From LISTSERV@UACSC2.ALBANY.EDU Mon Oct 3 16:31:48 1994 Date: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 18:11:17 -0400 From: BITNET list server at ALBNYVM1 To: Allen Dick Subject: File: "BEE-L LOG9406" ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 21:11:36 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Rob Bidleman Subject: Re: Home remidy for sting In-Reply-To: <199405311554.AA13220@mail.crl.com> Mrs. Stewart's Bluing has been used for years and seems to work for most. ---------------------------------------------------------robbee@crl.com--- On Tue, 31 May 1994, Jeffrey Young wrote: > Other than meat tenderizer, is there any easy home remedies for bee stings? > > thanks, Jeff Young > Jeffrey_Young.LOTUS@crd.lotus.com > ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 22:14:27 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Teri Rhan {FMO} Subject: Re: Home remidy for sting In-Reply-To: <9406010416.AA07279@mx1.cac.washington.edu> I was under the impression that bee venom has a number of poisons in it and the amonia works on some as well as the meat tenderizer works on others not to mention the baking soda and the bluing. What happens if you use a combination of some sort? Enquiring minds want to know, Teri On Tue, 31 May 1994, Rob Bidleman wrote: > Mrs. Stewart's Bluing has been used for years and seems to work for most. > > ---------------------------------------------------------robbee@crl.com--- > > > > > On Tue, 31 May 1994, Jeffrey Young wrote: > > > Other than meat tenderizer, is there any easy home remedies for bee stings? > > > > thanks, Jeff Young > > Jeffrey_Young.LOTUS@crd.lotus.com > > > ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 20:41:28 GMT Reply-To: Gordon@apis.demon.co.uk Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Gordon Scott Subject: Anglo/French Hi, Jean-Marie Vandyck has offered articles to me (and I guess to others) from his Belgium beekeepers' newsletter. I thought that if there were any strong Anglo/French Canadians (for example) that they may help with translations or proof reading -- any offers? Thanks, -- Gordon Scott Gordon@apis.demon.co.uk 100332,3310 on CompuServe Newsletter Beekeeper@apis.demon.co.uk ditto Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22 5HP, UK ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 14:39:12 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adam Finkelstein Subject: FAQ stuff In-Reply-To: <199405261415.AA14568@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU> from "Rick Hough" at May 26, 94 10:16:59 am Hi, received this from news.answers dudes. I'll try to conform it as much as possible to their guidelines (the FAQ) and then send to you for your input. >From here we will become "officially" FAQed. hope all is well, RECORD honeyflow here, I've never seen so much honey! Adam -- ================================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| =========== To: Adam Finkelstein Subject: Re: sci.agriculture.beekeeping FAQ 5/94 In-Reply-To: Your message of Fri, 27 May 94 13:16:26 +0000. Reply-To: news-answers-request@mit.edu Date: Wed, 01 Jun 94 14:17:08 EDT From: Thomas Koenig Thank you for submitting your posting to news.answers. News.answers is a moderated newsgroup, and postings that appear in it are expected to conform to certain minimal guidelines, in order to ensure that the newsgroup can perform the purposes for which it was created. Because news.answers is moderated, your submission to it was mailed to us, the moderators of *.answers, rather than posted directly to the USENET. Your submission does not conform to those guidelines. In particular, I notice the following problems in your submission: The Newsgroups line does not contain all relevant *.answers newsgroups; rec.answers is missing. The posting has no Archive-name line. You have not told us the posting frequency of your posting. You have not told us whether or not you want to be on faq-maintainers or faq-maintainers-announce. Please read the "*.answers submission guidelines" posting, the most recent version of which is appended below. After doing so, please make the necessary modifications to your posting and resubmit it, and we will be glad to reconsider it for inclusion in news.answers. Again, thank you for submitting to news.answers. Thomas Koenig For the *.answers moderation team [begin reference inclusion] Path: cam.ov.com!jik Newsgroups: news.answers,alt.answers,comp.answers,de.answers,misc.answers,rec.answers,sci.answers,soc.answers,talk.answers Distribution: world Followup-To: poster From: jik@cam.ov.com (Jonathan I. Kamens) Reply-To: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu (the *.answers moderation team) Organization: OpenVision Technologies, Inc. Subject: *.answers submission guidelines Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Archive-name: news-answers/guidelines Version: $Id: guidelines,v 1.106 1994/06/01 17:51:30 pshuang Exp $ Posting-Frequency: monthly In order to submit an FAQ posting to the news.answers newsgroup (and to zero or more of the other *.answers newsgroups (alt.answers, comp.answers, de.answers, misc.answers, rec.answers, sci.answers, soc.answers, talk.answers) along with it), you should first modify the header of your posting to conform to the guidelines given below, in section I. Then, you should submit your posting to us using the instructions given below, in section II. Once your posting is approved, you will post it directly to news.answers and other newsgroups yourself; i.e., after approval, you no longer have to go through us at all to post. This is explained in more detail below. I. Submission guidelines A. Why the guidelines? There are three main reasons for the guidelines: 1. Appropriateness Only periodic informational postings that are intended to be read by people belong in news.answers. The guidelines are meant to prevent other types of postings, including discussion of periodic informational postings, from appearing in the group. 2. Usefulness to people The newsgroup should be as useful as possible to the people who read it. Requirements such as effective "Subject:" and "Summary:" lines (see below) further this goal. 3. Automatic archiving One of the main points of news.answers is that it can be archived automatically in order to build up a database of periodic informational postings. Requirements such as the "Archive-name:" line further that goal. B. What the guidelines DON'T specify These guidelines DO NOT specify a specific, required format for the bodies of FAQ postings. Postings in *.answers are not required to adhere to "Digest Message Format" format (Internet RFC 1153), or MIME (RFC 1341), or HTML, or SGML, or any other text format, standard or otherwise. This omission is intentional. Forcing all *.answers postings to adhere to a specific format would dissuade many FAQ maintainers from submitting their postings to *.answers. Such a result would be in direct contradiction to the chartered purpose of *.answers; therefore, FAQ maintainers are free to choose whatever format they want (assuming that it is human-readable) for the bodies of their postings. These guidelines also DO NOT specify lower or upper limits for the size of an acceptable FAQ posting. However, a pragmatic lower limit is set by the requirement that the articles be useful to people. As for a pragmatic upper limit, FAQ maintainers may wish to consider that some part of their audience may not be able to access very large articles at their sites due to intermediary software problems (64KB is a common magic number), so postings larger than that may not be able to be read by many people. C. Required header fields There are two "headers" in a news.answers posting. The first is the normal header that any article posted to the USENET has. The second header, the "auxiliary header," is separated from the first by one or more blank lines. As far as the News software is concerned, the auxiliary header is just part of the body of the article; however, news.answers requires some information in it. The requirements for each of the two headers are discussed in detail below. Required headers are marked with "(Required)", while optional ones are marked with "(Optional)". 1. The normal header a. Newsgroups (Required) We need to know exactly what will appear in the Newsgroups line of the posting. In addition to news.answers, your posting should be cross-posted to the other *.answers newsgroups of hierarchies in which it is posted. For example, a posting that is normally posted in both rec.music.makers.synth and comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard should be posted to both rec.answers and comp.answers in addition to news.answers. Note that postings to any of the *.answers newsgroups MUST be posted in news.answers, regardless of what other *.answers newsgroups they also appear in. There is one exception to the above rule of always crossposting to the corresponding *.answers groups: Postings to newsgroups which go to a non - international hierarchy in a different language. Such an article should not go into the corresponding *.answers group. At present, the only such case is de.answers, which is for German - language periodic informational postings only. For example, an English - language FAQ may be posted to a de.* group if the maintainer feels it is useful there, but not to de.answers. Although the order of newsgroups on the line is not important from the point of view of the news software, we prefer to have news.answers listed last. The other *.answers newsgroups should be listed directly before news.answers. Listing the primary newsgroup(s) first improves the accuracy of newsgroup volume statistics, provides better key information for index lists and catalogues, and minimizes accidental postings to the *.answers newsgroups from buggy newsreaders. Example: Newsgroups: comp.sys.foo,comp.answers,news.answers Note that your Newsgroups line should NOT contain only *.answers groups. FAQ postings should be cross-posted to *.answers from their home newsgroups, rather than being posted separately to *.answers. However, if you get approval for *.answers cross-posting in the middle of your "posting cycle," and you do not wish to wait until the next scheduled posting time to cross-post to *.answers, then you can post your FAQ only to *.answers. If you choose to do this, please make sure to let us know you are going to, and please do not do it more than once. b. Subject (Required) The subject line of your posting should have some meaning outside of its home newsgroup(s). For example, instead of just "FAQ," you might have " FAQ", where "" is the name of the newsgroup or the topic being discussed. Furthermore, important information should appear near the beginning of the subject line, so that news readers that display article summaries don't cut off the important information. For example, instead of "Frequently Asked Questions about ," use " Frequently asked Questions." For postings which are being split into multiple parts, you should indicate in each posting's Subject line which part that particular posting is, and how many parts total there are. For this purpose, simple Arabic numerals are prefered over Roman numerals because Arabic numerals are more easily sorted and manipulated by software. Example: Subject: comp.sys.foo Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Part 1/2 Subject: comp.sys.foo Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Part 2/2 c. Followup-To (Required) and Reply-To (Optional) Your posting must have a "Followup-To:" line in the header that directs followups to somewhere other than *.answers. You may choose to direct followups back to the home newsgroup(s) of the FAQ, or to direct followups to the author of the FAQ, in which case "Followup-To: poster" is sufficient. That means that you actually put the word "poster" there, as specified in the RFC which describes the format of Usenet postings. Do NOT put an E-mail address in the "Followup-To:" field. If you forget the "Followup-To:" and we get mailed followups to your FAQ, we're going to get peeved at you. Furthermore, your posting must have a valid E-mail reply address in the header, either in the "From:" field, or if not in "From:" then in "Reply-To:". Example: From: guru@foosys.com (Joe R. Programmer) Followup-To: comp.sys.foo Reply-To: faq-mail@foosys.com (FAQ Comments address) In this example, "guru" apparently wants mail about the FAQ to go to a different address than the rest of his mail. We've shown the "From:" header, because the version of the FAQ that you forward to us should show the "From:" header just as it will appear when the article is actually posted. d. Supersedes, Expires, References (Optional) It is a good idea to use "Supersedes:" and "Expires:" header lines to make sure that each version of your FAQ stays around until the next time it is posted. A useful tool for this is the Perl FAQ poster written by Jonathan Kamens. It is available from rtfm.mit.edu, via anonymous ftp in the file /pub/post_faq/post_faq.shar, or via mail server (send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "send post_faq/post_faq.shar" in the body). Post_faq takes an article with its static headers (i.e., the headers that don't change each time the article is posted) included, adds dynamic headers to it, and posts the article. Another utility, Ian Kluft's AUTO-FAQ package (which is also written in Perl) provides more functionality, including automatic splitting of large FAQs into multi-part postings. If you're looking for something with a high level of automation to assist you in your FAQ maintenance and posting, you might want to try AUTO-FAQ instead of post_faq. It's available via anonymous ftp in ftp.amdahl.com:pub/faq/auto-faq.shar.Z. Furthermore, if you are posting a multi-part FAQ posting or a series of related FAQ postings, it is a good idea to add a "References:" line to all of the postings except the first one, making the contents of that line the Message-ID of the first posting in the series. If you do this, then people who use threaded news readers will be able to manipulate the entire series as a single thread, including (for example) killing the entire thread if they're not interested or saving the entire thread to a file with one command. The perl FAQ poster mentioned above supports an option for doing this. Example: Expires: Fri, 1 May 1992 00:00:00 GMT Supersedes: The date in the "Expires:" header should be far enough into the future that a new version of the FAQ will be posted before the one you're posting now expires. We've shown both headers in the format the post_faq script would use. We haven't shown a "References:" header, since the example posting we've been presenting is not part of a multi-part FAQ; if there were a "References:" header, it would contain a Message ID just like the "Supersedes:" header. e. Summary (Optional) You are encouraged to put a summary of the contents of your article in the Summary field of the header. Try to describe what your FAQ discusses, and aim your description at someone who may not actually be directly interested in the topic covered by your FAQ. There have been discussions about using the Summary fields of the FAQ postings in news.answers to construct a short "catalog" of the information available through news.answers, so think of the Summary field as a "catalog entry" for your FAQ. Note that header fields (except for the Newsgroups field) are allowed to span multiple lines, as long as the continuation lines after the first start with whitespace (at least one space or tab character). Example: Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about Foo computers. It should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the comp.sys.foo newsgroup. 2. The auxiliary header The auxiliary header looks like the main message header (i.e. "Field-name: field-value"), but is separated from the main message header by a blank line, as well as followed by a blank line separating it from the rest of the body of the message. The auxiliary header of this posting is: Archive-name: news-answers/guidelines Version: $Id: guidelines,v 1.106 1994/06/01 17:51:30 pshuang Exp $ Posting-Frequency: monthly a. Archive-name (Required) In order to be cross-posted in news.answers, your posting must include an auxiliary archival header with an "Archive-name:" field. The purpose of the archive name is two-fold. First of all, it specifies where the FAQ should be stored in archives of the news.answers newsgroup. Second, it should give people, even people who do not read the home newsgroup of the FAQ, a pretty good idea of what's in it. Therefore, abbreviations which will only be recognized by people already familiar with the topic covered by the FAQ should be avoided if possible. The archive name should be composed of one or more one-word (i.e., no spaces) components, separated by slashes. Each component should be 14 characters or less in length, if possible, but this is not a strict requirement; if 14 characters isn't enough, then each component should be unique in the first 14 characters (i.e., two archive names should never be identical after their components are all truncated to 14 characters). Avoid periods in the archive name, because some operating systems choke on them; if you must have word separators, use hyphens or underscores rather than periods. The archive namespace is hierarchical; for example, there are a number of lists of bookstores in the "books/stores" directory of the namespace, and all of their archive names start with "books/stores/". Avoid using slashes in your archive name unless you are taking advantage of the hierarchical nature of the namespace, i.e., unless you have multiple related FAQ postings which should appear in a single directory in the archive namespace. Multi-part FAQs should be named "name/part1", "name/part2", etc. Alternatively, if the parts of the FAQ are split by topic rather than by size, then you can use short topic names rather than "part1", "part2", etc. If you post a diff for your FAQ, it should be named "name/diff". If you post multiple diffs for a multi-part FAQ, they should be named "name/diff1", "name/diff2", etc. (if you want to use just one diff for a multi-part FAQ, you can just use "name/diff" as its name). If you post a diff to a one-part posting, then the original FAQ should be named "name/part1" (or "name/faq", or whatever else you think is appropriate, as long as we approve it) and the diff should be named "name/diff". Consider these examples: Topic Archive name(s) ----------------------------------- ------------------------------ comp.ai FAQ ai-faq/part1 ai-faq/part2 ai-faq/part3 rec.travel.air FAQs, various topics air-travel/bucket-shops air-travel/cheap-tickets/part1 air-travel/cheap-tickets/part2 air-travel/faq air-travel/jetlag-prevention air-travel/na-airport-codes air-travel/world-airport-codes soc.culture.esperanto FAQ esperanto-faq Please pick the archive name that you would like to use for your posting, and include the "Archive-name:" line with that archive name in it, when submitting to news.answers. If there is some problem with it, or if we would like to suggest an alternate name, we will let you know. Example: Archive-name: foo-faq If your posting already has an "Archive-name:" line which is not a valid news.answers archive name and you do not want to change it, or if you want the "Archive-name:" line you add to contain the name of a file in your own archives rather than in the news.answers archives, you can use a "News-answers-archive-name:" header line instead. b. Other archive names (Optional) The software which builds the FAQ archive on rtfm.mit.edu (see the "Introduction to the *.answers newsgroups" posting for more information about it) automatically uses the "Archive-name:" line to determine the file name in which to save an FAQ, when saving it in any of the "answers" newsgroups (news.answers, rec.aviation.answers, etc.). Furthermore, if you have a field of the form "Newsgroup-name-archive-name: name" in your FAQ's auxiliary header (see the example below), the specified archive name will be used to save in the specified newsgroup. Such a newsgroup-specific archive name overrides any generic "Archive-name:" line. When an archive name for an FAQ cannot be determined in either of the ways mentioned above, the Subject line of the posting (with some minor modifications) is used as its file name. For example, if you have this in your normal header: Newsgroups: comp.foo,comp.bar,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: Comp.foo FAQ and this in your auxiliary header: Archive-name: foo-faq Comp-bar-archive-name: bar-faq then the posting will be saved as "foo-faq" in comp.answers and news.answers (because they are both "answers" newsgroups and will therefore use the Archive-name line), as "bar-faq" in comp.bar, and as "Comp.foo_FAQ" in comp.foo. If you do decide to specify additional archive names in your posting, please obey the guidelines for archive names given above. c. Posting-Frequency (Optional) A "Posting-Frequency" field in the auxiliary header can give the reader a good idea of how often your FAQ is posted, for example "every 14 days" or "monthly" (see section D, below). Example: Posting-Frequency: monthly If you specify this field, it will be automatically copied into the "List of Periodic Informational Postings". d. Last-modified, Version (Optional) You can have other fields in the auxiliary header, if you want. Two common ones are "Last-modified:" and "Version:". You may put any text you want in these fields, in any format you wish. Example: Last-modified: 1992/03/25 Version: 2.5 3. Sample FAQ headers Putting together the examples We've given above, your FAQ's headers (or, at least, the ones you submit to us) might look like this: From: guru@foosys.com (Joe R. Programmer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.foo,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: comp.sys.foo FAQ Followup-To: comp.sys.foo Reply-To: faq-mail@foosys.com (FAQ Comments address) Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about Foo computers. It should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the comp.sys.foo newsgroup. Expires: Fri, 1 May 1992 00:00:00 GMT Supersedes: Archive-name: foo-faq Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: 1992/03/25 Version: 2.5 Note that the blank line separating the normal header from the auxiliary header must be completely blank, i.e., no tabs or spaces, and that there must also be one or more completely blank lines after the auxiliary header. Of course, you can include in the posting header any of the other standard USENET header fields that have not been discussed here. D. Posting frequency The frequency at which you choose to post your FAQ is left to your discretion. Some FAQ maintainers find that a monthly posting, with an Expires header to prevent each posting from going away before its replacement is posted, is sufficient. Some other newsgroups are so busy that a weekly posting of the FAQ is needed. Another possibility is to post the complete FAQ relatively infrequently, while posting a shorter pointer to it (e.g., providing instructions for getting it from archives) more frequently. If you choose to post your FAQ more frequently than once per month, you might want to consider not cross-posting it to *.answers every time you post. Although it may be necessary to post the FAQ in its home newsgroup often, it is probably not necessary to post it in *.answers as frequently. Note, however, that if you do this, you can't use Supersedes every time you post your FAQ, since a posting in just the FAQ's home newsgroup should not supersede the posting in both the home newsgroup and *.answers. Therefore, unless you're willing to have two copies of your FAQ in your home newsgroup at all times, you should always cross-post to *.answers (or use the system mentioned above, cross-posting the full FAQ to *.answers and a more frequent pointer posting just in its home newsgroup). When submitting your FAQ, please be sure to let us know the frequency at which you intend to post it to its home newsgroup, as well as the frequency at which you intend to cross-post it to *.answers (if different). The best way for this is to put this information into the "Posting-Frequency" field of the auxiliary header. E. Mailing lists for FAQ maintainers Maintainers of FAQs are strongly urged to join the faq-maintainers mailing list, which is used for discussion about the *.answers newsgroups and the maintenance of USENET FAQs. If you don't want to be on the discussion list, you may wish to join the faq-maintainers-announce list, which will be used only for announcements, instead. Note that subscribers to faq-maintainers automatically receive messages sent to faq-maintainers-announce. Traffic on faq-maintainers tends to come in bursts -- it averages three to four messages per week, but during a burst there may be as many as several dozen messages in a single day, and in between such bursts, there may be weeks of no messages at all. Traffic on faq-maintainers-announce is very low (it is not unheard of for six months to pass with no messages sent to the list). When submitting your FAQ, make sure to let us know whether or not you want to be on one of the lists. It is best to tell this to us in separate email, rather than including it in the body of your FAQ when you first submit it. F. List of Periodic Informational Postings Unless you tell us otherwise, We will add any postings submitted to *.answers to the "List of Periodic Informational Postings" (LoPIP) articles which appear in news.answers, news.lists, and news.announce.newusers. If you do not have copies of the LoPIP postings and would like to get them, to see what they're like or to check if your FAQ is already listed, see the instructions at the end of this message. G. Article approval Once all of the other issues listed in this posting are resolved, you will be given approval to cross-post your FAQ to *.answers. You will have to indicate in the header of your posting that such approval has been given, or the posting will be mailed to us instead of posted. Note that we are intentionally being somewhat vague about what this entails. When we approve your posting for *.answers, we will provide more specific instructions. H. Checklist Following is a checklist for your *.answers submission. Please go through all the questions; if you answer "no" to any of them, look at the relevant section of this article again, and correct your submission accordingly. Does the posting have a message header? Does the posting have a Newsgroups line? Does the Newsgroups line contain at least one newsgroup other than the *.answers newsgroups? Does the Newsgroups line contain news.answers? Are the *.answers newsgroups listed last on the Newsgroups line (with news.answers last of all)? Does the Newsgroups line contain all relevant *.answers newsgroups? Does the Newsgroups line contain only relevant *.answers newsgroups? Does the posting have a Subject line? Is the Subject line informative? Is important information on the Subject line near the beginning of the line? Does the posting have a Followup-To line? Does the Followup-To line omit all the *.answers newsgroups? Does the posting have a From or Reply-To line with a valid email address? Does the posting have an Archive-name line? Is the auxiliary header separated from the body of your posting by a blank line? Is the auxiliary header separated from the main header by a blank line? Is the Archive-name line valid? Have you told us the frequency of your posting? Have you told us wether you want to be on faq-maintainers or faq-maintainers-announce? II. Submission instructions If you have a posting which you wish to submit to *.answers, you should first read the guidelines listed above and modify your posting to conform to them. Then, you should submit it by posting it to the news.answers newsgroup, assuming that the software on the poster's site works properly and will forward the posting to the news.answers moderator, or by mailing it to the news.answers submission address, news-answers@MIT.Edu. ONLY SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE MAILED TO THAT ADDRESS. If there is some commentary or explanation that needs to be made, it should be mailed in a separate message to news-answers-request@MIT.Edu, which is the moderator contact address for any *.answers-related business. If you post the FAQ to both *.answers and one or more other moderated groups, you need separate approval from each of the moderators. Wait for approval from each of them (including us) before actually posting. In this case, you should send in the FAQ to us via e-mail, because the submission will be sent via e-mail to the first moderated group which appears in the Newsgroup line. Please submit the FAQ in a form as close as possible to how it appears when you post it normally. This means that you should include a complete header, with at the very least the Subject line you normally use. We very much prefer you actually posting the message to news.answers as you would post it normally, including the cross-posted newsgroups, but omitting the moderation approval header line that would cause the article to actually be posted rather than mailed to us; this way, we will get to see exactly how the article will look when it is actually posted in news.answers. Also, if your FAQ does not say somewhere near the top how often it is posted, then please let us know the frequency in separate E-mail. Note that if you do not indicate moderator approval in the header of your posting, it will NOT be posted to any newsgroup, even if you list other newsgroups on the Newsgroups line besides *.answers groups. Therefore, you CAN and SHOULD place all Newsgroups to which you intend to post in the Newsgroups line, in the order you intend them to be in when you post. We will respond, by agreeing that the FAQ belongs in *.answers as-is, or by asking you to make minor modifications to it in order to make it acceptable, or by rejecting it as inappropriate for *.answers. If you are asked to make modifications, please do so and resubmit the posting to us just as you did the first time. We are all volunteers, doing *.answers moderation in our spare time. Therefore, we can't always process submissions and other *.answers - related correspondence immediately. Please don't write to us asking whether we received your submission until at least a week after you submitted it. Once an FAQ has been approved for *.answers, you will post it directly to the group yourself, by indicating in the header of the message that it was approved by the *.answers moderator, as described above. If possible, try to avoid posting your FAQ at a "predictable" time. For example, if you have decided to post it monthly, don't automatically decide to post it on the first of every month. This causes a flood of FAQs in *.answers (and on the net in general) at certain times of months, and this flood is big enough to overwhelm some smaller sites and many readers of *.answers. Therefore, rather than picking the "obvious" time to post, pick some other, random time during the month to do your posting. If you have trouble posting your FAQ once it has been approved, because your site won't let you post to a moderated newsgroup, because you don't have good posting access, or because of any other reason, feel free to get in touch with us and we'll try to help. Alternatively, you can use the FAQ server which we run to help solve such problems; you mail your FAQ or FAQs to it, and it posts them periodically automatically. For more information about the FAQ server, send mail to faq-server@rtfm.mit.edu with "help" (without the quotes) in the Subject of your message. III. Once your posting is approved The following is a list of some situations which might occur after your FAQ has been approved for *.answers, and what you need to do for each one. A. Transfer an FAQ to a new maintainer The old maintainer should inform news-answers-request@mit.edu of the change in maintainers. The new maintainer should read this document (i.e., the "*.answers submission guidelines") and inform news-answers-request@mit.edu that he has done so. Furthermore, the new maintainer should resubmit the FAQ if he intends to make any header changes other than changing the From and/or Reply-To lines. The new maintainer should wait for approval before posting. B. Change an FAQ's posting frequency Inform news-answers-request@mit.edu of the new frequency, unless you have a "Posting-Frequency" field in your auxiliary header; in that case, just change that field. C. Change an FAQ's header(s) 1. Subject line Inform news-answers-request@mit.edu of the new Subject line, or resubmit the entire FAQ to news-answers@mit.edu, and wait for approval before posting. 2. Newsgroups line Inform news-answers-request@mit.edu of the new Newsgroups line, or resubmit the entire FAQ to news-answers@mit.edu, and wait for approval before posting. 3. From line, without changing maintainers If the new From line obviously refers to the same individual as the old one, you don't have to do anything. If it's not obvious that the new From line refers to the same individual, inform news-answers-request@mit.edu and wait for approval before posting. 4. Archive-name line Inform news-answers-request@mit.edu and wait for approval before posting. 5. 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This posting Comments about, suggestions about or corrections to this posting are welcomed. If you would like to ask us to change this posting in some way, the method we appreciate most is for you to actually make the desired modifications to a copy of the posting, and then to send us the modified posting, or a context diff between the posted version and your modified version (if you do the latter, make sure to include in your mail the "Version:" line from the posted version). Submitting changes in this way makes dealing with them easier for us and helps to avoid misunderstandings about what you are suggesting. The following people provided feedback and helped to make this posting more readable and useful: Stan Brown L. Detweiler Aydin Edguer Mark Eckenwiler Tom_Lane@G.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Cindy Tittle Moore Steven D. Ourada Edward Reid Ken Shirriff Dan Tilque Bill Wohler Lars Aas V. Getting the "List of Periodic Informational Postings" There are seven "List of Periodic Informational Postings" postings: Subject: List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part 1/8 Subject: List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part 2/8 Subject: List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part 3/8 Subject: List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part 4/8 Subject: List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part 5/8 Subject: List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part 6/8 Subject: List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part 7/8 Subject: List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part 8/8 Newsgroups: news.lists,news.announce.newusers,news.answers They are available in the indicated USENET newsgroups, or via anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu (18.70.0.209) in the files: /pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part1 /pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part2 /pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part3 /pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part4 /pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part5 /pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part6 /pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part7 /pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part8 They are also available from mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu by sending a mail message containing any or all of: send usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part1 send usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part2 send usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part3 send usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part4 send usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part5 send usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part6 send usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part7 send usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings/part8 If you want to find out more about the mail server, send a message to it containing "help". -- pshuang@mit.edu (Ping Huang) jik@cam.ov.com (Jonathan I. Kamens) ig25@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de (Thomas Koenig) buglady@bronze.lcs.mit.edu (Aliza R. Panitz) pschleck@unomaha.edu (Paul W. Schleck) -- the *.answers moderation team > From news@murdoch.acc.virginia.edu Fri May 27 09:16:57 1994 > Received: from MIT.EDU by bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU (8.6.4/2.3JIK) with SMTP > id ; Fri, 27 May 1994 09:16:56 -0400 > Received: from rodan.UU.NET by MIT.EDU with SMTP > id AA08862; Fri, 27 May 94 09:16:36 EDT > Received: from relay2.UU.NET by rodan.UU.NET with SMTP > (5.61/UUNET-mail-drop) id AA04158; Fri, 27 May 94 09:16:30 -0400 > Received: from virginia.edu (via uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU) by relay2.UU.NET with SMTP > (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AAwrrx13593; Fri, 27 May 94 09:16:29 -0400 > Received: from murdoch.acc.virginia.edu by uvaarpa.virginia.edu id aa04595; > 27 May 94 9:16 EDT > Received: by murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU (8.6.8/1.34) > id JAA13623; Fri, 27 May 1994 09:16:28 -0400 > Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping,news.answers > Path: Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf > From: Adam Finkelstein > Subject: sci.agriculture.beekeeping FAQ 5/94 > Message-Id: > Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping > Summary: list of beekeeping information pointers and FAQs > Keywords: apiculture, apis, bees, beekeeping, honeybee > Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.virginia.edu > Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. > Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 13:16:26 GMT > Apparently-To: news-answers@uunet.uu.net > > Sci.agriculture.beekeeping FAQ > > 5/24/94 [end reference inclusion] ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 14:46:25 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adam Finkelstein Subject: Pardon me excuse me for mailing everyone. :) ( too many stings...) Adam -- ================================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| =========== ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 01:08:28 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Son Trinh Subject: Varroa Questions! Hello, I'm writing a paper on Varroa mites population and its effects on Honeybee for an English class. The prof. requires that I use at lease ..least another source other than from the literatures, so I thought since I have access to this Bee-L, I might ask for you help. If you can answer the questions below and send it back to me, I would really appreciate ur help. You don't have to answer all of them of course. 1. What is ur views/opinions of Varroa mites? 2. How serious is the mite infestation in ur colonies/apiaries? 3. What is ur prefered treatments for them? (Apistan, colony replacement?) 4. Any other things refered to Varroa mites are welcome. I already have all the information from the literatures, so I prefered personal views and opions. Please reply to ez021641@bullwinkle.ucdavis.edu Thank You for you help. -ST ___________________________________ Son Trinh Dept. Entomology, UCD sxtrinh@ucdavis.edu __________________________________ ps. I mispelled above...I meant to say "related" instead of "referred". Plz excuse my absent-minded. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 10:53:44 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jeffrey Young Subject: clover for bees I am planning on planting a nearby field with clover seed. I was wondering what is the preferred clover for honey bees (specifically Italians)? Thank in advance, jeff young jeffrey_young.lotus@crd.lotus.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 11:04:44 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adam Finkelstein Subject: Re: clover for bees In-Reply-To: <199406031448.AA39505@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU> from "Jeffrey Young" at Jun 3, 94 10:53:44 am Planting forage for bees seems to be economically un-feasible. I'd use yellow sweet clover as it is also a terrific green manure/soil conditioner, and it is relatively inexpensive. Adam -- ================================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| =========== ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 12:46:34 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Richard A. Haver" Subject: Re: clover for bees --- You wrote: Planting forage for bees seems to be economically un-feasible. I'd use yellow sweet clover as it is also a terrific green manure/soil conditioner, and it is relatively inexpensive. Adam -- = --- end of quoted material --- 2 years ago i had the field around our house, buildings, and my hives in New Hampshire increased from 2 to approximately 3.5 acres. the additional 1.5 acre was a thick pine woods and i had it cleared, destumped, and leveled with a dozer. in New England trees are weeds--if you don't do anything to a clearing it'll be head-high in brush and saplings in a year. i figured that since i had to plant something and keep it mowed or have it revert i might as well plant something for the bees. using as a guide a series of articles that appeared in Gleanings in Bee Culture about that time i planted a fifty-fifty mix of birdfoot trefoil and alsike clover. since this is still an agricultural area the seeds were readily available at the local feed 'n seed store. i limed the area before i planted. the soil surface was broken and clear having just been worked over by the bulldozer. i probably did not use enough lime, but the seeds germinated (i spread innoculum also). the first year ('92) the growth was unimpressive and there was not much bloom. last year they both bloomed abundantly! this year the clover is hard to locate but the trefoil is now coming into a good bloom. i don't know if the clover is suffering from PH problems, poor soil fertility, or must be reseeded often (i can't remember if alsike is an annual, perennial or biennial??) i have not fertilized and except for the first year not spread any lime. local advice is to lime, fertilize, plow, plant (at least every few years). my attitude has been that i'm not supporting 5 tons of bovine biomass per acre so i can get by with a smaller investment. the kicker is that except for about ONE WEEK last june the honeybees have had better things to do! outside of that one week last summer i could always find more bumble than honeybees in the field. now as Adam says, this sort of endeavor appears economically unfeasible and i've heard that before and i'm even more inclined now to agree--i could never get my clearing, destumping, bulldozing costs back in hive products. thats not why i did it, however. i AM blown away by how assiduously the bees have ignored the forage. i'd do it again in a minute, i have a beautiful field and lots of bumbling bees on a sunny summer day. but i do think if anyone's gonna do this they better be looking for something in addition to honey yield. Rick Haver ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 09:58:56 PDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: clover for bees >--- You wrote: > Planting forage for bees seems to be economically un-feasible. > I'd use yellow sweet clover as it is also a terrific green manure/soil >conditioner, and it is relatively inexpensive. I can echo Rick Haver's comment about yellow sweet clover. In our area I find a great many honey bees on white sweet clover but not on yellow sweet clover. Adrian *************************************************************** * Adrian Wenner E-Mail wenner@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu * * Department of Biology Office Phone (805) 893-2838 * * University of California Lab Phone (805) 893-2838 * * Santa Barbara, CA 93106 FAX (805) 893-4724 * *************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 13:23:11 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Dave D. Cawley, a De Leon Socialist" Subject: Re: clover for bees Maybe a mixture of seeds is best, that way the bees will be confused as to which things you planted and they are to avoid. Many state Ag Depts. sell mixtures of seed for folks to toss out. I missed it this year but they had 10 lbs bags of various wild seeds, mostly honey plants for $3.00. If the Ag Dept doesn't have it check the Dept. of Transportation, they were the ones that ran the seeds this year in PA. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave D. Cawley | If it's not worth doing, University Of Scranton | it's not worth doing right. Scranton, Pennsylvania | ddc1@jaguar.uofs.edu | -Dave Barry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 14:32:04 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jeffrey Young Subject: Re: clover for bees --- quoted material : Planting forage for bees seems to be economically un-feasible.... Adam -- = --- more quoted material --- 2 years ago i had the field around our house, buildings, and my hives in New Hampshire ... Rick Haver > Thanks for the feedback. As Rick stated here in the NE a field of trees basically are the natural course of things for a block of land left to itself for a few years. I have two hives in my back yard, strictly as a hobby and not an income or honey production resource. I just like working with bees and other connections to the ecology (I'm one of "those neighbors" that has an inhabited bat house in their yard too.) > I moved into my house 11 months ago and have been trying to replace as much of the high maintenance grass lawn and yard with more sustainable, and in my viewpoint -- attractive, landscaping. For those that are not familiar with the Northeast soil we have conifers everywhere (usually white pines) which help make our rocky soil nice and acidic. Summer's heat turns our lawns from rich green to a sandy brown every August (unless you irrigate heavily) just as the Red Socks start fading from contention. > I my quest to replace as much grass as possibly (thereby limiting the time I have to spend behind a lawn mower ) I plan to roto-till a lot that currently has compacted soil with very sad looking grass and replace it with something that is more tolerant of hot/dry spells. Since I am replacing the grass anyway I would like to replace it with something that the bees could possibly take advantage of, if the choose. Hence my original question about clover seed. > One final note: The reason you may see more bumbles than honey bees in a particular flower species is (at least I think I heard this somewhere) that some flowers are inaccessible to honey bees, while bumble bees can forage in these same plants with no problem. I think I heard that red clover was more accessible to honey bees than say white clovers. This may be totally wrong, don't even ask where I heard it as I can't recall. But I was just wondering if folks had heard similar stories and if anyone know of a clover (or similar green manure crop) that was attractive and that honey bees could use (if the ladies choose to of course). > Finally I have been using the plastic ANP comb, replacing all the wax foundation I had earlier this spring. The bees seem to accept the ANP well and are moving along. I don't know if it really deters mites as its marketing literature states but if nothing else it saves the bees having to use honey to make wax to fill out cells of wax foundation. I'm sold on the stuff and would recommend it to others. > Thanks, jeff > jeffrey_young.lotus@crd.lotus.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 15:05:53 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Richard A. Haver" Subject: Re: clover for bees --- You wrote: > One final note: The reason you may see more bumbles than honey bees in a particular flower species is (at least I think I heard this somewhere) that some flowers are inaccessible to honey bees, while bumble bees can forage in these same plants with no problem. I think I heard that red clover was more accessible to honey bees than say white clovers. This may be totally wrong, don't even ask where I heard it as I can't recall. But I was just wondering if folks had heard similar stories and if anyone know of a clover (or similar green manure crop) that was attractive and that honey bees could use (if the ladies choose to of course). --- end of quoted material --- Jeff, i sympathize with the desire to have some agreeable to the bees. you feel like you gotta do something to the piece; why not seed it for the bees? red clover is a no-no for honeybees; sweet white or yellow or alsike is better. honeybees' tongues are not long enough to reach the nectar in red. i selected alsike knowing (more or less) that honeybees would work it. i do believe it more freely reseeds itself than the other clovers. someone correct if i'm outta line here but don't be confused by dutch clover--the short stuff that seems to be in everyone's lawn. there's also ladino clover and i can't remember what its story is vis-a-vis honeybees. by the way, the clover and trefoil i planted are about 18" high at the height of the season. not suited for lawns unlees you relentlessly mow which, of course, kills the bloom. Rick ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 21:44:24 CDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Phil Veldhuis Subject: Re: Varroa Questions! In-Reply-To: <9406030809.AA12239@canopus.CC.UManitoba.CA>; from "Son Trinh" at Jun 3, 94 1:08 am Son Trinh insightfully writes: > > Hello, > > I'm writing a paper on Varroa mites population and its effects on > Honeybee for an English class. The prof. requires that I use at lease > ..least another source other than from the literatures, so I thought > since I have access to this Bee-L, I might ask for you help. If you > can answer the questions below and send it back to me, I would really > appreciate ur help. You don't have to answer all of them of course. > > 1. What is ur views/opinions of Varroa mites? It could very well mean the end to the way I earn my living. It has been spread throughout the continent much faster than it would normally have spread by migratory beekeepers who refuse to change their managment styles to save beekeeping for the future. > > 2. How serious is the mite infestation in ur colonies/apiaries? I'm clean so far, but the Varroa mite will soon be endemic in my province (manitoba, Canada). > > 3. What is ur prefered treatments for them? (Apistan, colony replacement?) Apistan is the only registered treatment for Varroa mites in Canada. > > 4. Any other things refered to Varroa mites are welcome. THe first varroa mites in Canada were found by myself and a fellow student researcher three years ago in a swarm trap on the Canada/US border. It was well known that a Texan beekeeper trucked hives into that location from Texas. The next year, varoa mites were found in domestic hives in near beekeeping operations. I think that American beekeepers should take some responsibility for the health of their hives, and if their hives do contract some malady, infection, infestation or whatever, then they shouldn't truck their hives all over the continent giving their problems to everyone else. Hope this helps your project. Please feel free to ask more about the situation in Canada, if you wish. -- ------------oooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo------------- Phil Veldhuis | "if something is not worth doing, Winnipeg. MB, Canada | it is not worth doing right" veldhui@cc.umanitoba.ca | Dave Barry (1985) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 19:49:44 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Reese Burnett Subject: Re: Varroa Questions! In-Reply-To: <199406030809.AA04905@halcyon.com> On Fri, 3 Jun 1994, Son Trinh wrote: > Hello, > > I'm writing a paper on Varroa mites population and its effects on > Honeybee for an English class. The prof. requires that I use at lease > ..least another source other than from the literatures, so I thought > since I have access to this Bee-L, I might ask for you help. If you > can answer the questions below and send it back to me, I would really > appreciate ur help. You don't have to answer all of them of course. I live near Seattle and have 8 hives. This is the first year we have had a serious problem with Varroa. I was quite lucky as I treated with Apistan strips (2 per hive) in the late fall after I removed honey. My hives were not affected at all by Varroa. Others in the area have not been so fortunate. I met a beekeeper this week who lives in this area and had 150 hives. He did not treat for Varroa and lost 46 hives to them. Most beekeepers in this area consider Varroa to be a serious threat. All of the beekeepers I know who are treating for Varroa are using Apistan as they do not know of other methods of treatment which are considered effecting in controlling the mites. At least one large beekeeper ( 50+ hives) I know has sold out because of the threat. Reese ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 23:07:17 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Liz Day Subject: clover for bees I do not know which clovers are best for honeybees. But please, please don't plant any sweet clover (white or yellow) (Melilotus). It is such a horrible pest; perhaps it is not so where you live so there is no danger, but here in northeastern ILlinois it has infested our native prairies and people have spent thousands of hours cutting, pulling, and spraying it. It's a noxious weed. Liz Day lday@gluon.phys.ufl.edu ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 3 Jun 1994 23:57:40 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: David Christenson Subject: Re: clover for bees Once upon a time -- that is, the halycoin n k = lcyon 19760s 0s, the Christenson family mal de3 20 to 30 tons a year of sweet, clear, beautiful honey by placing beeyards near the fields of white clover in northwestern Wisconsin. One reason w3e e're alll out of the business new, ow, and treating beeki eep9i ing mainlhy y as a spectator sport, is that farmers started to cut the clover for haryt y four or five times a year, not giving it times to blossom. I recommend white clover unconditionally. Byut ut put in some basswood tree seedlings for bees of future generations, OK? (Nostalgia at work here.( ) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 00:56:41 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Sojn X. Trinh" Subject: Re: Varroa Mites Hello, Just want to thanks all those who responded to my questions. Take Care, -ST ------------------------------------------------------------------ Son's Daily Affirmation: | | | | I DESERVE it, | Son Trinh | because | Dept. of Entomology | I'm good enough, | UC Davis | I'm smart enough, | (916) 753-3265 (Home) | And Dog gone it, | (916) 752-0333 (Lab) | People like me. | (916) 752-3634 (Lab) | | (916) 752-1537 (FAX) | * Exerpt from SNL | sxtrinh@ucdavis.edu | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 10:01:01 +0100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jean-Marie Van Dyck Subject: Re: clover for bees Hi ! Excuse my question but, french speaking, I'm a bit lost with these different clovers ! Could someone help me please (scientific or french name) ? Thanking you Jean-Marie jmvandyck@quick.cc.fundp.ac.be ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 09:17:09 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eric Smith Subject: Buckfast Queen needs a good Home I have an extra Buckfast Queen from Wiever Apairies if anyone in the Washington DC area would like her. Please give me a call 202/639-3096. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Eric Smith (eric@curly.red-cross.org) Bee's on the brain. American Red Cross The opinions and spelling mistakes are my own..... -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 4 Jun 1994 10:06:45 GMT Reply-To: Gordon@apis.demon.co.uk Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Gordon Scott Subject: Planting for bees. Hi all, Just an aside, I think that if you want to plant for bees (or a great many other insects for that matter) trees win just about every time. One good mature tree (aye there's the rub) will yield equivalent to something like an acre of wildflowers. A small copse of suitable trees is a (relative) goldmine. Bye for now. -- Gordon Scott Gordon@apis.demon.co.uk 100332,3310 on CompuServe Newsletter Beekeeper@apis.demon.co.uk ditto Beekeeper, Kendo Sandan, sometime sailor. Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22 5HP, UK ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 07:22:38 PDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: clover for bees >Hi ! > >Excuse my question but, french speaking, I'm a bit lost with these different >clovers ! Could someone help me please (scientific or french name) ? > >Jean-Marie jmvandyck@quick.cc.fundp.ac.be The white sweet-clover I refered to is Melilotus albus Desr. Yellow sweet-clover is Melilotus indicus. Adrian *************************************************************** * Adrian Wenner E-Mail wenner@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu * * Department of Biology Office Phone (805) 893-2838 * * University of California Lab Phone (805) 893-2838 * * Santa Barbara, CA 93106 FAX (805) 893-4724 * *************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 08:11:25 PDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: Foraging distance of honeybees... >Thank you to all who contributed and answered my question in >various forms. I did in fact, finally, remember where I had seen >the Eckert reference and found the information I required. I was >after, in fact, a 'scare' distance. I need to refer to the >maximum distance that bees had been known to fly to forage, >rather than an *effective* distance beyond which it is unlikely >they would forage efficiently. It related to the distance from >beehives that pest control officers were to place a substance >that was (1) poisonous to bees and (2) attractive to bees. I think it appropriate to remark once again that one must consider wind direction, since odor molecules (including noxious substances) can drift only downwind. The maximum "scare distance" downwind from a colony is only a few hundred meters; see the following reference: 1973. The search dynamics of recruited honey bees, Apis mellifera ligustica Spinola. Biol. Bull. 144:107-131. In our climate wind patterns are nearly completely predictable during summer months, making our observations more reliable than in other areas where winds are more variable. Adrian *************************************************************** * Adrian Wenner E-Mail wenner@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu * * Department of Biology Office Phone (805) 893-2838 * * University of California Lab Phone (805) 893-2838 * * Santa Barbara, CA 93106 FAX (805) 893-4724 * *************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 15:08:35 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MaryEllen Read Subject: Gardeners list bee question Hoping the members of bee-l can answer some of the bee questions/worries that we on the gardens list have. If you could post your responses to the gardens list we would be grateful. (gardens@ukcc.uky.edu) Thanks for any and all input. Maryellen Read in Omaha mread@creighton.edu ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 07:59:42 LCL To: Multiple recipients of list GARDENS Subject: No bees Beryl, I live in So. California and I've noticed that we have had very few honey bees here in the last few years. Just wasps and a increase in carpenter and bumblebees. I think I read something about a bee disease killing a number of them here. Is that possible? Pat in Long Beach (where we're waiting for the Killer Bees. Maybe the honey bees have been watching T. V.) >I have suddenly realized that there are no bees in my garden, buzzing >around my lavender bushes or even in neighboring areas here in San Bruno >where I live. The lavender bushes have attracted honey bees and >bumblebees even during the winter months. Now they are all gone. I have >seen only a few cabbage moth butterflys, where in times past there were >lots. Could this be caused by the widespread use of pesticides by my >neighbors? Could they really destroy entire colonies of bees? > >There are so few pollinators in my garden that I may be forced to use a >paintbrush to do some of the job myself. Has any one else experienced >such a drastic decline in insect life in just one or two months time? > >I am really quite troubled by this phenomenon and the popular thinking >that the only good bug is a dead bug. > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jun 1994 14:41:22 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Malcolm (Tom) Sanford, Florida Extension Apiculturist" Subject: June issue of APIS Distributed to: USR:[MTS]INTERNET.DIS;19 FILENAME: JUNAPIS.94 Florida Extension Beekeeping Newsletter Apis--Apicultural Information and Issues (ISSN 0889-3764) Volume 12, Number 6, June 1994 INTERESTING JOB OPPORTUNITY Although I generally do not include employment opportunities in this newsletter, a recent one deserves attention. Mr. Randall Johnson, past president, American Beekeeping Federation, has an opening at Honeygold Corporation, 720 Fletcher Dr., Nampa, ID 83686, ph 208/467-5195. The person sought is one who can provide a "high level of technical assistance in the areas of evaluating bee diseases, maintaining adequate parasite control, studying pollination effectiveness and evaluating queen rearing and bee nutrition programs." A degree in entomology, biology or similar science is highly desirable. This is one of the few times I have seen an employment opportunity like this in the beekeeping industry. If this position is filled, it may represent a paradigm shift. In the past, only those with practical bee experience were sought by the industry and they often started at the lowest possible wage. Now that exotic bee mites, pollination concerns and African honey bees have become issues of importance, it appears that individuals with a broader, higher level of training are becoming more desirable. Whether the industry has the resolve and/or financial resources to support employees of the caliber sought by Mr. Johnson, however, remains to be seen. AHB MATERIALS AVAILABLE IN ARIZONA Larry Stanford, program specialist, Arizona Department of Agriculture reports that an African honey bee information program is well underway. A video has been produced entitled "What Arizonans Need to Know." Produced in the desert southwest by Dr. Steve Thoenes, the video is available for $6.00 and carries no copyright restrictions. In addition, thirteen (13) fact sheets have been printed for distribution. For further information, contact Mr. Stanford, Arizona Dept. of Agriculture, P.O. Box 234, Phoenix, AZ 85001, ph 602/407/2982. 4-H ESSAY CONTEST NEEDS ENTRIES What does it take to get 4-Hers to sit down and write an essay? That's the burning question those at the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) and myself are asking after looking at the results of last year's 4-H essay contest. Only fifteen (15) states submitted winners and Florida was not among them. In addition, the vast majority of these states only had only one to two entries to choose from. There are three top cash prizes each year ($250, $100 and $50), plus the winner in each state is awarded a book on beekeeping. This boils down to one fact: there's a great opportunity to win something by simply entering! The rules for this year's contest have just been announced. The topic this year is much different than from previous contests. The essayist is asked to write an original story on honey bees suitable for a teacher to read to second-grade students. Suggested titles include: The Busy Little Bee, I Like Honey, A Trip to the Apiary, and My Friend, the Beekeeper. There's plenty of time to get a story together for this year's contest; deadline is April 1, 1995! Full contest rules are available from myself or the ABF Office, ph 912/427-8447. BEE POISONING BY PLANTS? Reports of severe bee losses in southern Florida this spring resulted in investigation by Mr. Laurence Cutts and his crew of bee inspectors at the Division of Plant Industry. Varroa did not appear to be the problem and tracheal mite levels were low. Veteran bee inspector Tom Dowda suggested analyzing gut contents. Bees' intestines were found to be loaded with pollen from yellow or Carolina jessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens. Investigation by the Beltsville Bee Laboratory confirmed the pollen identification and revealed no diseases. Mr. Cutts' analysis of the situation is this: In most years, maple and willow bloom overlap. However, in 1994, there was a gap between these blooming periods and yellow jessamine (pronounced like 'jasmine') was virtually the only thing in bloom. This led to several questions: 1) Is yellow jessamine nectar (pollen) toxic to bees?; 2) will bees work this flower if other bloom is available?; 3) If yellow jessamine is toxic, what percent is necessary to be lethal? These are not new concerns. A section in Honey Bees Diseases and Pests, Second Edition, 1990, edited by R. Morse and R. Nowogrodzki reveals a great many plants that can be problematic at certain times in specific areas of the world. According to the above volume, yellow jessamine has even been credited with death of persons eating honey derived from it. It remains unknown whether the honey or pollen, or both, are responsible for bee losses. Another species the book mentions that can do a great deal of harm is summer titi, Cyrilla racemiflora. This species is found in southern swamps and causes "purple brood." Beekeepers in Florida's panhandle are well aware of the problems caused by this plant's abundance. In some years, summer titi is far more prevalent than others. Because it is often localized, the beekeeper can simply move bees out of the area, or feed colonies. The latter dilutes the nectar's potential to do harm. According to Mr. Cutts, the former strategy is not often possible with yellow jessamine because it blooms so many places. He suggests, therefore, that beekeepers monitor locations for this plant and be prepared to heavily feed sugar syrup and pollen supplements. He also suggests a pollen trap might help, although it remains unknown how much the plant's pollen contributes to the problem. According to Dr. Elbert Jaycox, retired from the University of Illinois, but who published a newsletter, Bees and Honey, for many years, discussion of poisonous plants brings up important questions: 1) Why are there toxic plants? and 2) If there are many such plants, why aren't there more toxic honeys? Originally, according to Dr. Jaycox writing in 1981, toxic compounds in plants were considered to be waste products with no special value. We now know this is not true. It is generally agreed that plants are usually producing these chemicals (called secondary plant substances) to protect themselves from insect consumers. According to Dr. Jaycox, evidence for this theory is found in the tremendous diversity of insects and plants found on earth. The constant development of chemical defenses by plants coupled with strategies developed by insects to tolerate these chemicals is a continuing battle between would be "eaters" and those who might be "eaten." This process of constant, slow change, called "coevolution," is more complex in some systems where the insect not only is able to detoxify the plant's poisonous substances, but also makes use of them to protect itself. The classic entomological example of this is the monarch butterfly caterpillar. This larval insect feeds with impunity on the milkweed plant, which contains cardiac glycosides, toxic to most other species. In the process, the adult butterfly also becomes poisonous. The characteristic orange and black color scheme of the adult is a "warning"; birds eating these butterflies quickly learn the consequences (retching) and avoid further predation. In a further twist, the viceroy butterfly, which is not toxic to predators, has taken on the color scheme of the monarch in an attempt to mimic its poisonous cousin! The ability of insects to detoxify secondary plant substances also confers on them the competency to do the same with human produced chemicals. This is one reason why pesticide resistance by insects is such a common problem in much of commercial agriculture. According to Dr. Jaycox, this shifting chemistry in plants is a two-edged sword. Being poisonous is helpful for survival, but not so if insect visitation is required for propagation. Thus, certain parts of plants may be toxic (leaves, stems), but products (pollen, nectar) attracting pollinators may not be. In this changing mix, Dr. Jaycox says, toxic nectar may be produced in some plant groups and not in others. The yellow kowhai tree in New Zealand and various reports about certain linden trees producing toxic nectar are examples. Finally, being poisonous to one kind of organism (insects) does not necessarily mean this is the case for others (humans). Fortunately, Dr. Jaycox concludes, the potential effects of poisonous plants on bees and humans are reduced in several ways. In many cases, the plants that might cause problems (rhododendron) bloom for short periods and when other more attractive nectar sources are available which dilute the nectar's toxicity. Often, bees only visit toxic plants when there is no other nectar to be had. This appears to have been the case in the recent poisonings in southern Florida. Finally, nectar that is poisonous to humans, but not to bees, is often consumed for brood rearing or used for winter stores and thus not available to be harvested by the beekeeper. FLORIDA'S APIARY DIRECTORY As part of its continuing effort to provide quality service to the beekeeping industry, the Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, has published its first Florida Certified Apiary Directory. This nifty volume contains an immense amount of material of interest to Florida beekeepers and others concerned with the apiculture industry. According to the Directory, it is a snapshot of the industry as of October, 1993. Some 1100 registered beekeepers are listed along with their addresses and telephone numbers. They are broken down into groupings based on colony numbers: hobbyist (1-10), sideliner (11-200), and commercial (over 200). All Florida officials involved in beekeeping regulation and bee inspectors are also listed with their addresses and phone numbers. A brief summary of the apiary inspection law is included along with an overview of special inspection services provided by the Division. Finally, a listing appears of other apiary regulatory officials in the United States and Canada. The Division of Plant Industry has distributed copies of the Directory to other Florida agencies and educational institutions. One has been sent to every county cooperative extension office. Others interested in obtaining a copy should contact Mr. Laurence Cutts, Chief Bee Inspector, P.O. Box 147100, Gainesville, FL 32614- 7100, ph 904/372-3505. Copies are free to Florida residents, but a small fee will be charged for those outside the state. MORE ON BEE ATTRACTANTS Back in February, 1991, I wrote the following: "The idea of increasing pollination potential by applying substances attractive to honey bees has been around awhile. Many substances [e.g. Beeline (R)] are based on using sugar to attract the insects. However, these may also attract pests, as well as pollinating bees. The use of pheromones (specific odors) narrows the field by attracting only certain species. Honey bee pheromone-based attractants are now on the market which appear to have potential to increase bee pollination, however, hard evidence of their cost effectiveness is not yet available in all situations." A few years ago, Dr. Dewey Caron and the University of Delaware conducted an informal survey on the use of a pheromone- based product called Bee-Scent(R), produced by Scentry, Inc. There is evidence that in Virginia and Georgia, the product has increased apple pollination as well as that on pears, plums, cherries, melons and cucumbers. According to Dr. Caron, Bee-Scent(R) does have a role to play under some circumstances, although at about $25 per acre, another bee colony may be a better alternative. As reported by Dr. Caron, Dr. R.K. Fell in Virginia observed some increase in pollinating activity, recommended caution in using Bee-Scent(R). Now comes a study from North Carolina State University (Selective Bee Attractants Did Not Improve Cucumber and Watermelon Yield, HortScience: Vol. 29, No. 3, pp 155-158, March, 1994) which compares both Beeline(R) and Bee-Scent(R). Unfortunately, the authors found that neither material improved bee visitation nor significantly improved yield or monetary return. Does this mean the materials should not be used under any circumstances? Not necessarily. As I quoted one consultant experienced in this issue in 1991, "...the material is going to work best under borderline conditions; that is, when conditions are not completely favorable to bee activity." Thus, it will continue to be up to the grower and beekeeper together to determine how unfavorable conditions must be before committing themselves to using a bee attractant. Sincerely, Malcolm T. Sanford Bldg 970, Box 110620 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611-0620 Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 904-392-0190 BITNET Address: MTS@IFASGNV INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 09:02:26 +0200 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Nikola Kezic Subject: Re: June issue of APIS talk icurik@srcapp.srce.hr talzVksy{ talk icurik@srcapp.srce.hr respond icurik@srcapp.srce.hr talk icurik@srcapp.srce.hr talk ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 08:01:35 +0100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Malcolm Roe Subject: Re: clover for bees In-Reply-To: <9406061422.AA07500@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu> from "Adrian Wenner" at Jun 6, 94 07:22:38 am In the UK clover used to be an important bee crop. But that was before my time, at least as a beekeeper. I believe it's making a come back but I'm told that one of the popular varieties being planted now, whilst it's better for its primary purpose of improving grassland, is useless for bees! The flowers are deeper so honey bees can no longer reach the nectar. I don't know the name of the variety in question but Jeff Young may like to check that he is using a "bee compatible" variety. -- Malcolm Roe Phone : +44 442 230000 ext 5104 Crosfield Electronics Ltd Fax : +44 442 232301 Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7RH, UK E-mail : roe@crosfield.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 14:22:20 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: William G Lord Subject: Re: June issue of APIS In-Reply-To: <9406062148.AA17497@wolf.ces.ncsu.edu> from "Malcolm" at Jun 6, 94 02:41:22 pm Yellow Jessamine Poisoning In reference to Dr. Sanford's comments on yellow jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) poisoning of bee in Florida this spring, eastern North Carolina has a history of problems with jessamine poisoning. I did some work on the problem while an undergraduate at N.C. State University. In the 1970's there were a number of queen breeders in eastern N.C. who routinely moved their grafting operations 100 miles west during the jessamine bloom because they would suffer 90% queen mortality if they stayed in place during the jessamine bloom. We tried pollen trapping during the bloom but without much success. We do not see problems with honey production colonies, but the queens were adversely affected. The poison in jessamine is an alkaloid and is very toxic. All parts of the plant are toxic, so its use in the landscape should be considered. It is a popular ornamental vine, there are even double flowered sports, such as the cultivar "Pride of Augusta", but all are potentially dangerous. As a matter of interest, we have blue or purple brood in N.C. too, but we get blue honey too. The blue honey comes from titi and sourwood (Oxydendron arboretum) growing on certain soil types. Bill Lord Louisburg, N.C. -- William G Lord E-Mail : wglord@franklin Internet: wglord@franklin.ces.ncsu.edu Phone : ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 16:25:57 CDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Philp Mueller Subject: Bees in Louisiana In-Reply-To: <9406071918.AA04606@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu>; from "William G Lord" at Jun 7, 94 2:22 pm I am a newbie to the list and to beekeeping. I have a hive set up, but no bees. The swarming season is over here in S. Louisiana. Does anyone know a dealer near New Orleans where I can get a start? Thanks in advance. -- Phil Mueller 325 Burdette hi23ahg@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu New Orleans, LA 70118 Tulane University (504) 866-1913 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 16:48:08 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Jim G. Shoemaker" Subject: Re: Bees in Louisiana In-Reply-To: <9406072127.AA18777@ozarks.sgcl.lib.mo.us> Phil: Welcome to Beekeeping. The quickest way would probably to look up beekeeping supplies in the yellow pages and ask a local supplier for a phone number of a bee breeder. There are several in Louisiana but I don't have an address or number at hand. Good Luck, Jim Shoemaker 5160 S. Western Brookline, MO (near Springfield) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 18:01:43 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jordan Schwartz Subject: Announce: Beekeeper's Web Page I've taken all the info in the FAQ and a few other links besides and turned it into a World Wide Web Page. Just point your favorite client (e.g. Mosaic or Lynx) to: http://alfred1.u.washington.edu:8080/~jlks/bee.html Enjoy, and let me know if you have any suggestions... Jordan L.K. Schwartz ! The revolution will not be televised, JLKS@U.WASHINGTON.EDU ! The revolution will be digitized. If you are using a web browser, you will certainly want to check out my home page. (If you are not using a web browser, the previous looks quite odd) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 20:23:35 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Jim G. Shoemaker" Subject: Re: Announce: Beekeeper's Web Page In-Reply-To: <9406080103.AA12494@ozarks.sgcl.lib.mo.us> Jordon: I don't have Mosaic or Lynx. Is there any way I can access your information. Jim Shoemaker 5160 S. Western Brookline, MO 65619 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jun 1994 21:24:18 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adam Finkelstein Subject: Re: Announce: Beekeeper's Web Page In-Reply-To: <199406080103.AA32106@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU> from "Jordan Schwartz" at Jun 7, 94 06:01:43 pm cool. when the FAQ is updated and follows mit standards I'll send it to you. (later this month) Adam -- ================================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| =========== ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 08:36:35 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Richard A. Haver" Subject: Carniolan suppliers in the east I have noticed a singular lack of Carniolan suppliers in the eastern US. There's a place in South Carolina that offers them and one of the Weavers in Texas also supplies (sorry, I forget which Weaver). The great preponderance of Carniolan suppliers are in California. It seems that 95% percent of the suppliers east of the Mississippi offer primarily or only Italians. This has lead me to wonder about a couple of things: 1) why are there so darn few Carniolan suppliers in the eastern US; 2) why do the bee suppliers in the southeast US devote themselves almost exclusively to Italians; 3) what is the downside (or the upside) to someone like me (New Hampshire) ordering Carniolans from the other side of the continent? thnx, Rick Haver haver@dartmouth.edu ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 12:25:23 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: James Ory Organization: NISE Charleston, SC Subject: Re: Bees in Louisiana > The quickest way would probably to look up beekeeping supplies in the > yellow pages and ask a local supplier for a phone number of a bee breeder. > There are several in Louisiana but I don't have an address or number at hand. Hi Jim, I live in Charleston SC and tried to do the same thing i.e. look it up in the phone book. NOT The first place that I was able to get information was from the local agricural agent and from a friend in Atlanta that told me to get in touch with the local club and gave me an old catalogue. A BIG BIG HELP!! I also bought a few items from SEARS (not in that side of the business any more) and received another catalogue from the company supplying them. I think that maybe the list manager should set up a FAQ that would list all the nationally affiliated bee clubs and a point of contact for each. That information shouldn't be too hard to obtain and could only help them to obtain new, interested members. David Hinz asked a similar question earlier so I think it would be a positive addition without detracting from some of the higher level discussions carried by the board. AR...Jim Ory - oryj@FOSTER.nosc.mil "the views expressed here are not necessairly those of my employer" ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 09:29:29 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Rob Bidleman Subject: Re: Bees in Louisiana In-Reply-To: <199406081625.AA23719@mail.crl.com> On Wed, 8 Jun 1994, James Ory wrote: > I think that maybe the list manager should set up a FAQ that would list all the > nationally affiliated bee clubs and a point of contact for each. > That information shouldn't be too hard to obtain and could only help ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ** You're absolutely right, it shouldn't be too hard to obtain, so why not leave it to the individual to obtain it, rather than clog up the already overburdened systems with it? A list of nation-wide suppliers can be had by anonymous ftp at crl.com . The local beekeeping assoc's, Dept of Ag, etc are always a good resource. Use them. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 8 Jun 1994 18:46:10 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Dave D. Cawley" Subject: Re: Bees in Louisiana A quick thing you can do is call 1-800 information and get the number for A.I. Root Company, call themand ask for a sample copy of BEE CULTURE magazine and you'll ge tit within a week. There are many ads for various bee/equipment suppliers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave D. Cawley | If it's not worth doing, University Of Scranton | it's not worth doing right. Scranton, Pennsylvania | ddc1@jaguar.uofs.edu | -Dave Barry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 11 Jun 1994 15:51:59 +1000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Robert Rice Subject: Nosema apis Hi Everyone, Some time ago I put out a general request for the supply of Nosema apis spores. Several people responded and I thank them very much. However, I would like to obtain spores from several geographically isolated regions of the Northern Hemisphere and would very much appreciate it if anyone could help in this regard. I am almost at the point where I can start my genomic survey for genetic markers of isolates. Subsequently isolates from distant locations may aid in this endeavour. Thank you in advance to those who choose to be of assistance. Robert Rice CSIRO Division of Entomology Black Mountain, Canberra, Australia. E-mail robertr@ento.csiro.au ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 12 Jun 1994 10:39:34 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jack Turner Subject: Re: Butterfly feeder In-Reply-To: <9406110605.AA19727@rvgs.vak12ed.edu>; from "Robert Rice" at Jun 11, 94 3:51 pm My bees are taking my wife's butterfly syrup. My life is in danger. Does anyone have a plan for a feeder which is inaccessable to bees or a recipe for syrup which bees wouldn't care for? -- jackturn@rvgs.vak12ed.edu ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 12 Jun 1994 12:39:50 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Dave D. Cawley" Subject: Re: Butterfly feeder > My bees are taking my wife's butterfly syrup. My life is in > danger. Does anyone have a plan for a feeder which is > inaccessable to bees or a recipe for syrup which bees wouldn't > care for? Give the bees one closer to them than the butterfly one...maybe? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave D. Cawley | The information on the Internet is only University Of Scranton | interesting to people who are interested Scranton, Pennsylvania | in it. dave@scranton.com | -Scranton Tomorrow Spokeswoman ddc1@jaguar.uofs.edu | refusing invitation to Internet Cafe's opening ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 09:47:36 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jerry J Bromenshenk Subject: Re: Butterfly feeder In-Reply-To: from "Dave D. Cawley" at Jun 12, 94 12:39:50 pm The answer is in the design of the feeder. Butterflies can reach into deeper flowers than bees, simply design the feeder like a hummingbird feeder with an access tube scaled to the size of butterfly rather than bee mouthparts. Jerry Bromenshenk University of Montana jjbmail@selway.umt.edu ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 17:26:10 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jane Power Subject: STICKY BOARDS Just a note to pass along an interesting experience. My bee inspector was visiting to check my bees for the mites from hell. He took the sample for tracheal mites, put in the apistan strips, and at the bottom of the hive, he placed a sticky board. This is the same procedure as all other years. This year however, after only a few days in the hive, the sticky board was all but gone (chewed up and formed into spit ball a grade 7 could be proud of--tiny and uniform). >From what was left the inspector decided I was might free in that hive. I've seen this behaviour with newspaper, but not with the boards, so I thougt I'd pass it along. Busy beeing, Jane P. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 16:28:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Kerry Clark 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299" Subject: Re: STICKY BOARDS Jane We have also experienced a few hives which are very thorough about chewing up and discarding such cardboards (not usually sticky boards since we cover them with wire mesh). We were inserting veg oil soaked corrugated cardboard at 7 day intervals. In most cases the 5 inch squares were mostly unchanged, or nibbled a bit at the corners. (A beekeeper did this on a larger scale, then abandoned it. We have found those squares nearly like new after a year.) A few colonies however, attacked the cardboard and all that was left in 7 days was the shreds on the bottom board. Many bees must have been involved. I wonder if the behavior is correlated with brood removal hygenic behavior. Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET KCLARK@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 09:36:40 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Combining swarms to run as a two queen colony About four weeks ago I created a shook swarm from a hive that was preparing to swarm. I shook between half and two thirds of the bees from the original hive into a shallow honey super/brood chamber containing nine frames of foundation only. I located the queen and moved her into the shallow super, to which I added a queen excluder and three supers containing round section comb frames. My goal in this maneuver was twofold: to prevent the hive from swarming and to harvest a crop of round sections. I placed the shook swarm on the original hive site so all field bees would return there. I cut out numerous queen cells from the original hive (all I could find), introduced a queen in a queen cage, placed the hive about four feet behind the original site and closed everything up. Two weeks later I moved the original hive about twenty feet away so the bees that became field bees in that time would drift to the shook swarm. Meantime, back at the shook swarm the queen has been doing a regal job producing a new generation. The shallow super brood chamber is filled with eggs, larvae and capped brood. The bad news is that the bees have not been that quick to move into the round section supers. Now while all this was going on, I captured a mid sized swarm of bees that I put into a shallow super brood chamber with two medium (Illinois) supers on top. Both this captured swarm and the shook swarm are progressing, but not as quickly as the honeyflow. I am considering uniting the captured swarm with the shook swarm and operating it as a two queen hive. I would do this by placing a queen excluder and a sheet of newspaper between both shallow brood chambers and place the round section supers above both. Anyone care to comment on what I'm considering? Does this sound like an idea with merit or does this sound like total folly? Anyone have any experience running a two queen colony? If I go for this, I'll do it this Saturday, so send those comments quickly! ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 07:25:00 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Casey Burns Organization: TSCNET Inc. d(206)692-2388 v(206)613-0708 Subject: Aggressive Drones I had an interesting experience while working one of my hives a few weeks ago. While repacking (putting all the brood comb down below and honey above to get ready for the main flow) I stirred up not a few fees - who were flying around my face in a whir and bouncing off my veil. After awhile - I realized that most of the bees flying in this defensive manner were drones! Not as effective sting wise as worker guards - but a heck of a lot noisier. Has anyone experienced similar behavior? The same hive seems to be quite easy to rattle - or it might be my amateurish technique. The hive is a good honey and bee producer so I took a few combs for a nuc for emergency requeening of my other hives. I had been requeening other hives the day before and that morning - and this one resented the intrusion and I had 500 or so bees all over me - and got stung about 12 times. I think their queen is fine (an Italian) and the honeyflow is upon us when it's warmer and I was working the hive in the mid-day. Is this a standard/normal amount of defensiveness? I haven't been beekeeping long enough to know.... Many Thanks! Casey Burns Kingston WA ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 10:59:38 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Donovan Bodishbaugh Subject: Re: Aggressive Drones In-Reply-To: <199406151458.KAA09268@acpub.duke.edu> On Wed, 15 Jun 1994, Casey Burns wrote: > After awhile - I realized that most of the bees flying in this defensive > manner were drones! Not as effective sting wise as worker guards - but a > heck of a lot noisier. Has anyone experienced similar behavior? I see this a lot. The drones in my hives always buzz angrily around me when I get into the brood boxes. They have a knack for getting right in your face, and make quite an impact as they whack into the veil mesh. They do make a lot of noise, and are more visible due to their size, so I think they definitely play a role (even if it is bluffing) in hive defense. That "lazy males who only eat and mate" may be appealing, but I don't think it is entirely true. Rick Bodishbaugh ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 08:56:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Kerry Clark 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299" Subject: Re: Combining swarms to run as a two queen colony Hello Aaron What you propose seems good to me. I would think the other options to consider are: leaving the units as is, if the honeyflow will improve enough to expect a good crop from both, combining the field force of the second swarm (without the queen) with the first swarm (did you treat the swarm with Apistan to see if they brought varroa?) The choice between the options depends on whether you want to increase your number of hives going into winter good luck Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET KCLARK@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 14:53:32 +0000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Rick Hough Subject: Vials of venom?? Just saw this on Usenet - thought I would repost it here, just in case someone on BEE-L might have an answer for this individual. I guess their e-mail address is T710460@UNIVSCVM.CSD.SCAROLINA.EDU. Rick Hough rshough@tasc.com -------forwarded article------- Path: newsserver.tasc.com!uunet!pipex!swrinde!emory!hubcap.clemson.edu!opusc! UNIVSCVM.CSD.SCAROLINA.EDU!T710460 From: T710460@UNIVSCVM.CSD.SCAROLINA.EDU Newsgroups: news.groups.questions Subject: bee venom Date: Mon, 13 Jun 94 11:14:06 EDT Organization: USC Lines: 4 Message-ID: <16FD49DFFS85.T710460@UNIVSCVM.CSD.SCAROLINA.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: univscvm.csd.scarolina.edu Keywords: does anyone know about its availability? if anyone knows where one can get bee venom in vials, please e-mail. thanks. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 14:54:17 +0000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Rick Hough Subject: RE>Combining swarms to run as a two queen colony On Wed, 15 Jun 1994 Aaron Morris wrote: >About four weeks ago I created a shook swarm from a hive that was >preparing to swarm. I shook between half and two thirds of the bees >from the original hive into a shallow honey super/brood chamber >containing nine frames of foundation only. I located the queen and >moved her into the shallow super, to which I added a queen excluder and >three supers containing round section comb frames. My goal in this >maneuver was twofold: to prevent the hive from swarming and to harvest a >crop of round sections. > >I placed the shook swarm on the original hive site so all field bees >would return there. I cut out numerous queen cells from the original >hive (all I could find), introduced a queen in a queen cage, placed the >hive about four feet behind the original site and closed everything up. >Two weeks later I moved the original hive about twenty feet away so >the bees that became field bees in that time would drift to the shook >swarm. > >Meantime, back at the shook swarm the queen has been doing a regal job >producing a new generation. The shallow super brood chamber is filled >with eggs, larvae and capped brood. The bad news is that the bees have >not been that quick to move into the round section supers. > >Now while all this was going on, I captured a mid sized swarm of bees >that I put into a shallow super brood chamber with two medium (Illinois) >supers on top. Both this captured swarm and the shook swarm are >progressing, but not as quickly as the honeyflow. I am considering >uniting the captured swarm with the shook swarm and operating it as a >two queen hive. I would do this by placing a queen excluder and a sheet >of newspaper between both shallow brood chambers and place the round >section supers above both. > >Anyone care to comment on what I'm considering? Does this sound like an >idea with merit or does this sound like total folly? Anyone have any >experience running a two queen colony? If I go for this, I'll do it >this Saturday, so send those comments quickly! Haven't done a 2-Q colony myself, but a keeper in my club does it all the time, and has instructed the group on his method. I'll summarize for you. He layers his equipment as follows: ---inner/outer covers----- Honey supers (lots - they fill them fast with this arrangement!!) ----optional Q-excluder - to keep brood out of supers----- Deep hive body with Q #1, brood, etc. -----Required Q-excluder------ Deep hive body - no Queen!! Just honey storage, and space for bees -----Required Q-excluder------ Deep hive body with Q #2, brood, etc. ------bottom board, etc. -------- Things to think about: 2 Q-excluders needed, with some separation, as the queens can fight through a single excluder - same reason that "double screens" are used instead of single. Also, providing an upper entrance for the bees is beneficial - lots less work for the bees to get the nectar to the supers that way. Combining with newspaper is appropriate - you want to give the scents of the two hives a chance to combine before they have full access to one another. This combination is often done starting with two full-strength colonies, and crowding them into the resulting three deeps plus supers. Result is LOTS of bees, and excellent honey storage into the supers. Need to keep on top of the supers (so to speak) as they get filled very rapidly - you may need to pull some off, and add more as the season progresses. I'm not sure how he over-winters his colonies. The story he tells about why he keeps his bees this way is that his wife said he could have a maximum of seven hives. What she didn't say was how tall they could be!!! So, now he has seven (tall) stacks of boxes, 14 Queens, lots of honey, and a happy wife! Sounds good to me! Hope this helps. Rick Hough, a beekeeper from Hamilton, MA, USA (NE of Boston) rshough@tasc.com Actively seeking information for the BEE-L FAQ!! Please e-mail me any interesting answers (questions optional) you might have! ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 12:19:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Kerry Clark 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299" Subject: Re: Vials of venom?? Bee venom (dried I would expect) and venom collecting devices were advertised as available from Michael Simics Apitronic Services #204, 1331 - 15 Ave S.W. Calgary, Alberta T3C 0X8 Tel: 403 541-1877 Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET KCLARK@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 09:13:03 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adam Finkelstein Subject: Nosema question Reply to this message: tobe@zoo.toronto.edu Forwarded message: > Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping > From: tobe@zoo.toronto.edu (S.S. Tobe) > Subject: Microsporidian infection > Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 17:18:00 GMT > Organization: U of Toronto Zoology > > Does anyone have any information about treatment of colonies infected > by Nosema spp. We are particularly interested in how to disinfect > equipment, hives, rooms, etc. and prevent reinfections. > > Thanks in advance. > > Koach. > -- ================================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| =========== ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 09:25:59 CDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Philp Mueller Subject: Re: Bees in Louisiana In-Reply-To: <9406082244.AA23337@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu>; from "Dave D. Cawley" at Jun 8, 94 6:46 pm I would like to thank you all for your help with bees in LA. Once I am set up, I'll send a progress repot. Is anyone on the list familiar with native bees of the South. I have a strange little colony in my yard. The extension agent said to put some in a killing jar and mail them to the state university. K don't want to do that. I do have pictures, but they are not very good. Regards, -- Phil Mueller 325 Burdette hi23ahg@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu New Orleans, LA 70118 Tulane University (504) 866-1913 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 09:56:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Kerry Clark 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299" Subject: Re: Nosema question Either Graham, J ed. 1993 The Hive and the Honey bee, p. 1101 - 1104, or Morse and Nowogrodski, 1990 Honey Bee Pests, Predators and Diseases, p 55 - 58, describe the techniques used to control Nosema apis, including feeding fumagillin, acetic acid fumigation or heat treatment. Both are somewhat out of date in their description of the use of ethylene oxide, which is not used anymore because of operator hazard. Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET KCLARK@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 11:11:28 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Two Queen Hive Management My 'two queen' questions havs resulted in a number of questions and a good deal of interest in my success (hopefully) and progress. The questions asked most often were, "Why would you do such a thing?" and " What are the benefits?". The benefit of operating a hive with two queens is that you have two queens producing workers within the same hive, and a very populous hive will produce more honey. Experiments have shown that doubling the number of bees in a hive can more than double the honey production. A 'normal' hive may fill one or two supers, whereas a two queen hive could fill four to six supers. The down side is that running a two queen set up requires a lot more work: hive manipulations, setting up the hive in the first place, having enough honey supers ready, and adding supers to the colony requires a lot more unstacking and restacking. I should also add that I have never done this before, I have only read about it. Actually, I should say I never did this before last Friday evening, when I combined the hives as I described I would in my original postings. So far so good, although I have yet to check inside the brood chambers to make sure both queens are well. I figured I'd give them a few days to adjust to the new arrangement before I go poking around to satisfy my own curiosity. The source I used for the two queen management was The Hive and the Honeybee (Dadant Publications, 1993 edition, don't know the pages). The procedures call for splitting a strong hive, gradually introducing the second queen and easing the splits back together. I just quickly slapped two unrelated swarms together into the same colony and am not yet sure that I've created a successful unit. I'll verify the success of my 'experiment' later this week and will post an update. It also should be noted that the reference states that the procedure may or may not be productive, depending on location. The reference states that the procedure is well suited to areas with short, intense honey flows (such as those experienced in the Northeast US), but is not worth the bother for beekeepers in the southern US. The two queen method is intriguing and may yield impressive harvests, but it's not well suited for all areas. For the best information, go right to the source (The Hive and the Honeybee) before deciding if such an arrangement would suit your needs. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 18:37:53 +0200 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Nikola Kezic Subject: Symposium FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT APIMONDIA INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF BEEKEEPERS ORGANIZATIONS International Symposium on BEE BREEDING ON THE ISLANDS Organized by FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE AND VETERINARY FACULTY UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB - CROATIA AND INSTITUT F\R BIENENKUNDE LUNZ AM SEE - AUSTRIA Under the auspices of The Ministry of Science and Technology and The Ministry of Agriculture Republic of Croatia April 19 - 26, 1995 Island Vis Croatia INVITATION It is our pleasure and privilege to invite you to participate at the International Symposium on Bee breeding on the islands. The Symposium will be held on wonderful island of Vis in Adriatic sea, from 19th to 26th of April 1995. We have a special honor in hosting this Symposium in a country of traditional beekeeping, the country of origin of the excellent Carniolan bees (Apis mellifera carnica). This Symposium has organized to promote an exchange of scientific information between different countries. This will provide a good opportunity for comparison and discussion on the main topics. We sincerely hope you will attend the Symposium. We will do our best to make your stay in Croatia successful and pleasant. Scientific Committee Prof. Dr. F. Ruttner Prof. Dr. N. Koeniger Prof. Dr. R. F. A. Moritz Prof. Dr. W. Drescher Prof. Dr. F. Frilli Dr. J. Poklukar Prof. Dr. V. Veseli Organizing Committee Prezident: Prof. dr. N. Kezic, Faculty of Agriculture Vice-Prezident: Doz. dr. H. Pechacker, Inst. fur Bienenkunde Members: Prof. dr. D. Sulimanovic, Veterinary faculty Dr. V. Bicanic, Ministry of Agriculture General secretary: L. Bucic, Dalmacijaturist Assistents: M. Drazic, D. Bubalo Symposium Dates This meeting will be held from April 19th to April 26th 1995. Sunday April 23rd will be free. Symposium Location The meeting will take place on the island Vis, Croatia Official Language The official language of the Symposium will be English. Scientific Program: Invited papers Contributed papers Poster sessions Workshops Film and video sessions Topics: Breeding Models Mating Design Selection Varroa Tolerance Queen Production Honey Bee in Environment Other Scientific papers: Authors who wish to present a paper at the Symposium or to be considered for the poster session should submit two copies of a paper related to any topics of the Symposium. Camera-ready copy of the full paper must be printed on laser printer or submitted as a word-processed file not later than February 1st 1995. The invited and contributed scientific papers will be published in the Symposium Proceedings. Proceedings will be distributed at the Symposium. Workshops: Proposals are welcomed Social and cultural activities There will be a full day excursions to some South-Adriatic islands on boat. We will visit some local beekeepers. Second announcement: request for information: If you are interested in attending the Symposium, please fill the attached information card and to return it to the Organizing Committee by October 1st, 1994. The second announcement including full information on the registration procedures, submission of papers, scientific program, hotel accommodation, social events will be forwarded to you by the November 15th 1994. REGISTRATION FORM Last name, name, title: ___________________________________________________________ Institution: ___________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ City: _____________________________________________ Country: _____________________________________________ Phone: ______________________________________ Fax: ________________________________________ e-Mail:______________________________________ I wish to attend the Symposium, Island Vis April 19th -26th 1995, (and receive the 2nd announcement): I wish to deliver a talk ___ a poster ___ I intend to organize a workshop and submit a short description ___ I will be accompained by _________ persons Date: _______________________________________ Signature: __________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Prof. dr. Nikola Kezic FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB Dept. for Fisheries, Beekeeping and Special Zoology Svetosimunska 25 41000 Zagreb The Republic of Croatia Tel: (..385 41) 213 897; 215 930 Fax: (..385 41) 233 519; 215 930 e-Mail: NKEZIC@SRCE.HR ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 12:27:07 PDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: Butterfly feeder >My bees are taking my wife's butterfly syrup. My life is in >danger. Does anyone have a plan for a feeder which is >inaccessable to bees or a recipe for syrup which bees wouldn't >care for? >-- > jackturn@rvgs.vak12ed.edu Bees won't take pure glucose. Will butterflies? Adrian *************************************************************** * Adrian Wenner E-Mail wenner@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu * * Department of Biology Office Phone (805) 893-2838 * * University of California Lab Phone (805) 893-2838 * * Santa Barbara, CA 93106 FAX (805) 893-4724 * *************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 18:26:53 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Chad A Faber Subject: bee biology list To whom it may concern: Thank you for the opportunity to subscribe the the bee biology list, but I must move on to other things for now. Please discontinue my subscription immediately. Thank you very much for your attention to this matter. Chad Faber ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 21:32:04 -0300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Fernando Barbosa Noll Dear Sirs, I would like very much to make contact with doctor Radchenko,V.G. My name is Fernando B. Noll and Bombus and stingless bees are my interest (I work in the R. Zucchi's lab). Thanks a lot and best wishes, FB Noll ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 07:50:13 -0400 Reply-To: lhale@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adam Finkelstein Subject: Canadian Border Question (fwd) > From: lhale@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca (M. Lynne Hale) > Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping > Subject: Canadian-Us Border Closure > Date: Thu, 16 Jun 94 22:49:00 GMT > Organization: University of Alberta > > Is there anyone out there who still thinks that the closing of the > Canadian-U.S. border to transportation of bees was a good idea? If so, can > you please give me a good reason why. Also, is there any "real" reason that > it hasn't been re-opened yet? > Any response to this would be appreciated, > Lynne Hale > -------------------------- > M. Lynne Hale > Department of Zoology, > University of Alberta > -- ================================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| =========== ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 14:39:51 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: William G Lord Subject: Auto-uncappers I have just finished uncapping and extracting a record honey crop and have resolved to retire the electric uncapping knife in favor of a mechanized system. I am looking for a small machine that is not steam dependent. Someone told me the Maxant-Mraz chain uncapper was what I wanted. Does anyone have experience with this machine, or have any advice on other small mechanized uncappers? Bill Lord Louisburg, NC -- William G Lord E-Mail : wglord@franklin Internet: wglord@franklin.ces.ncsu.edu Phone : ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 10:05:28 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Peter Kevan Subject: Re: Microencapsulated pesticides Some years ago there were problems to honeybees caused by micro-encapsulated pesticides. I would be grateful if anyone could tell me what materials were used for the shells of the micro-capsules. Thanks, Peter Kevan PKEVAN@UOGUELPH.CA ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 10:38:27 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Peter Kevan Subject: Re: Canada/US border closure There are several reasons why the border remains closed. 1. Trachael mites are not yet ubiquitous in Canada and the breathing space (pun intended) is giving time for development of mite resistant bees to be scientifically developed for Canadian and North American needs. 2. Trachael mite control is expensive 3. Varroa mites are still virtually absent from Canada 4. Varroa mite control is expensive 5. The Africanized bee problem is looming large in the US and although it is unlikely that such bees could become established in Canada as feral colonies or in overwintered colonies, their introduction for the summers from the US would be unwise. The Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturalists has examined the question carefully and feels strongly that the border should remain closed. The benefits to Canadian beekeeping have been direct (as above) and will continue to be so (above) and have been indirect by requiring Canadian beekeeping to become more self-sufficient for nucleus colony production, queen raising, and overwintering. Objections to the border closure have surfaces from within Canada, especially from western provinces, and a hint of the opinions of some beekeepers from Alberta is given in the message by the words "still think". ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 09:30:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Kerry Clark 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299" Subject: Re: Microencapsulated pesticides Ah yes, the caramilk mystery.. Peter: I did a seminar on microencapsulated pesticides a few years ago, and perhaps I could find the information in the archives, but I'm sure you'd get a better answer from one of the manufacturers. Microencapsualted diazinon was (is?) registered in Canada as a Basudin formulation. As I recall, the capsules were a polymer formed as a reaction when a chemical mixed with the pestcide, came in contact with a second chemical as the pesticide was injected into a receiving liquid. By adjusting the injection stream size and pressure, the polymer concentration, and the polar properties of the 2 liquids as the pesticide was injected, droplets of pesticide of the right size, became encapsulated with a wall thickness that resulted in the desired extended release. There were different materials used if the product was water or oil based, but the principle was similar. I don't know if there is a technique for small amounts. Wasn't someone microencapsulating a pollen extract for improving the attractiveness of pollen substitute? Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET KCLARK@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 12:08:03 EST Reply-To: Harald.E.Esch.1@nd.edu Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Harald E. Esch" In Message Mon, 20 Jun 1994 21:32:04 -0300, Fernando Barbosa Noll writes: >Dear Sirs, > I would like very much to make contact with doctor Radchenko,V.G. > My name is Fernando B. Noll and Bombus and stingless bees are my >interest (I work in the R. Zucchi's lab). > Thanks a lot and best wishes, FB Noll Fernando, ask Zucchi whether he remembers the good times we had in Rio Claro in 1964. Harald Esch =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Harald E. Esch ("Harald.E.Esch.1@nd.edu") Professor, Dept. Biological Sciences University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN 46556 Phone: (219) 631-7025 FAX: (219) 631-7413 Dept. Office: (219) 631-7186 =-=-=-==-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 17:27:18 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Bob vanArsdall Subject: Re: Bees in Louisiana >Is anyone on the list familiar with native bees of the South. >I have a strange little colony in my yard. The extension agent >said to put some in a killing jar and mail them to the state >university. K don't want to do that. >Phil Mueller 325 Burdette >hi23ahg@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu New Orleans, LA 70118 >Tulane University (504) 866-1913 Phil, contact the largest Bee Lab in the country, the USDA Bee Stock and Breeding Lab, Nicholson Drive Extension, Baton Rouge, LA. Gary DeLatte is the head beekeeper there. If they look like honeybees and not bumblebees they're probably just a native swarm. "You can't miss what you ain't got, You can't lose what you ain't never had" (Muddy Waters) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 17:17:15 CDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Philp Mueller Subject: Re: Bees in Louisiana In-Reply-To: <9406212128.AA08363@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu>; from "Bob vanArsdall" at Jun 21, 94 5:27 pm Bob, I'll try to contact Gary DeLatte tomorrow. However, these are not *feral* honeybees. They are almost solid black and about half the size of a honeybee. They usually pick a place to spend the night and stick to it for quite a while. I've never been able to spot a nest or hive. This is the second year they've been here. Thanks, Phil -- Phil Mueller 325 Burdette hi23ahg@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu New Orleans, LA 70118 Tulane University (504) 866-1913 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 21:16:21 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Liz Day Subject: hitchhiking beetle? In indianapolis a few days ago I saw a queen Bombus fervidus (and, yes, RCP, they ARE turning golden yellow! neat) who seemed on our flowers who seemed to have something on her. I captured her and found that a beetle, tan colored and about 4 mm long, was attached to either her tongue or the underside of her head (couldn't tell which) by gripping her with its jaws. I pulled the beetle off and let the queen go. she returned to foraging. I put the beetle in the freezer. Does anybody have a clue what the beetle might have been doing there? I will take it to a museum and have it IDed when I get time.... Liz Day lday@gluon.phys.ufl.edu ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 23:51:45 CDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Phil Veldhuis Subject: Re: Auto-uncappers In-Reply-To: <9406211330.AA07035@canopus.CC.UManitoba.CA>; from "William G Lord" at Jun 20, 94 2:39 pm William G Lord insightfully writes: > > I have just finished uncapping and extracting a record honey crop > and have resolved to retire the electric uncapping knife in favor > of a mechanized system. I am looking for a small machine that is > not steam dependent. Someone told me the Maxant-Mraz chain > uncapper was what I wanted. Does anyone have experience with this > machine, or have any advice on other small mechanized uncappers? > > Bill Lord > Louisburg, NC > -- > William G Lord > E-Mail : wglord@franklin > Internet: wglord@franklin.ces.ncsu.edu > Phone : > Bill: I use the chain uncapper myself after having graduated by fire, as it were, from hand uncapping a huge crop. I am satisfied with the system in that it still doesn't have the sort of throughput that a cowan knife uncapper does, but is a big step forward in throughput without any comprimise in damage to frames or the combs. BTW, My cousin has a maxant chain uncapper for sale right now. If you like I can get you more info. Given the depressed state of Cdn beekeeping and dollar, You can probably get it for less than 1/2 price American. It was used for 1 Year only, as he inherited a much larger outfit, etc. I can send you photo's or whatever... Let me know. Shipping would be easy, since you don't need it till next year. -- ------------oooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo------------- Phil Veldhuis | "if something is not worth doing, Winnipeg. MB, Canada | it is not worth doing right" veldhui@cc.umanitoba.ca | Dave Barry (1985) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 12:32:24 +0100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jean-Marie Van Dyck Subject: Two queens colonies method On Mon, 20 Jun 1994 Aaron Morris wrote ... > My 'two queen' questions havs resulted in a number of questions and > a good deal of interest in my success (hopefully) and progress. The > questions asked most often were, "Why would you do such a thing?" and > " What are the benefits?". > > The benefit of operating a hive with two queens is that you have > two queens producing workers within the same hive, and a very > populous hive will produce more honey. Experiments have shown that > doubling the number of bees in a hive can more than double the honey > production. A 'normal' hive may fill one or two supers, whereas a > two queen hive could fill four to six supers. Ok ! It's the principle ! In the french speaking litterature, E. Loubet de l'Hoste wrote a book (for maybe 20 years but with numerous new editions) " La Biruche " (the bi-hive). Easy method with very few new material : - In early spring or winter, you put two common hives side by side, with the 2 entrances diametrically opposed (one to the Est side, one to the West : it's the best). The 2 colonies must to be equilibrated (same queen age, ideally from last year to avoid swarming; same brood surface, transfer from one to the other). .../... Each couple of hives looks like this (sorry for the readers using an improved mailer : choose the courier type character) ... top view /------\ ----------------------- | || | | hive || hive | | queen || queen | -------> North | one || two | | || | ----------------------- \------/ .../... - When it's time to put the super(s), you put first a single special cover (the only new material) which is with 2 queen excluders top view ----------------------- | |----||----| | | |----||----| | | |----||----| | | |----||----| | | |----||----| | ----------------------- cover side 2 queen excl. cover On the queen excluder side of this special cover, you put as much super(s) as necessary. The queen are really separate, the bees may go in the whole . I was using this technique during 10 years ('79-'88) in my apiary with 6 couples of 8 standard Dadant frames hives. Curious experience ! The double colony works early in the morning (east entrance) to late in the evening (west entrance). The honey crop is good even with weak honey flow or with bee-lines with slow starting (the brown european feral bee for ex). The honey crop is excellent during good honey flow. BUT ... Swarming is very difficult to control (imagine unstacking 3-4 quasi-full supers to examine the brood nest) and when one colony is swarming, the other get out the same way. The swarms are gigantic. After swarming you must separate the 2 old colonies to be sure to get 2 new queens ! To do this you cover one of the 2 queen excluders with a plastic sheet. Seems that with prolific bee-lines, the honey crop increment is smaller and the work and swarming risk is higher. Actually I'm rearing Buckfast bees (prolific bees) and I don't use this system yet (not usefull) ! Aaron Morris ... > It also should be noted that the reference states that the procedure > may or may not be productive, depending on location. The reference > states that the procedure is well suited to areas with short, intense > honey flows (such as those experienced in the Northeast US), but is not > worth the bother for beekeepers in the southern US. The two queen > method is intriguing and may yield impressive harvests, but it's not > well suited for all areas. For the best information, go right to the > source (The Hive and the Honeybee) before deciding if such an > arrangement would suit your needs. It's correct and really, it's a good process when ... - you have a good honey flow in very early spring, when the colonies are not developed yet. - you have a bee-line which don't develop very high. - as Aaron mind, you have a very short, intense honey flow ... but seems the difference will not be important if you have a good bee-line. - you 'll make some curious experiences and don't matter the work to do. It's definitely _not_ a good process when ... - you have no time enough and/or you don't like to do curious experiences. - your bees are prolific enough for the first honey flow (early spring) - your bee-line is a swarming line (don't take in place!) ! If you have some other questions about "the bi-hive" I'll try to answer ! ps. seems E. Loubet de l'Hoste spent some years in the US. It's not impossible that his book exists in English .. Maybe our _IBRA_ correspondent may answer this question. Jean-Marie ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 11:00:53 LCL Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Chris Conroy Subject: Re: BEE-L Digest - 20 Jun 1994 to 21 Jun 1994 My wife and I started our first hive from a package this year. When we last opened the hive to take a look (about 10 days ago), the bees had drawn out about 6 or 7 frames and 4-5 of them had capped brood and honey on them. The hive appears to be active, and the bees seem healthy. Should the bees be farther along than they are (I'm in New Hampshire), and should we continue to feed the bees sugar water? Thanks, Chris Conroy ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 08:56:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Kerry Clark 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299" Subject: Re: hitchhiking beetle? Perhaps a blister beetle, Meloe sp.. Their adult-like larvae crawl up into flowers, where they wait for a bee, then attach, return to the bee's nest, drop off, moult to a more typical "grub" larva, feed, and mature. I think these are native species, adapted to some native bee. Perhaps a Bombus expert will know. Some attach to honey bees. We've found them in our external mite detection surveys, but I've never seen one as big as 4 mm. I'd be interested to hear of what you find. Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET KCLARK@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 09:13:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Kerry Clark 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299" Subject: Re: Two queens colonies method Jean-Marie's description of the side-by-side 2 queen method reminded me of the "double 5 queen" hives used by Charlie Warren (Babes Honey) on Vancouver Island. He has used these for many (20?) years. One of the reasons for them is protection from bears. The arrangement consists of 5 standard Langstroth hives in contact with each other side-to-side, backed up to another 5 facing the opposite way. The 10 colonies are one one solid bottom board, and have one telescoping hive cover (the solid block of hives is the bear protection). They are managed individually until the honeyflow. The 10-hive blocks are loaded onto trucks with a hydraulic arm, and transported to mountain regions where fireweed (Epilobium) grows after logging. Each of the 10 queens gets a standard queen excluder, then the 10 hives are covered with 2 large supers (per layer), each holding 60? standard frames, 6 5/8 depth. The bees are able to move throughout 5 colonies without going outside. The large supers take 2 persons to put on, and are removed with the hydraulic arm. Apparently each colony maintains a fairly separate area, and stores honey more or less above their own brood area. If a colony is stronger, it stores in more space to either side. If a colony were to die, the space above it would still be used, if enough nectar were available and the other colonies were capable. There are more failures in self-re-queening, and probably more drift of workers, than from separate colonies. You have to work the colonies from the front, with bees all around you. The system uses special equipment of hydraulic assistance and special supers. It looked to me like a smooth working operation, and it looked like the system contributed to the operation. Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET KCLARK@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 10:08:42 PDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: Microencapsulated pesticides >Some years ago there were problems to honeybees caused by >micro-encapsulated pesticides. I would be grateful if anyone could tell >me what materials were used for the shells of the micro-capsules. >Thanks, Peter Kevan PKEVAN@UOGUELPH.CA Peter, If you have further need for information, KNOX OUT 2 FM is the usual product bought by pesticide operators in the U.S. The manufacturer is the WHITMIRE Research Laboratories, Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri, with a telephone: (314) 225-5371. They will likely be willing to provide pertinent details about the product. Adrian *************************************************************** * Adrian Wenner E-Mail wenner@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu * * Department of Biology Office Phone (805) 893-2838 * * University of California Lab Phone (805) 893-2838 * * Santa Barbara, CA 93106 FAX (805) 893-4724 * *************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 17:12:50 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "sheila a. lafferty" Subject: free book: Beekeeping by John Eckert c1960 Our library recently received a copy of "Beekeeping" by John E Eckert and Frank R. Shaw published by Macmillan, 1960. Since our library already owns two copies, we are not adding this copy to our collection. Would anyone on this list like to have it? Just e-mail me your snail mail address & I will send it out. (Obviously, if I receive more than one request for the book, I will send it to the first person that asks. Hope everyone understands) Sheila Lafferty University of CT at Waterbury Library wbladm03@uconnvm.uconn.edu Home of "The Hewitt Apicultural Collection" ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 14:32:19 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Chris Laughbon Subject: Re: free book: Beekeeping by John Eckert c1960 I'll be happy to take it. My address is: Chris Laughbon 7700 Forest Dr. NE Seattle, Wa. 98115 Thanks a bunch (even if Im not first!) Chris ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 16:48:28 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ron Rynders Subject: Re: free book: Beekeeping by John Eckert c1960 In-Reply-To: <9406221633.aa29573@cc.dordt.edu> from "sheila a. lafferty" at Jun 22, 94 05:12:50 pm > > Our library recently received a copy of "Beekeeping" by John E Eckert and > Frank R. Shaw published by Macmillan, 1960. Since our library already owns > two copies, we are not adding this copy to our collection. Would anyone on > this list like to have it? Just e-mail me your snail mail address & I will > send it out. (Obviously, if I receive more than one request for the book, I > will send it to the first person that asks. Hope everyone understands) > > Sheila Lafferty > University of CT at Waterbury > Library > wbladm03@uconnvm.uconn.edu > Home of "The Hewitt Apicultural Collection" Would love to have the book! If I'm the first, my address below will suffice. I am a novice, and need all the help I can get. THANKS! ******************************************************************************* Ron Rynders phone 1-712-722-6078 Dordt College fax 1-712-722-6416 498 4th Ave NE e-mail ron@dordt.edu Sioux Center, IA 51250 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jun 1994 12:03:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul van Westendorp 576-5600 Fax: 576-5652" Subject: Re: Canadian Border Question (fwd) Lynn Hale, I suppose, having been in the middle of the debate of Canada/US border closure in 1987 onward, first as Alberta's Provincial Apiculturist and later as BC's Provincial Apiculturist, I may be in a good position to respond to your question. Some historical background is warranted. During the 1970's, Canadian apicultural specialists started to express concern about the potential introduction of "exotic" mites into Canada. It was recognised that annual purchases of 100,000's packages and queens from a comparitively small geographical area in California, heightened the industry's vulnerability to the introduction and distribution of pests throughout Canada's most important beekeeping areas. Provincial apiculturists started to encourage beekeepers to overwinter their colonies. Research projects on wintering techniques and breeding programs to develop winter hardy bees were carried out; courses on queen rearing were offered; assistance programs (financial and technical) for wintering were made available in some provinces. Also, the threat of these exotic mites caused Canadian apiculturists, in consultations with Canadian Honey Council (Canada's national beekeeping organisation) and the federal government to review provisions under the Animal Disease and Protection Act. (Since then replaced by the Animal Health Act). After lengthy discussions, it was decided in the early 1980's, to name Varroa jacobsoni under the Act as a reportable pest, while the tracheal mite (HBTM) was left out. This decision was made by the industry because Varroa was still seen as some pest in the distant future, while HBTM had just been confirmed in the US. The industry felt it could not afford to jeopardize its access to US packages and queens at that time. Yet, provincial beekeepers associations and governments whose legislation included HBTM as reportable pests, demanded steps be undertaken to prevent HBTM introduction into Canada through a tracheal mite certification program. This program failed for many reasons. Without going into detail about the causes of failure, it must be pointed out that the program included the provision of closing the border to bee shipments in the event of HBTM infestations in California's bee breeding area. Canadian beekeepers relying on annual bee importations were fully aware of the potential of border closure. Before gassing the bees off in the fall, beekeepers would call and ask if the border would be closed next spring. I recall very clearly in (early) September 1987, telling producers that under conditions at that time, that there was no reason to believe that the border would be closed. Of course, the situation changed overnight when in late September (21?) of that same year Varroa was discovered in the US. (It was a big surprise to most, because had we not all expected to see the Africanized bees arrive first?). Since Varroa was under federal legislation, the Government in Ottawa was suddenly confronted of having to formulate a response strategy that would address beekeeping interests throughout Canada. All provincial beekeepers organisations except Alberta's were in support of border closure. All provincial governments were also in support of closure, while the Government of Alberta abstained. (Please note that the border issue caused terrible polarisation within the Alberta beekeeping fraternity at that time and each group submitted convincing arguments to the Provincial Government). Extensive consultations between industry groups and governments took place throughout the winter of 1987 and 1988. In 1987/88, no chemical control product was registered in Canada (and the US) to control Varroa. In addition to the stated positions of associations and provinces to close the border, the federal government had little choice but opted for a commonly used method in animal disease control, namely by physically isolating the Canadian bee population. Neither the federal government nor any other proponent to border closure ever argued that this strategy would keep Varroa out of Canada forever. Instead, it was hoped that with beekeeper compliance, Varroa could be kept out of Canada for a number of years during which time control products may become available. In response to the challenges faced by many beekeepers to convert their operations to wintering in 1988 onward, the Province of Alberta introduced financial assistance programs to its producers, up to C$10.- per colony. This was followed by a multi-year sugar subsidy program where beekeepers could purchase sugar for winter feed at subsidized prices. At the same free engineering asistance was offered for the design and construction of indoor wintering facilities. Colleges, universities and federal research facilities continued to offer information on improved wintering techniques. As of today, the vast majority of beekeepers and beekeeping operations in Canada have remained free of Varroa. Although the pest will continue to spread in the years to come, Varroa's principal distribution is still concentrated in border areas. After six years of border closure, the policy must be recognised as having been successful. Regardless, the implementation of the border closure policy carried a high cost, especially for those producers who were fully dependent on annual package and queen importations. In 1988 and 1989, scores of those 'package operators' went out of business. It has often been claimed that the border closure was the cause of their demise. I do not believe that this is entirely true. In many cases, producers were already in serious difficulty because of persistent low honey prices (remember those horrific years when honey went for C$0.37 - 0.39 a pound?) and hence, they did not have the resources needed to convert their operations. For many, border closure may have been the final 'nail in the coffin'. On the positive side, many beekeepers did convert their operations successfully and became highly self-sufficient while remaining free of Varroa. It should be remembered that the closure of the Canada/US border was enacted because of Varroa, not HBTM. The justification of keeping the policy in place is lessened every year with the further spread of Varroa in Canada's beekeeping areas. The current ban will remain in effect until December 31, 1995 and by that time, the Canadian beekeeping industry may democratically decide continuation of the policy is no longer warranted. Paul van Westendorp PVANWESTEN@galaxy.gov.bc.ca Provincial Apiculturist ph. (604) 576-5639 BC Ministry of Agriculture, fx. (604) 576-5652 Fisheries & Food ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 08:48:45 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: William G Lord Subject: Re: Auto-uncappers In-Reply-To: <9406220452.AA08757@wolf.ces.ncsu.edu> from "Phil Veldhuis" at Jun 21, 94 11:51:45 pm > >William G Lord insightfully writes: >> >> I have just finished uncapping and extracting a record honey crop >> and have resolved to retire the electric uncapping knife in favor >> of a mechanized system. I am looking for a small machine that is >> not steam dependent. Someone told me the Maxant-Mraz chain >> uncapper was what I wanted. Does anyone have experience with this >> machine, or have any advice on other small mechanized uncappers? >> >> Bill Lord >> Louisburg, NC >> -- >> William G Lord >> E-Mail : wglord@franklin >> Internet: wglord@franklin.ces.ncsu.edu >> Phone : >> > > >Bill: > >I use the chain uncapper myself after having graduated by fire, as it >were, from hand uncapping a huge crop. I am satisfied with the system in >that it still doesn't have the sort of throughput that a cowan knife >uncapper does, but is a big step forward in throughput without any >comprimise in damage to frames or the combs. > >BTW, My cousin has a maxant chain uncapper for sale right now. If you >like I can get you more info. Given the depressed state of Cdn beekeeping >and dollar, You can probably get it for less than 1/2 price American. It >was used for 1 Year only, as he inherited a much larger outfit, etc. > >I can send you photo's or whatever... > >Let me know. Shipping would be easy, since you don't need it till next year. > >-- >------------oooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo-------- ----- >Phil Veldhuis | "if something is not worth doing, >Winnipeg. MB, Canada | it is not worth doing right" >veldhui@cc.umanitoba.ca | Dave Barry (1985) > Phil; Let's make a deal. Bill -- William G Lord E-Mail : wglord@franklin Internet: wglord@franklin.ces.ncsu.edu Phone : 919-496-3344 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 09:57:33 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "sheila a. lafferty" Subject: Free book: The Winner is...... The winner of the "Beekeeping" by John Eckert is Chris Laughbon in Seattle WA. The University of CT at Waterbury library is the home of The Hewitt Apicul- tural Collection. Our former campus director, Al Avitabile, is a beekeeper in addition to being a Professor Emeritus of the University of CT. Due to his interest, our library collected books and journals on beekeeping. In the near future, I hope to make a bibliography of the collection available to subscribers of Bee-l. (I first have to figure out the mechanics of upload- ing the file.) The materials (books and photocopies of specific articles from the journals) are available from us on INTERLIBRARY LOAN at no charge. Happy beekeeping everyone (from a visiting non-beekeeper librarian). Sheila Lafferty University of CT at Waterbury Library wbladm03@uconnvm.uconn.edu ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 11:42:31 AST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "" Organization: Acadia University Subject: Re: Canadian Border Question (fwd) Hi, Just wanted to say thanks for the background on the closure--I am new to beekeeping here in the Maritimes, I knew some of the background but not all of it. Marty Snyder Acadia University ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 14:03:35 -0300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Troy Saulnier Subject: Re: Canadian Border Question (fwd) In-Reply-To: <199406222242.AA14849@relay.acadiau.ca> from "Paul van Westendorp 576-5600 Fax: 576-5652" at Jun 22, 94 12:03:00 pm Very good history write-up for the border closure. The details were always presented in bits and peices, it was nice to get a complete picuture as to why this all came about. I was just curious about the recently available Hawaian Honey bees, how they apply to the ban, and what kind of quality these bees are. -Thanks, Troy Saulnier 910835s@dragno.acadiau.ca Biol Dept, Acadia University Wolfville, NS, Canada B0P 1X0 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 13:11:24 EST Reply-To: John.E.Burns.3@nd.edu Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "John E. Burns" Subject: Apis mellifera carnica needed Does anyone know of a U.S. source of Apis mellifera carnica (Carniolan) bees? We have a need for some but don't know of any suppliers. Can anyone help? Thanks! John =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= John E. Burns Graduate Student, Dept. Biological Sciences University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN 46556 Phone: (219) 631-4164 FAX: (219) 631-7413 Dept. Office: (219) 631-7186 =-=-=-==-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 16:42:27 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Doug Brown Would you please email your IP Address to doug_brown@gtsi.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 13:18:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul van Westendorp 576-5600 Fax: 576-5652" Subject: Re: Canadian Border Question (fwd) Indeed, the question as to how the importation of Hawaii queens into Canada fits the Canada/US border closure, is interesting. Perhaps, I could first comment on your question about quality. The commercial queen producers in Hawaii are professionals and they supply good queens. Most of the queen (and package) producers that supplied Canadian beekeepers before 1988 were equally good and reliable. Of course, in any industry you find a few rotten apples, but as history has shown many commercial operators in Canada developed longterm business and personal relations with American suppliers because high quality stock was supplied. Perhaps because of this strong bond, it was so hard for many Canadian producers to change their beekeeping practices from annual package operations to wintering. Ever since the border with the US was closed, commercial operators in the prairie provinces experienced difficulties in obtaining queens in early spring. A small group of producers appealed to Canadian Honey Council and federal government to authorise the controlled importation of queens from Hawaii. Initially, there was insufficient support from industry and governments to consider such importation. Perhaps, part of the reluctance stemmed from the harsh debates on the border issue that had taken place in 87/88. Also, due to a lack of factual information, there was ongoing unease about the true health status of bees in Hawaii, and the regulatory infrastructure needed to keep the State free of mites. Eventually, more information from Hawaii became available and parasitic mite infestations in Canada changed the attitudes of many. In January, 1993, Canadian Honey Council voted in support of importations of Hawaiian queens providing mite surveys with an Canadian inspector on site had taken place, confirming the absence of parasitic mites in Hawaii. To accommodate the industry request, the Canadian government had to amend its animal health regulations to allow a specified source (Hawaii) to ship livestock to Canada which the remainder of that country (the US) was not authorised to do. Through Ministerial order, Hawaii was granted permission to ship queens to Canada in the spring of 1993, providing it remained mite-free. Paul van Westendorp PVANWESTEN@galaxy.gov.bc.ca Provincial Apiculturist ph. (604) 576-5639 BC Ministry of Agriculture fx. (604) 576-5652 Fisheries & Food ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 20:18:05 -0300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eunice Wonnacott Subject: Re: free book: Beekeeping by John Eckert c1960 In-Reply-To: <9406222128.AA02024@bud.peinet.pe.ca> Please send this to me for the PEI Beekeepers Cooperative Association. My smail address: P>O> Box 2604 Charlottetown, PE CANADA C1A 8C3 Hope I'm lucky! thanks Eunice Wonnacott On Wed, 22 Jun 1994, sheila a. lafferty wrote: > Our library recently received a copy of "Beekeeping" by John E Eckert and > Frank R. Shaw published by Macmillan, 1960. Since our library already owns > two copies, we are not adding this copy to our collection. Would anyone on > this list like to have it? Just e-mail me your snail mail address & I will > send it out. (Obviously, if I receive more than one request for the book, I > will send it to the first person that asks. Hope everyone understands) > > Sheila Lafferty > University of CT at Waterbury > Library > wbladm03@uconnvm.uconn.edu > Home of "The Hewitt Apicultural Collection" > ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jun 1994 19:23:12 BSC Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Vagner de Alencar Arnaut de Toledo Organization: FUEM/Fundacao Universidade Estadual de Maringa - Parana - Brasil. Subject: David Hinz Hello David Hinz, I try (sometimes) to respond for your e-mail, but not get and I was travelling. ..................... I am working with africanized, italian bees and their hybrids about behaviour of construction of the comb with beeswax and parafin, life time of worker bees and queen development of these bees in the region of Maringa State of Parana, Brazil (more or less in the tropic of Capricorn) and thermoregulation I would like to receive your sugestion With Regards Vagner Toledo ======================================================================== VAGNER TOLEDO +++ +++ UNIV. EST. MARINGA - DZO ___---___ BIENE 00) (00 ODER COLOMBO AV. 3690 00) (00 BIENE? 87020-900 MARINGA - PR - BRAZIL (-=======-) TEL. (044) 2262727 R.319 ,% %%& &. (!!!!!!!!!) .% %&% % FAX. 00-55-044-2222754 ,% *(!!!!!!!)* %, * ( ) * * ( ! ) * BITNET: VGTOLEDO AT BRFUEM * " * ======================================================================== ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 07:25:36 PDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: free book: Beekeeping by John Eckert c1960 >Our library recently received a copy of "Beekeeping" by John E Eckert and >Frank R. Shaw published by Macmillan, 1960. Since our library already owns >two copies, we are not adding this copy to our collection. Would anyone on >this list like to have it? Just e-mail me your snail mail address & I will >send it out. (Obviously, if I receive more than one request for the book, I >will send it to the first person that asks. Hope everyone understands) > >Sheila Lafferty >University of CT at Waterbury >Library >wbladm03@uconnvm.uconn.edu >Home of "The Hewitt Apicultural Collection" I would like a copy, but you have probably already received a dozen requests. Adrian *************************************************************** * Adrian Wenner E-Mail wenner@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu * * Department of Biology Office Phone (805) 893-2838 * * University of California Lab Phone (805) 893-2838 * * Santa Barbara, CA 93106 FAX (805) 893-4724 * *************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 10:09:17 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jerry J Bromenshenk Subject: Re: Mites In-Reply-To: from "Troy Saulnier" at Jun 23, 94 02:03:35 pm Hi: The discussion on border closing and the history has been interesting. In Montana, we first saw both mite species in colonies of migratory beekeepers. First a few, now virtually all (as far as I can tell) of these operators. In spite of regular treatment with strips, etc., we have no problem finding either mite. Until recently, most of our hobbiest and non-migratory commercial beekeepers have been free of Varroa, although Tracheal mites became more or less endemic. Packages or queens bought in the last 2-3 years are one potential source of introduction of T. mite to the colonies maintained by these beekeepers. This year, we have begun to find Varroa in hobbiest and non-migratory operations. Based on discussions with the beekeepers, I think hived swarms are a likely contributor to the problem. We suggest treating any swarms to suppress mites - the swarm may be a consequence of the natural division of a strong, healthy colony. However, the swarm may be from an infested colony that absconded from their hive. We have observed this response and have heard other reports of this happening. So -- a swarm may be a colony that left its hive. Why remains unknown. Perhaps it is a desperation move to purge the colony of mites. Possibly the mites influence bee behaviour, maybe as a means of enhancing dispersement. Whatever, swarms should be regarded as a likely source of mites. Jerry Bromenshenk The University of Montana jjbmail@selway.umt.edu ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 10:11:45 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jerry J Bromenshenk Subject: Re: Bleeding Bees In-Reply-To: from "Chris Conroy" at Jun 22, 94 11:00:53 am Hi Again: I am looking for good methods of bleeding bees without causing undue harm to the bees. Anybody have a sure-fire, easy method, especially one that could be employed by students without much experience with bees. Thanks Jerry J. Bromenshenk jjbmail@selway.umt.edu ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 14:05:55 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Rick Fell Subject: Re: Bleeding Bees >I am looking for good methods of bleeding bees without causing undue harm >to the bees. Anybody have a sure-fire, easy method, especially one that >could be employed by students without much experience with bees. > Jerry: The easiest method to bleed bees is to use 1 or 2ul microcaps and gently insert them under one of the abdominal tergites in the vicinity of the dorsal vessel. We have used this technique to sample individual bees several times for the analysis of carbohydrates in the hemolymph. We usually place the blood samples into 1.5 ml microfuge tubes for further handling of individual samples. Regards - Rick Fell Richard Fell Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 24061 703-231-7207 Fax 703-231-9131 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 14:13:59 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Lynn Spagnesi Subject: bee sting therapy Hello, Does anyone reading this group have information on Bee Venom Therapy? (used to treat arthritis and multiple sclerosis)? I have received hard copy information from the Apitherical Society but am disapointed not to have found any discussion in other listserv medical groups? Any information would be GREATLY appreciated Thank You - Lynn ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 14:24:24 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Rick Fell Subject: Re: Bleeding Bees >I am looking for good methods of bleeding bees without causing undue harm >Jerry J. Bromenshenk >jjbmail@selway.umt.edu Jerry - as an addendum to my note on bleeding bees, I should have also mentioned chilling them first. The easiest method for an inexperienced individual is to place the bees in a small container on ice, if the samples are to be taken in the field. It is a little more difficult to get the blood samples but the bees are easier to handle! RDF Richard Fell Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 24061 703-231-7207 Fax 703-231-9131 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 13:42:34 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ron Rynders Subject: Re: bee sting therapy In-Reply-To: <9406241322.aa16830@cc.dordt.edu> from "Lynn Spagnesi" at Jun 24, 94 02:13:59 pm > > Hello, > Does anyone reading this group have information on Bee Venom Therapy? (used t o > treat arthritis and multiple sclerosis)? I have received hard copy informatio n > from the Apitherical Society but am disapointed not to have found any > discussion in other listserv medical groups? > Any information would be GREATLY appreciated > Thank You - Lynn I also have an interest in this topic, and if anyone responds to Lynn personal- ly, could you also send a copy to me? Thankyou ******************************************************************************* Ron Rynders phone 1-712-722-6078 Dordt College fax 1-712-722-6416 498 4th Ave NE e-mail ron@dordt.edu Sioux Center, IA 51250 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 08:13:00 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Casey Burns Organization: TSCNET Inc. d(206)692-2388 v(206)613-0708 Subject: Bumblebee hives I am interested in finding how to "raise" or farm bumblebees. We are awash with native bumblebees on our farm and I would like to find out how to manipulate them and "hive" them for greenhouse and blueberry pollination. Are there any manuals or books? Would somebody be willing to briefly describe the process? Any info on this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Casey Burns Kingston WA ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 21:44:45 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adam Finkelstein Subject: (fwd) Question on BEE Behavior Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Question on BEE Behavior Date: 24 Jun 1994 15:34:41 GMT Organization: University of Washington, Seattle I have a question on bee behavior: the other day I was out sitting on the lawn & a very large black bumble bee was bumbling around in the grass. He (she?) would flop over on his back & sqwiggle around, like he was scratching his back; then he'd burrow down into the grass, completely disappearing in the roots. After several minutes he'd re-emerge & do it all over again. I picked him up to see if he was having difficulty flying, & his wings did look pretty short compared to his body size, but he seemed to prefer to be on the ground. I sat there for quite awhile watching him & he did the same behavior over & over. Any ideas as to what he was up to? Please reply to monet@u.washington.edu as I do not subscribe to this group. Thanks in advance. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 20:45:11 -0300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eunice Wonnacott Subject: Re: Canadian Border Question (fwd) In-Reply-To: <9406231507.AA01767@bud.peinet.pe.ca> Marty: The Canada Research Station in Kentville, N. S. can give you the names of several very knowledgeable , long-time, beekeepers in your area, there in the Annapolis Valley. I am sure any one of them would be happy to share information with you. Happy beekeeping! You are in a wonderful area! From the Cradle of Confederation (although my actual first cradle was right there in the Valley!) On Thu, 23 Jun 1994, wrote: > Hi, > > Just wanted to say thanks for the background on the closure--I am new > to beekeeping here in the Maritimes, I knew some of the background > but not all of it. > > Marty Snyder > Acadia University > ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Jun 1994 20:48:19 -0300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eunice Wonnacott Subject: Re: your mail In-Reply-To: <9406232058.AA14175@bud.peinet.pe.ca> Would you please explain this request? On Thu, 23 Jun 1994, Doug Brown wrote: > Would you please email your IP Address to doug_brown@gtsi.com > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 08:48:55 PDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: Mites Jerry, In two cases, we have found swarms of bees as puddles of bees on the ground. I sampled one of them and found it riddled with varroa mites. I suspect it was an absconding swarm and destroyed it. Adrian *************************************************************** * Adrian Wenner E-Mail wenner@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu * * Department of Biology Office Phone (805) 893-2838 * * University of California Lab Phone (805) 893-2838 * * Santa Barbara, CA 93106 FAX (805) 893-4724 * *************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 15:53:52 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Blair J. Sampson" Subject: Re: (fwd) Question on BEE Behavior In-Reply-To: <9406250145.AA08915@ag.auburn.edu> Adult bees can be born crippled. Often the wings fail to expand, short or wrinkled. This abnormal wing development can occur in either sex, but seems to afflict male brood more frequently. Crippling may result if pupae are subjected to subnormal nest temperatures. Blair bsampson@ag.auburn.edu ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 14:08:45 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Chris Laughbon Subject: Re: Mites ----- Begin Included Message ----- Jerry, In two cases, we have found swarms of bees as puddles of bees on the ground. I sampled one of them and found it riddled with varroa mites. I suspect it was an absconding swarm and destroyed it. Adrian ----- End Included Message ----- I read this message and it struck home with me, as I recently found a swarm which was on the ground. Although it appeared to be clustered around a small branch which broke. This hive has almost all died, in spite of a mite strip, AFB meds, and constant feeding of sugar water. It was a small swarm, and now it is down to only a handful. Any advise? How do you inspect for vorroa mites? Thanks, Chris ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 15:17:16 PDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: Mites >I read this message and it struck home with me, as I recently found a swarm >which was on the ground. Although it appeared to be clustered around a small >branch which broke. This hive has almost all died, in spite of a mite strip, >AFB meds, and constant feeding of sugar water. > >It was a small swarm, and now it is down to only a handful. > >Any advise? How do you inspect for vorroa mites? > Chris, I simply scooped up a double handful of bees and suffocated them with dry cleaning fluid (only a teaspoonful or so of methyl chloroform) and then spread them out in a large white enameled tray. The dislodged mites were easy to spot. Adrian *************************************************************** * Adrian Wenner E-Mail wenner@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu * * Department of Biology Office Phone (805) 893-2838 * * University of California Lab Phone (805) 893-2838 * * Santa Barbara, CA 93106 FAX (805) 893-4724 * *************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 09:09:51 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Blair J. Sampson" Subject: Controlling Varroa and tracheal mites In-Reply-To: <9406272217.AA29267@ag.auburn.edu> S.O.S. I just recieved a call from a concerned beekeeper in Southern Alabama, who wants to know how he can control for Varroa and tracheal mites. He doesn't have a problem now, but he would appreciate any information on mite prevention and control. I have heard of crisco patties and pesticide strips which are very effective, but I don't know what kind of mites they control. Can any of you bee-netters help me out. Thanks! Bees or Bust, Blair Blair Sampson Auburn, Alabama ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 13:40:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul van Westendorp 576-5600 Fax: 576-5652" Subject: Re: Controlling Varroa and tracheal mites Blair, Successful mite control especially Varroa, is very dependent on the beekeeper's knowledge and understanding of the biology and life cycles of these mites. Also, the early detection of mite infestations greatly enhances the opportunity of successful control. Here in BC, the Ministry's Apiculture Program has several factsheets on detection methods and control methods. I can also highly recommend the booklet called "Honey Bee Diseases & Pests", published by the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA). The 16-page booklet covers all common diseases and pests, describing each life cycle, identification, prevention and control methods. The text is highlighted by excellent, colour photographs. You may wish to contact bee supply outfits such as W.T. Kelley or otherwise contact Dr. Cynthia Scott-Dupree at the University of Guelph (Internet: CSDUPREE@evbhort.uoguelph.ca). I think a copy is only US$1.35 or so. Paul van Westendorp PVANWESTEN@galaxy.gov.bc.ca Provincial Apiculturist ph. (604) 576-5639 B.C. Ministry of Agriculture fx. (604) 576-5652 Fisheries & Food ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 23:25:02 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Liz Day Subject: bee mimic, and new field technique 1. I have seen a fly that must be a Bombus mimic - it is covered with black and yellow (or black and yellow and orange!) fur, and forages on flowers (seen on small thistles). It is not a robberfly. It has huge eyes that comprise nearlythe entire head. It's the size of a medium to small bumblebee worker. Does anyone know what this guy is? All my books are packed away... 2. Probably everyone else figured this out long ago. But below is a good way to get a clse look at a live bee in the field: Net the bee. Transfer it into one of those clear plastic vials with the foam plugs that lab people use to raise fruit flies in. Push the plug almost all the way to the bottom, so bee is semi-squashed against the clear bottom of the vial, so it can't buzz around. great way to get a look at the head or legs. Remove foam with tweezers when done. Good hunting all out there - Liz Day lday@gluon.phys.ufl.edu ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 23:55:19 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Moroney Subject: Re: bee mimic, and new field technique In-Reply-To: <199406290326.AA08772@world.std.com> > 1. I have seen a fly that must be a Bombus mimic - it is covered with > black and yellow (or black and yellow and orange!) fur, and forages > on flowers (seen on small thistles). It is not a robberfly. It has > huge eyes that comprise nearlythe entire head. It's the size of a > medium to small bumblebee worker. > Does anyone know what this guy is? All my books are packed away... I've heard of a fly that's called, strangely enough, a bee fly, that mimics a bee (don't know which one offhand), with orange and black stripes. Mimicry of poisonous, bad tasting or otherwise nasty insects by other insects is fairly common in the insect world. -Mike ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 00:25:16 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Moroney Subject: Re: Controlling Varroa and tracheal mites In-Reply-To: <199406281410.AA29325@world.std.com> I've seen a contraption for treating mites in a newsletter. It is a box that sits on top of a hive body amd has a hose that leads to the entrance. It supposedly works by heating the whole hive contents to 120 degrees F, and this allegedly kills all Tracheal mites and all Varroa not in the cells. Supposedly this doesn't harm the bees. Think it needs electricity available. -Mike ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Jun 1994 21:26:00 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Casey Burns Organization: TSCNET Inc. d(206)692-2388 v(206)613-0708 Subject: Thank You Blair Sampson!!! Dear Blair, Thank you so very much for your thoughtful letter on bumblebees! I am going to try to get some colonies started next spring to be able to study them. I enjoy the image of the queen keeping her brood warm like a mother hen - I have seen this in wild bumblebee hives that I have found. Regarding mite control - Apistan strips are generally used for controlling Varroa after the fact. I have found that keeping colony strength high so that bees don't get robbed by infected colonies - and by providing feed when necessary so that my bees don't rob (also helped by a strong colony) that I don't get them. There are other methods for controlling both mites that are widely discussed in Bee Culture magazine as well as the more recent books on beekeeping. Regarding oil patties - I don't use them directly - but then I paint the insides of my hive boxes sometimes with raw virgin Linseed Oil. Important note - this is NOT the same oil as what you buy in the hardware store. That oil contains cobalt salts as driers and is highly toxic. Dont Use It!. Instead, the raw oil can sometimes be found at natural food stores (Hain sells it in quarts) and at artistic supply houses such as Daniel Smith in Seattle. I make woodwind instruments and treat the wood with it and find it to be a general wood preservative. Anyway, the bees lick the insides of the hive and it might be that the extra lineolic acid they are getting from the linseed oil helps fight the mites. Also, I saw a note on the back of a recent Gardens Alive catalog that the USDA recently did a study on mites Vs. hive color - that is the color that the boxes are painted. It seems that the darker colors such as the dark blue that I have painted my hives causes the hives to be slightly warmer inside in the summer. The bees body temperature is raised a few degrees and they have a bit more of a workout in order to keep the hive temperature. Apparently, this is inimical to the mites survival. I can't remember which mite it was - probably tracheal. Anyway, hives painted white suffered an average of 85% or so infestation - while hives painted darker colors and left in full sun only experienced 15% infestation! I don't know if I am doing something right or if I am lucky. I don't have enough experience at this to really make a sound judgement.... All around me, however, beekeepers are losing most of their colonies - one Kitsap county beekeeper lost some 600 hives last year and I have heard of similar losses. Wild swarms are down. But so far my bees are doing just great and I am anticipating a good crop of honey this summer! I have a few more questions regarding raising the bumblebees.... You kindly wrote: "Put each female into her own nesting chamber a wooden box, with an inner nesting chamber of straw and an outer chamber where the bees can go out to defecate and feed from a sugar or honey water bottle...." Question regarding these boxes - are they entirely closed while the colony is establishing to keep the queen from abscondiong - or should they be provided with an enterance of some sort? You also wrote: "Otherwise, females will also be reared. Watch out for larval ejection. If the bees continue to eject viable larvae it may be a sign of worker disputes, (often when the queen losses dominance or the nest is poorly ventilated)." What do you recommend for ventilation? What size of holes and when is too much too much? Honey bees also require ventilation but in most cases accomplish some of that by fanning.... And you wrote: "there are some fine books on bumble bee biology and a few mention rearing observation hives." I have Bumble Bee Economics on reserve at the library - but what are some others? Again, I really appreciate your advice and information. Raising these bees sounds like great fun! Best wishes, Casey Burns ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 09:17:34 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Blair J. Sampson" Subject: Re: Bumble bee boxes!!! In-Reply-To: <9406290537.AA07997@ag.auburn.edu> Casey, The nest boxes for the bumble bees should have holes at both ends opposite to each other. Each hole should be about an inch in diameter, and should be sealed with strong wire mesh. A fan indoors will provide suitable ventilation. If things get a little hot or stuffy for the bees, workers will position themselves at the entrance of the nest (opening between the nesting and feeding chamber) and starting fanning vigourously. The queen should remain in the colony. If you supply her with enough honey and pollen she she'll carry on with her usual duties. When the first worker brood emerges you may continue to feed them in the colony or move them to a field with plenty of flowers. Blueberry is an excellent source of pollen for bumble bees, Unfortunately, it flowers to early in the season to benefit workers, except at higher latitudes (e.g. Northern Nova Scotia, Newfoundland). Vetch, crimson clover and cherry are other important food plants for bumble bees. Feeding bees in the boxes can be tricky, a sliding plexiglass door makes nest observation and feeding easy. To reduce the chances of worker bees getting out, especially if the colony becomes large, place a cardboard sheet with a 5 inch diameter hole cut into in. Place it over the nest chamber beneath the plastic door. Slide the door just enough so it covers most of the circle but leaves a small opening where pollen pellets may be dropped into the nest. Good luck with your bumble bees and best wishes Blair ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 09:45:03 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Blair J. Sampson" Subject: Re: bee mimic, and new field technique In-Reply-To: <9406290451.AA07893@ag.auburn.edu> I have seen many of those bumble bee-like flies in Eastern Canada. In a few cases I mistakenly followed one believing it was a Bombus impatiens worker. These flies belong to the Syrphidae, which include some of the most striking bee mimics. The Genus Mallota and Voluvella have fine yellow hairs on the thorax and the basal portion of the abdomen that resembles the pile of a bee, the remaining hairs are black or entirely lacking. The fly closely resembles a bumble bee worker. Mallota sp. and Voluvella sp. are easily distinguished from a bee, because they have large compound eyes which meet dorsally, short club-like antennae and lack of a pollen carrying basket. Bee flies (Family: Bombylidae) are easily distinguished from Syrphids by a long proboscis which may be as long as the body. Best Wishes, Blair Blair Sampson Dept. of Entomology Auburn University Alabama 36849-5413 bsampson@ag.auburn.edu ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 12:11:58 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Resent-From: lars chittka From: lars chittka hi everybody I have a new paper on uv signals in flowers and the perception of such signals by bees. Since that appeared in a journal that is probably rarely read by entomologists (Vision Research), I will announce it here. The reference is Chittka et al. (1994) Ultraviolet as a component of flower reflections, and the colour perception of Hymenoptera. Vision Research 34: 1489-1508. Please address reprint requests to Lars Chittka Ecology and Evolution State University of New York Stony Brook NY 11794-5245 USA And remember, the nicest stamps buy the nicest reprints !! Also, I have a question: I recently discovered an abstract in American Zoologist 32: 12a (1992) Ultraviolet reflectance of flowers and feeding behavior of nocturnal hawkmoths, by White, Stevenson, Haber (U Mass, Boston) and Haber (Missouri Bot Garden). Does anybody have the complete coordinates of these people? ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 29 Jun 1994 16:49:48 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Blair J. Sampson" Subject: Re: Bumble bee books In-Reply-To: <9406290537.AA07997@ag.auburn.edu> Casey, There is a book entitled "Bumblebees" by Oliver Prys-Jones and Sarah Corbet. It includes sections on bumble bee nesting behaviour and the establishment of captive colonies. It also contains a good key to the bumble bees and discusses interactions between bumble bees and natural enemies which is very useful if you plan to relocate your colonies outdoors. I believe it was published in 1987 by Cambridge University Press. Sincerely, Blair ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 09:49:27 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: David Clayton Subject: Re: Mites >Posted on 27 Jun 1994 at 17:35:17 by Uriacc Mailer (002033) > >Re: Mites > >Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 14:08:45 -0700 >Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology >From: Chris Laughbon > >----- Begin Included Message ----- > >Any advise? How do you inspect for vorroa mites? > >Thanks, >Chris Our local bee inspector has taught us to do an "ether roll" to check for Varroa. Using a large jar (mayonnaise jar), scoop about 300 bees (a reasonable pile) from the brood chamber. Using an ether spray (from your local automotive store--sold as starter fluid), euthanize the bees in the jar with a spray of ether, put the lid on and roll the jar. Regurgitated honey coats the glass and the mites stick to the honey and can be easily seen. The mites appear as red pin head sized dots. The recommended count of 300 bees is sort of a minimum sample size for good randomness. Hope this helps. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- David Clayton; Academic Computing "On the larger scale of history, the U. of Rhode Island; Kingston, RI 02881 scythe is really only a few steps Internet: dclayton@uriacc.uri.edu away from the computer." -Living at the End of Time ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 10:06:56 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Diana Sammataro Subject: Mite control APistan strips plus a sticky board are effective control agents for the Varroa mites (follow label directions). The reserach we have done with oil patties (or extender patties) has should a continuous treatment of Crisco/sugar patties is an excellent way of reducing mite infestation levels. Paper to be published Aug. 94 in J. of Economic Ent. If you have particular questions, I would be happy to answer them DIana Sammataro ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 07:55:50 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Teri Rhan {FMO} Subject: Re: Mite control In-Reply-To: <9406301413.AA15204@mx1.cac.washington.edu> Could I get some more information on the oil and/or crisco/sugar patties? What is in them, how are they made, where are they placed, how often do they need to be replaced typically, etc. Thanks Teri On Thu, 30 Jun 1994, Diana Sammataro wrote: > APistan strips plus a sticky board are effective control agents for the > Varroa mites (follow label directions). > > The reserach we have done with oil patties (or extender patties) has should a > continuous treatment of Crisco/sugar patties is an excellent way of reducing > mite infestation levels. Paper to be published Aug. 94 in J. of Economic Ent. > If you have particular questions, I would be happy to answer them > > DIana Sammataro > ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 13:43:00 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jeff Frontz Subject: Places of interest I'll be driving from central Ohio to Alaska, via Vancouver, and would like to stop at interesting bee- and honey-related spots along the way. If you know of any interesting places to visit (e.g., bee/honey museums; large, friendly apiaries; meaderies; migratory beekeeper watering holes; woodenware factories; wax rendering plants; etc.), especially those in the central & western U.S. and Canada, could you drop me a line? If I get any replies, I'll send a summary to the list. Thanks, Jeff -- jhf@febpc.cmhnet.org ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 14:01:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul van Westendorp 576-5600 Fax: 576-5652" Subject: Re: Places of interest Jeff, If you are planning to drive through the northern parts of the Canadian prairies (instead of Can. Rockies first and then northward) you will pass through the Peace River country in northern Alberta and British Columbia. The Peace may be considered the best honey producing area in the world (primary flow lasting perhaps 6-8 weeks resulting in crops of 200, 300, and sometimes over 400 lbs/colony!!). I recommend you visit french-speaking Falher (named itself Honey Capital of Canada). For contacting commercial operators in the area, call Doug Colter, Chief Inspector, at (403) 837-2211. In Fairview, there is the Agriculture College that offers professional training in commercial beekeeping (403) 835-6633. A highly successful program that offers training to overseas students as well. Then, closer to the BC border, there is the Agriculture Canada Research Station at Beaverlodge. This is among the most important apicultural research facilities in Canada (403) 354-2212. Then following the Highway westward, one reaches Dawson Creek in British Columbia with 'Mile 0" of the Alaska Highway (it is another 1523 miles before you can enjoy the nightlife of Fairbanks!. Bring some spare tires because some sections are not paved). On your way north, stop-over at North-Peace Apiaries right on the Highway (left side, you can't miss it, just before entering Fort St. John). It is a large commercial operation that has established its fame with the commercial production of pollen. (Of course, they have honey too.) Beyond Fort St. John, wilderness starts. By the time you get to Fairbanks, you may wish to contact a highly enthusiastic beekeeper who formed the Interior Alaska Beekeepers Association some years ago. Call Stephen Petersen at (907) 457-2440. Have a wonderful trip. Bring your veil because there are plenty of mosquitos in some areas in the summer. Paul van Westendorp PVANWESTEN@galaxy.gov.bc.ca Provincial Apiculturist ph. (604) 576-5639 BC Ministry of Agriculture, fx. (604) 576-5652 Fisheries & Food ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 30 Jun 1994 15:02:00 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Kerry Clark 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299" Subject: Re: Places of interest Let me know when you get closer. I'm at Mile 0 of the Canada-Alaska Highway. Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET KCLARK@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA