board on the hive? Landing boards really should be called spacer boards on Langstoth hives. They are mainly for spacing entrances apart when huge numbers are moved on trucks. Without the spacing hives would be pushed against each other without space for ventilation and clustering under the bee net. Bees do not need a landing board nor do they seek a landing space out when looking for a home in nature. Bees do seem to prefer more than one entrance/ exit in nature. Africanized bees fly into the entrance without touching the landing board most of the time. Sincerely, Bob Harrison ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 16:50:13 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Nathan W. Lawrence" Subject: Screen bottom boards Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" >Fairly large scale 2 years testing of the screened bottom board >tends to show that this equipment can increase significantly the >varroa population if it is used with an open bottom in the Quebec >context. It seems that a cooler brood chamber means better >conditions for the varroa to proliferate, thus meeting the recent >data collected by Kraus & Velthuis on the effect of temperature on >varroa development. If used with a closed bottom the average >decrease in fall mite counts is 37% on average but with important >variations. This leaves me with some questions regarding screened bottom boards and IPM for varroa. Basically, should I use them with a closed bottom board, or should my only bottom board be the screened one? Based on the quote above (thanks Lloyd for posting it), a screened bottom board ONLY will mean more mites because of the cooler temperatures. This sounds like a bad thing. On the other hand, if the screened bottom board was placed on top of a closed bottom board, (to achieve that 37% decrease in fall mite counts as claimed above), wouldn't the mites simply climb their way back up into the hive? Or do they simply keep still and wait for a passing bee to grab onto? (I've heard this claim before, but only from one source) I know there are sticky-boards that can be used to prevent this-- are these sticky-boards necessary? And if screen bottom boards ONLY are used, would this make it more difficult for the bees to keep warm in an upstate NY winter? Unfortunately, most of the books I have were written before Varroa mites came to the US, so topics such as this are not even mentioned. I guess that's what Bee-L is for. (And I need to get some up-to-date books). Thanks. --Nathan Lawrence ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 22:13:18 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Beenetuk Host Organization: ZbeeNet computer networking for beekeepers Subject: Apis-UK and Bee Biz Hello Bee-L, News about two beekeeping magazines.. The First issue of Apis-UK the new monthly beekeeping web magazine can be downloaded from http://www.beedata.com/apis-uk/ Bee Biz Re-launch The international English language magazine for the professional beekeeper IS BACK.. Visit http://www.beedata.com/beebiz/ and download the April 2002 issue. Regards Steve .. When you go in search of honey all you get is spam. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 09:58:34 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Dave Cushman Subject: Re: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Mats & all The bees do not 'need' a landing (or alighting) board, but they can be of good diagnostic help to the beekeeper... A few moments observation can tell a great deal about what is going on inside the hive. Fixed alighting boards are a nuisance when moving hives, but I use some that can be pushed into the entrance slot (I only use them to reduce the entrance size, or as a marker, if I shift the entrance further up the stack) I do not use them on every hive. Best Regards & 73s... Dave Cushman, G8MZY Beekeeping & Bee Breeding Website... http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 08:08:02 -0500 Reply-To: apism@attbi.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Apism Subject: Re: Screen bottom boards In-Reply-To: <200204232148.g3NBUUHV000544@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit "This leaves me with some questions regarding screened bottom boards and IPM for varroa. Basically, should I use them with a closed bottom board, or should my only bottom board be the screened one?" I have used Screened Bottom Boards for two years now. The version I use is from BetterBee and has a screen over an open drawer arrangement. Within this open drawer area goes a monitoring tray (cafeteria tray). The idea is that you have a built in, reusable and easily monitored catch-all for anything small enough to fall through the mesh floor. The tray is pulled out from the back of the hive which does not interrupt the front entrance nor the bees above the floor. I like this arrangement better than sticky boards because the tray is always in place, I can check on its contents anytime and I do not have to fool around with the front entrance to retrieve it. I do monitor mite thresholds this way and after each reading I simply scrape or brush off the dead mites and any other debris. The separation between the mesh and the tray prevents any bees from coming into contact with the fallen mites and the mites die when separated from their food source. Also, you mentioned new data showing hive temperatures affecting mite densities, while I have not seen this actual study, if this is the case, the Betterbee Varroa Screen arrangement does allow you to minimize the bottom board inside area to the outside ambient temperature. The tray fits in tightly enough to essentially close off the drawer to the outside. Additionally, if added ventilation is desired in the summer, the tray can be removed or pulled out slightly to provide free air movement. By the way, I firmly believe and practice OMF's as only a part of my IPM strategy. Betterbee can be reached at 800.632.3379 e-mail betterbee@betterbee.com They do not currently have a website Ken Haller Viking Honey Farm Arlington Heights, Illinois USA vikinghoneyfarm@attbi.com AIM Screen Name: kenhaller ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 08:41:06 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: LLOYDSPEAR Subject: Screen bottom boards In the course of thinking about screen bottom boards, Nathan asks "And if screen bottom boards ONLY are used, would this make it more difficult for the bees to keep warm in an upstate NY winter?" I think the answer to this question is a resounding "NO", as at least one commercial beekeeper has been using nothing else for over 30 years! (And he does not migrate.) I have just 2 years experience, but the same results. The more important question is whether we should keep using screens alone. While the Canadian researchers are well respected, their data and methods have not been peer-reviewed so I am going to continue to use screens alone until there is more information. I am also going to keep my solid boards...which I was planning on disposing of. Next year may be another matter... Lloyd Lloyd Spear, Owner of Ross Rounds, manufacturer of comb honey equipment for beekeepers and Sundance pollen traps. http://www.rossrounds.com Lloyd@rossrounds.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 10:27:00 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Kilty Subject: Re: Screen bottom boards In-Reply-To: <200204232148.g3NBUUHV000544@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 In message <200204232148.g3NBUUHV000544@listserv.albany.edu>, Nathan W. Lawrence writes >Basically, should I use them with a closed >bottom board Are there not 2 separate functions for screens - to let the varroa fall through and ventilation? A permanent tray (cleaned regularly along with counting) and screened ventilation holes, in the back of the hive under the main screen, would provide permanent ventilation (without propolis) to a degree that suited the location. -- James Kilty ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 10:20:58 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Kilty Subject: Re: Landing boards In-Reply-To: <200204231242.g3NBUUXN000544@listserv.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 In message <200204231242.g3NBUUXN000544@listserv.albany.edu>, Mats Andersson writes >Do you use >them and if yes, what benefits do you see from them? Some hives have them, most don't. I agree with you, and adjust the entrance size to suit the conditions. -- James Kilty ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 17:26:03 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: CSlade777@AOL.COM Subject: Re: Landing Boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit These are of more use to the beekeeper than to the bees. It gives a few seconds extra to watch what's going on. The bees don't need them at all. Chris ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 19:53:40 -0400 Reply-To: "jfischer@supercollider.com" Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Fischer Subject: Pfizer Terramycin (TM-25 6.4 oz packets ONLY) Shortage MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The Virginia State Apiarist, Keith Tignor, issued the notice below to all members of the Virginia Beekeepers mailing list. Keith is sure to have checked his facts. I know him, and he is very diligent about his work. In short, the yellow 6.4 oz packets of TM-25 are in short supply, but there are 2-pound packages of sugar-added pre-mix available. He makes an excellent point about other forms of TM that one might find at the agricultural co-op. They are "too strong", and I doubt that anyone attempting to "cut" one of these other formulations could assure an "even" final mix. Please note that I am saying nothing about the merits of "preventative" treatment with TM, nor am I saying anything about the merits of TM as a valid approach to dealing with Foulbrood once it has been detected. I'm just passing along Keith's warning, and my asbestos suit is at the cleaners this week, so please don't start a flame war. (I think it is ironic that Virginia has combined the positions of State Apiarist and Endangered Species Coordinator, but the irony/humor is likely lost on non-beekeepers, and not very funny to beekeepers.) jim ================================================== ===== If you cut here, you will break your computer monitor ===== ================================================== Several beekeepers have reported unsuccessful attempts to obtain Terramycin for the treatment of foulbrood in their beehives. Catalog suppliers of beekeeping equipment indicate that Terramycin in the soluble powder formulation is not available. This is the 6.4 ounces package of TM-25 formulation. Dadant and Sons, Brushy Mountain Bee Farm and others have sold out of this product. Their supplier, Pfizer Inc., has been unable to fill orders for additional supplies. It appears the manufacturer is not providing this material at this time. Pfizer representatives are in discussions to obtain additional supplies for distribution. Terramycin SP is widely used in dust, syrup, and extender patty treatments to control American foulbrood. The product contains 25 grams of active ingredient, oxytetracycline, per pound. In response to unavailability of Terramycin SP, beekeepers are turning to alternative suppliers for antibiotics. Formulations of Terramycin for animal use are being purchased from farm and agriculture suppliers. These products are not packaged for use on honeybees; and, usually contain a higher concentration of active ingredient. Terramycin packaged for animal treatment may contain 50 to 100 grams of active ingredient per pound. A severe problem in brood and adult mortality may develop if beekeepers do not adjust treatment dosage accordingly when using these more potent materials. Users of these animal products should read labels carefully to determine the amount of active ingredient in the package. Other antibiotics are currently being studied for use against foulbrood. The USDA bee laboratories in Beltsville and Weslaco have been working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to obtain approval for Tylosin and Lincomycin use in hives. These medications show promising control of American foulbrood; and, offer an alternative for controlling resistant AFB. However, the earliest approval is not expected until next year. These products should not be used in beehives until such approval is obtained. Studies on contamination of honey and effects on honeybees have not been completed. Both the Lynchburg office for Dadant and Sons and Brushy Mountain Bee Farm in North Carolina indicate abundant supplies of pre-mix Terramycin are available. This is a mixture of Terramycin and sugar for dusting application. A two pound supply of this product costs between $8.50 to $9.50. Such a quantity would provide 32 treatments at one ounce per hive. Dusting with Terramycin is the recommended treatment for foulbrood in honeybees. This is the most efficient means of administering the medication. Syrup mixtures may breakdown rapidly. Extender patties should not be used to treat brood diseases. The development of resistant strains of American foulbrood has been link to extender patty use in hives. Beekeepers are encouraged to obtain pre-mix Terramycin formulations from their supplier of beekeeping equipment. The Office of Plant and Pest Services will continue to monitor the supplies of Terramycin SP, or TM-25. Updates on the availability of this product will be forwarded to the local associations and interested beekeepers as they are received. This is believed to be a temporary problem. However, it is unknown when this product will again become available to Virginia beekeepers. Please, advise your fellow beekeepers about using approved alternative formulations of this antibiotic. Sincerely, Keith Tignor State Apiarist/Endangered Species Coordinator Office of Plant and Pest Services Va. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Phone: (804) 786-3515 Fax number: (804) 371-7793 Website: www.vdacs.state.va.us ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 22:14:28 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: waldig Subject: Re: Landing boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > I have a question that i've been trying to find a good answer for. Do the > bees really need a landing board on the hive? Some beekeepers claim it's > necessary because the bees are heavily loaded and tired when they return and > will fall down and die if there's no landing board. I still haven't seen the > pile of dead bees on any of my hives without the board, so i'm doubtful. I noticed that on rather cool days a few returning bees will miss the landing board and fall in front of the hive. Most of them will take a while to gather up their strength (regain temperature ?) and fly up again. Some will perish. A landing board may save a few bees under such adverse conditions. In general, it's benefits may be neglible except that it's a great tool for the beekeeper to observe the bees. Waldemar ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 18:42:51 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Paul Cronshaw, D.C." Subject: Grapefruit leaves Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Anyone had experience with using grapefruit leaves in their smokers as a way to combat mites? -- Paul Cronshaw, D.C. Hobbyist Beekeeper Santa Barbara, CA USA This material is presented for private discussion, research and educational purposes only. Do not publish, broadcast or otherwise distribute this material without prior written authority. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 21:45:41 -0400 Reply-To: "jfischer@supercollider.com" Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Fischer Subject: Re: Screen bottom boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nathan Lawrence said: > On the other hand, if the screened bottom board was placed on top of > a closed bottom board, (to achieve that 37% decrease in fall mite > counts as claimed above), wouldn't the mites simply climb their way > back up into the hive? Or do they simply keep still and wait for a > passing bee to grab onto? > (I've heard this claim before, but only > from one source) I was led to understand that the rationale behind the screened bottom board was that varroa mites cannot (or will not) climb back into the hive once they have fallen below the screen. I was led to understand that it was a simple matter of distance, and a sticky-board was not required. (The critical distance is less than the height of a screened bottom above a traditional solid bottom.) One can test this with ease, by putting a sheet of paper or cardboard under the screen, and seeing of the mite drop is about the same as the equivalent prior period with a sticky board. With some care, one can remove the non-sticky board without the mites sliding off. When I do this, I see live mites on the non-sticky paper. If they could climb back up, I would not see many live mites. Heck, the mites I see don't even make much effort to crawl around on the paper, and upon close examination, many appear to be undamaged, and capable of crawling around. > I know there are sticky-boards that can be used to > prevent this-- are these sticky-boards necessary? I certainly don't think so, but it is a risky thing to say much of anything about varroa. The more they are studied, the more is found that was unknown before. I am not sure what to think about the study at issue, but I have traditional solid bottom boards under my screened bottom boards simply to act as a tray for the slide-in sheets of paper. Clearly, one could close off the original bottom board entrance with a wooden plug, but I have never done this. I did staple some 8-mesh over them to keep bees and other creatures out of the space, stapling at the top only to create a "door" of sorts. The question in my mind in regard to the study at issue is about the reaction of the bees to any "excessive ventilation" caused by an open screened bottom: a) Let's assume for a moment that the statement as made is strictly true, that a screened bottom board actually increases the overall varroa population. b) We know that the bees do their best to tightly regulate the temperature and humidity of the brood area. They at least do well enough at this to avoid dead brood. c) If a screened bottom lowers the humidity and/or temperature, one would presume that more bees would participate in "climate control" activities to maintain acceptable parameters for brood development. d) If one accepts (a) through (c), the study would imply that bees cannot maintain "tight" control over the brood chamber environment, but can only maintain a "range". It also implies that varroa can "better thrive" at the "cooler, dryer" end of the "acceptable" range for brood. e) It follows from the above that a hotter, more moist environment (still within the acceptable range for brood) would inhibit varroa reproduction, but this would be at the "price" of reducing honey production, according to the many studies on ventilation that have stated the obvious (more ventilation making it easier to evaporate moisture from nectar). If all of the above is taken as "true", then the study would suggest to me that one would want to limit airflow through the brood area, while maximizing airflow through the supers. One might attempt this by decreasing the bottom entrance opening, plug the opening between the traditional bottom board and the screened bottom board, and provide WIDE upper entrances above the brood chamber in the location where one might place a queen excluder (a sort of "Mega-Imirie-Shim"). To avoid a convection flow between the brood area and the honey storage area, one might want to consider making this "Mega-Imire-Shim" out of an inner cover, to restrict airflow between brood and honey areas. (Another approach would be to offset alternating supers forward and backward slightly to create bee-sized openings between each super.) Stuffy brood boxes, and (still) breezy supers. It can be done, but would it help? I dunno. I'd bet that more bees would fan at the brood chamber entrance more often to overcome the "stuffy" effect, as they can clearly be seen doing this even with a screened bottom that has nothing below it. (At least it can be seen in summer in Virginia, your mileage may vary.) jim ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 00:22:40 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Housel Subject: Re: Screen bottom boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have screen bottom, 1/4 hardware wire, queen extruder, open bottom, and solid bottoms on nucs. The screen bottom has the highest success rate. This is setting 100 nucs with queen cell in the citrus bloom and also the gallberry and palmetto bloom (still in bloom). Also the bees must have a good time on the screens as one will hear them using the screen as a trampoline. The tension of the aluminum screen is where you hear the bongs. Plastic window screen I didn't try. I wonder if the bounce has an effect in the mite reduction. The best results was with the screen tilted from 1 inch in the back to the bottom of the 2by4 screen frame in the front. Top bars was used to frame the screen to get the best angles. It also left the bees to clean the screen which will keep debree if flat while the 1/4 hardware wire dropped most of the debree thur to the ground. No chemicals used. Two outside frames were plastic and wood without being drawn. Sprayed with sugar water if nuc was low on bees. This was done to help keep beetles out. Lost two frames in 1/4 inch hardware wire but no nucs lost to beetles. The queen extruder had died bees, Drones and workers, stuck in it. Was unable to be sure of any benefit in keeping the drones out of the hives. Removed drone frames to a separate medicated drone hive in hope to trap and remove mites. Unable to establish a useable result. Will run it again this fall when I need extra drones from best hives for mating. Michael Housel Orlandobee ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 23:50:19 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Dick Allen Subject: Re: Dairy Effluent killing bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Kyle writes: >Whey (and milk) contains lactose which is toxic to bees. On page 206 of The Hive and the Honey Bee: “Sugars which are either toxic to honey bees or reduce their longevity include mannose, lactose, galactose, and raffinose.......Both lactose and raffinose reduce the longevity of bees when offered to caged honey bees. Lactose is found in milk and milk products, and raffinose occurs naturally in soybeans. The toxicity of lactose is due to the effect of one of its components, galactose.......these sugars were still toxic when fed in sucrose syrup...” On page 217 of THATB: “......Haydak found that colonies fed soybean flour or mixtures of skim milk powder with cottonseed or soybean meal reared brood normally, although the amount of brood was less than in a caged colony of bees fed pollen......Haydak recommended the most effective pollen substitutes should consist of three parts soybean flour...., one part dried brewers yeast, and one part dried skim milk.” I’m confused. Dick ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 11:46:40 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Kyle Lewis Subject: Re: Dairy Effluent killing bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit To Dick Allen and fellow beekeepers, Dick quoted The Hive and Honeybee, about lactose and raffinose being toxic to bees, yet one researcher recommends soybean flour (containing raffinose) and dried milk (which contains lactose) as ingredients in pollen replacer. Dick's conclusion: >I’m confused. Yes, I'm confused too. I found a reference from Oregon State U, stating that soybeans contain 0.1 to 0.9 percent raffinose. Perhaps this is concentration is too low to be fatal to honeybees. Soybean flour is one of the standard ingredients in pollen replacer, so it is not immediately terminal in its toxicity. On the other hand, milk powder has quite a high concentration of lactose, I believe over 50%. And milk powder is not included in most pollen replacer recipes. >From what I have gathered from this list, pollen replacer can be used for a few weeks, then real pollen must replace the replacer. Perhaps this is due, in part, to the toxic effects of raffinose (and lactose). Cheers, Kyle ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 21:49:28 +0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Vincenc Petruna Subject: House colour problem MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1250" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable My friend, who is also a beekeeper, has serious problems with bees in = the walls of his new yellow repainted house. His apiary is in the nothern side of the house with entrance to = the SE. During the day, the southern side of the house became warm and = plenty of bees stopped there and the new repainted wall became dirty. = My friend don't want to move the bees neither to repaint the house with = the different color. Has anybody any advice for him? Has anybody ever = met with such problem? Thanks for your answers, Vincenc Petruna, Slovenia ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 16:09:31 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: dan hendricks Subject: Screened bottom boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi, all. I haven't seen this mentioned. When I first cut and screened my bottom board last summer, many bees clustered on the bottom of the screen. The top of the screen, of course, was covered with bees, making those outside feel at home there. Will the outside bees decide later to move inside, I wondered? So I stapled a sheet of plastic to the 1 1/2" spacer I located below the bottom board (to keep the mites from crawling back up). This decreases the drastic ventilation, of course, but I keep the entrance open all year so that likely doesn't matter much. I would like to read comments on this matter. Dan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 04:30:22 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Dennis Murrell Subject: Re: Grapefruit Leaves MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Paul and Everyone, I had a couple of large boxes of grapefruit leaves shipped to me from Florida. My relatives there have a tree in their backyard that isn't sprayed and they shipped the best grapefruit I have ever had wrapped in green grapefruit leaves. I wanted to use the smoke as an easy way to access the mite level in small cell foundation based hives that I have been playing with without contaminating the wax with chemical residues. I used lots of smoke to completely disrupt hive activities when smoking the hives with the grapefruit leaves. The leaves were mostly dry as I got the fruit in late winter and smoked the bees in mid summer. They were stored in a box in the dark in our very dry and cool Wyoming climate. The smoke did drop a number of mites. When the hives were dusted later in the day with powdered sugar the mite drop was much increased. The smoke would drop about 10 to 30 percent of the mites that the powdered sugar did. The intense smoking also seemed to disorient the bees longer than the "normal" pine/wood based smoke that I use. I tried the grapefruit leaves on several other occasions with the same results so now I used powdered sugar. I figure that the grapefruit smoke only knocked down 30 percent of the mites on the bees at best. These results differed greatly from the 90+ percent that the researchers obtained from caged bees. My question was whether the dried leaves made any difference. Maybe they should have been very green. Best Wishes Dennis ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 18:00:32 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: CSlade777@AOL.COM Subject: Re: Screen Bottom Boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit At a lecture at the Stoneleigh (UK) convention almost exactly a year ago Dr Jeff Pettis described experiments he had conducted to see how far the tray had to be below the mesh for fallen living varroa not to get back onto the bees. At a half inch space they all got back. At 2 inches none did, with a numerical gradient in between these extremes. He was careful not to say that the mites jumped the gap. He was unsure how they bridged the space, but offered the suggestion that proximity to the bees above the screen provided the stimulus to make their way back up. Chris ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 06:16:11 -0400 Reply-To: Buckner Lewis Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Buckner Lewis Subject: Re: Screened bottom boards MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dan, I would not be concerned about the bees on the outside of the screen bottom boards. They seem to congragate there, but will move into the hive once they figure out the situation. This has been my meger experience with screened bottoms. Mites, it seems will not crawl back into the hive once they hit the skids, but lay in wait for another ride, so I would remove the plastic and let the air flow. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 13:25:42 -0400 Reply-To: "jfischer@supercollider.com" Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Fischer Subject: US Farm Bill - Honey/Beekeeper Related Items MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The current bone-gnawing over the US Agriculture bill is difficult to follow, but two items of interest to beekeepers appear in the current "offer" by the House Of Representatives to the Senate, as found in http://agriculture.house.gov/fbhouse.pdf An interesting item is the creation of a stronger "country of origin" labeling requirement on nearly all commodities, mandatory in 2005: "Country of Origin Labeling: For meat, fresh fruits & vegetables, and all other commodities addressed in the Senate bill, require the Secretary to issue rules for voluntary labeling by September 30, 2002. This program would become mandatory on January 1, 2005 unless the Secretary determines that it would not be in the best interests of producers and consumers. Criteria to be used by the Secretary include at the minimum: - Potential costs outweigh benefits to producers. - It could interfere with U.S. access to international markets for producers. - It would result in no significant positive impact on producer's incomes." This should make things a bit more clear on grocery-store honey labels, and start to force some hands. The full text of the legislation can be read at http://agriculture.house.gov/2646hea.htm in: "SEC. 18. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING OF PERISHABLE AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES" I sure hope that someone does not try to claim that honey is not "perishable", and start yet another convocation of the chowder and marching society. :) For the big boys, the honey loan program looks like it will be restored, but the hopes for $0.65/lb appear to be dashed: "Honey Commodity Loan Program: Maintain House/Senate loan rate at $.60/lb." ...but not a word on the specifics regarding the Bee Labs. Anyone have a clue on the restoration of funding for the bee labs? jim ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 22:36:48 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Carmenie Stemmler Subject: Screened BB, construction Hello Bee-L'ers I was looking at the plans for screened bottom boards at www.beesource.com Anyone that has built them have any suggestions for improvement on those plans? I am planning on using 7/8" lumber, and I guess I will go with 1/4" plywood on the bottom board, making it removable, as well as I think will make the screened bottom board frame removeable from the front. Anything else I could improve on? BTW, I did check the archives. Lots of good ideas there. Thanks alot. Best regards, Carmenie P.S. What is the biggest diadvantage with adding just the screen part of the bottom board on top of your existing bottom board? ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 18:25:06 -0500 Reply-To: Golden S Bee Ranch Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Golden S Bee Ranch Subject: Robbing bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I was reading about robbing bees in The Hive and the Honeybee 1966 ed. page 250. It states that "Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the physical appearance of robber bees and others, although robbers eventually become smooth, shiny, and almost black." I thought that robbing bees were just field workers from other hives that were taking advantage of a food source. Could someone explain the physical change in appearance? Thanks, Tim Tim Stalnaker Golden S Bee Ranch Rock Island, TN 38581 USA BeeRanch@Multipro.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 23:57:58 -0400 Reply-To: "jfischer@supercollider.com" Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James Fischer Subject: Re: Dairy Effluent killing bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > I got a call from a Goat dairy who applies their effluent to > their farm ground... The discussion of lactose, while interesting, seems to me to be a side-issue. I dunno much at all about whey (or curds, either for that matter), but when I hear the phrase "effluent", I presume it would refer to a mixture that is mostly made up of the liquid and solid wastes produced by the goats themselves. Anyone who has smelled a herd of goats can testify to the surprising quantity of powerful volatile compounds produced by the typical goat. (In general, strong odors are the result of highly volatile compounds "being volatile".) I'd focus on the analysis of the "effluent" itself. I'd send a grad student too much get some "pure" samples of goat urine, goat feces, and whatever other components make up the mix of "effluent", and a sample of the final mix as applied to the fields. (One can re-assure the grad student that shoveling such things will be good practice for writing grant applications in the future...) This can't be the first beekeeper to have hives near a diary or a large herd of goats. If such operations caused bee kills as a side effect of "normal operations", one would expect that this would have become common knowledge among beekeepers long ago. Does anyone else have a nearby goat herd? My farm borders a fairly significant cattle dairy, and we have not noticed any problems, including a lack of problems after the annual odiferous machinations of the dairy's manure spreader. (The dairy owner did not consider beekeeping to be "real farming" until I asked him if he'd like to assist with spring ear-tagging at the apiary. I even offered him appropriate props for my prank - a headband magnifier, and a pair of tweezers, and mentioned that each hive had, at most, 60,000 bees...) Therefore, one is forced to conclude that there is something very obvious and nasty to be found here that should stick out in an analysis of the effluent, the land, or the soil. > ...they are dying rather quickly and those that make it back to > the hive cause some mortality there also. To have both bees dying "in the field" and "upon return" from a single source or single toxic item is the most interesting part of the question. Has anyone ever heard of ANY single item that kills bees in the manner described? Sounds to me like we have multiple nasty things here. jim ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 19:26:38 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: darrells Subject: Re: Mite thresholds In-Reply-To: <200204141855.g3EIgJUr012469@listserv.albany.edu> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hi Tom & all I use full bottom screens and do 24 hr natural mite drop counts every two weeks throughout the season. My experience is that mite counts are low most of the time then take off exponentially. I use a treatment threshold of 40 mites,and believe that the use of 30 40 or 50 for your threshold doesnt matter because they will be passed before the next 2 weeks are up. If I find a hive with 32 mites, I treat even though my threshold is 40. I make my judgement based the level two weeks ago and interpolate the likely count 2 weeks from now. I find that I must treat some hives while their neighbour is clean. Genetics I guess. Bob Darrell Caledon Ontario Canada 80W44N ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 08:32:24 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Andrew Dewey Subject: Terramycin application questions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello All, I've just purchased some Phizer Terramycin-343 from my local Agway, and while it is labeled for bees, it is lacking in application directions, other than a 200mg dosage. I'm aware that most often it is mixed with powdered sugar (should I powder my own in a blender or use commercial powdered sugar?) but I haven't been able to find any proportions as to the mix. (either in THATHB or the archives) What would be the correct amount of the sugar mix to give to the bees? Thanks for any help. I want to do this right. I have one over wintered hive in 2 deeps, and 3 new hives created from purchased nucs. Andrew Dewey andrew@acadiacomp.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 01:00:45 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Rich Bruno Subject: Re: Screened BB, construction I would keep the screen 2 inches away from the bottom board. I read a post where a study was done showing that a 2 inch distance prevented mites from reentering the hive. putting a screen mesh onto your existing bottom board will do nothing to prevent mite infestation. The idea is to let the mites fall through the screen onto the bottom board. I would also recommend having a sticky material on the bottom board so the mites wont go anywhere. regards Rich B ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 11:34:30 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Jeffrey R. Hills" Subject: Screened Bottom Boards as trampoline MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have screen bottom, 1/4 hardware wire, queen extruder, open bottom, and solid bottoms on nucs. Also the bees must have a good time on the screens as one will hear them using the screen as a trampoline. My bees, particularly the younger ones, use the screen as a trampoline, too. I feel certain that they are having a good time. Jeff Hills Dorset, Vermont ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 11:19:46 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Tim Vaughan Subject: Re: Terramycin application questions Andrew, in the future, you might want to consider the terra-patties that are available inexpensively from Mann Lake. They are like hamberger patties that you just toss on top of the brood chamber, (actually in my experience, throw them in anywhere). I had one hive which had foul brood so bad that it stunk from outside the hive, and probably a third of the brood was putrid. I treated with these patties at the same time as with Checkmite, and that was a mistake, because after the 8 weeks as I took out the Checkmite strips, I couldn't remember which hive was infected, and all the hives were strong and healthy. Also, even though I doubt that people in my area of the Central Coast of California have big problems with Tracheal Mites, the grease in the patties makes me feel that I've done something responsible :-) Regards Tim ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 10:41:37 -0500 Reply-To: lkrengel@mc.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Larry Krengel Subject: Re: Terramycin application questions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In our area we have been unable to acquire the usual 6.4 gram TM packages. We have had to buy the same TM-343 you refer to. Our beekeepers association discussed this recently. If our calculating is correct, this package would provide 512 treatments - a bit more than most of us need. Here is how we decided to solve the problem after doing a little measuring and calculating:: Mix 10 heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar with one level teaspoon of medicine. (this produced enough for ten treatments) Each hive gets one heaping tablespoon of the mix per teatment. Three treatments at 5 day intervals is considered appropriate. (In case you are interested... there are 51 level teaspoons in each TM-343 package.) Larry Krengel Northern Illinois Beekeepers Association Marengo, IL > > I've just purchased some Phizer Terramycin-343 from my local Agway, and > while it is labeled for bees, it is lacking in application directions, > other than a 200mg dosage. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 21:52:50 -0400 Reply-To: waldig@netzero.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: waldig Subject: Re: On Pierco plastic frames Comments: To: Pierco In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Nick, Well, I have tried Pierco plastic frames. I think they are very good and they were well accepted by the bees. I have one problem though. The sides of the frames that touch when all the frames are pushed together are hollow and every time I do an inspection I entomb a few bees in the hollows. And I hate killing bees. Is there a way to plug up those lethal hollows? I think it's hard to avoid hollows in your injection molding process (I know molding works best when wall thickness is uniform). Best regards, Waldemar Galka Long Island, NY