Subject: File: "BEE-L LOG9703A" To: "W. Allen Dick" Resent-From: Resent-Date: Wed, 12 Mar 97 19:00:50 EST Resent-To: allend@mail1.internode.net Message-Id: <02052992206961@systronix.net> ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 01:08:40 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael C Dooley Subject: Re: Book: *A Beekeepers Year* In-Reply-To: <19970228.171406.18471.0.screasy@juno.com> from "Steven A. Creasy" at Feb 28, 97 05:10:24 pm Content-Type: text/plain > > Steve Creasy- (\ > Maryville, Tennessee USA {|||8- > Proverbs 24:13,25:16 (/ > Fun to look up the Proverbs -- I hate to think how much honey 25:16 would apply to, though . . . ! Mike D. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 20:53:51 -0900 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jerry Fries Subject: Re: Pollen subsitute Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Yes Please I would love a good recipe Thanks Jerry Fries ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 01:24:33 -0600 Reply-To: dvisrael@earthlink.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Worker Bee Subject: [Fwd: Spring Build up] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: message/news Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Path: nntp.earthlink.net!usenet From: Worker Bee Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Spring Build up Date: Sat, 01 Mar 1997 01:17:30 -0600 Organization: Earthlink Network, Inc. Message-ID: <3317D80A.4A21@earthlink.net> Reply-To: dvisrael@earthlink.net NNTP-Posting-Host: ip242.rocky-mount.nc.pub-ip.psi.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Win16; I) It is way too early here in eastern NC for the bees to have built up so much. I looked in on a couple of hives yesterday and they are really on their way. If we get a really cold snap, I'm sure that we'll lose some brood. I added a deep super with foundation to each to give them some room to grow. The hive with a store bought queen(96 to replace a swarm queen that was not mated) had several uncapped queen cells up high on the combs. I'm not sure why, but I'll keep an eye on them. There was one funny looking capped cell that was larger than a drone cell but not nearly large enough for a queen cell. I broke it open. I also found a very large number of newly built drone cells in the shallow super where last year they were worker cells. It was a super with wired foundation that was full of honey for the winter. The two I opened yesterday have the plastic frames that really keep the drone cells down. The bees do not glue these plastic frames to the rails. Great. NO way!!!. The problem is that the little honeys build comb on it up to the next racks, fill it with drone cells and glue it to the upper racks. When lifting the upper box all the plastic frames lift also and have to be very carefully broken loose and lowered back into place. Not only is it a royal pain, but the queen could be rolled and hurt. Does anyone have a solution or seen a similar problem? I have a peach tree in full bloom and have not seen a single honey bee on a bloom and I have 3 hived not 200 feet from it. Last year, my bees did not work the blueberries. Thanks Don ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 01:39:42 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ian Watson Subject: Re: Pollen subsitute In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Fri, 28 Feb 1997, Jerry Fries wrote: > Yes Please I would love a good recipe Thanks Jerry Fries Hi I would also be interested in the latest information about pollen substitues. Up here in the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario Canada, I'm pretty sure the queens have started laying, but the crocus and maple pollen will not be here for quite a while. So I think it would be a good idea to give the bees some help in case they dont have a lot of stored pollen in the cells. Thanks @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ Ian Watson @ @ iwatson@freenet.npiec.on.ca @ @ @ @ THREE BEES: @ @ Bach singer ,/// @ @ Bee keeper >8'III}- @ @ Bell ringer ',\\\ @ @ @ @ 5 hives, 2 years in Beekeeping @ @ St. Catharines, Canada @ @ "I BEE, therefore I am" @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 02:56:05 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MIDNITEBEE Subject: Fw: bee identification MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ Greetings:I received this message and I am hoping someone can help me I.D. this "bee" Thanks-Midnitebee(Herb) Was it the midnitebee?:)) > Subject: bee identification > Date: Friday, February 28, 1997 8:17 PM > > Hi! Maybe you can help? We live in Penna. Last year we had some large bees > visit us. They were probably at least an 1" long. The size was amazing to us > as well as the fact that we would see them mostly at night on our back porch > buzzing the lights like a moth. Although they were very scary they never > attacked us and eventually we stopped seeing them. They did not have fuzz on > their bodies. They were actually a pretty color. Kind of a rich rust color. I > saw one on vacation once on the skyline drive in WV. Do you have any ideas? > I'd like to think they're not as dangerous as they look. If you could educate > us we would appreciate it. If not, Thanks anyway! ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 03:04:29 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Brian Gant <106213.3313@compuserve.com> Subject: drone brood culling Drone brood culling I hope we shall see more discussion of this topic, has there been any serious evaluation of the technique as a means of limiting the growth of varroa populations? Apologies for the length of this post, I would be glad to receive comments. For the last two years I have made up some UK National brood frames with horizontal bars about two thirds of the way down; the upper part was fitted with normal worker foundation and the lower part left empty. Early in the 1996 season one or two of these frames were placed just outside the brood nest in two colonies and the bees duly filled the empty space with drone comb. Between the end of May and the end of July, during the usual inspections, if this drone comb was largely capped I cut it out and the bees obliged by refilling it so that the process could be repeated. I was then able to open a sample of the drone cells and count the mites which were found. By measuring the total area of capped cells I then made an estimate of the total number of mites which I had removed from the colony. The results were disappointing, in three cases I found no mites the other samples gave estimated totals removed of 26, 38 and 115 varroa. At the end of September the hives were treated with Bayvarol and the two test colonies produced 702 and 1282 mites, as counted on the floor below a 3mm wire screen. Curiously the control colony which had no drone culling ended up with only 663 mites although it had a rather higher infestation at the start of the season, as measured by natural mite mortality. All three colonies were kept in the same apiary for most of the season. The sample is small and I do not think that the actual numbers are significant. But I feel safe in deducing that in my situation this method of controlling varroa, as described above, is not effective. At the end of the season I need to treat anyway and little is gained by taking out a small number of mites earlier. This may be because I seem to be in a situation now where there is very little reinfestation from untreated colonies in the area. It would be an advantage if I could slow the growth to such an extent that I needed to treat only every other year, but I am not there yet. I suggest that there are also some disadvantages to drone culling. I believe there is a loss of worker brood area, although it has been suggested that giving a drone comb area reduces the amount of drone comb drawn elsewhere. I have not noticed this and I find it difficult to believe that workers on one comb remember that there is a big area of drone comb several frames away. It is possible that they draw drone comb if there are not many drones in the hive, in which case culling drone larvae will encourage them to build more drone comb. Does anyone know what stimulates workers in an ordinary colony to take down worker cells and build drone cells? Culling drone brood may also give a selection pressure for varroa which prefer worker cells; this would be a change for the worse, though the results above suggest that relatively few varroa actually find their way into drone cells anyway. Maybe in a situation where the number of varroa build up to harmful levels more quickly drone culling is a useful method for limiting the damage, especially the damage due to the spread of viruses. So back to my initial question - does anyone know? Have any large scale trials been done? Brian Gant Buckfast, UK ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 06:09:02 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: James Morton <106074.517@compuserve.com> Subject: Fw: bee identification Message text written by Discussion of Bee Biology >Greetings:I received this message and I am hoping someone can help me I.D. this "bee" They were probably at least an 1" long. The size was amazing to us as well as the fact that we would see them mostly at night on our back porch buzzing the lights like a moth. Although they were very scary they never attacked us and eventually we stopped seeing them. They did not have fuzz on their bodies. They were actually a pretty color. Kind of a rich rust color.< The bald bodies, large size and nocturnal activity suggest to me that they were not bees at all. In Europe, my guess would be the hornet Vespa crabo. Is this species is present in the US? James Morton London UK ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 13:25:08 GMT Reply-To: Tim_Sterrett@westtown.edu Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tim Sterrett Organization: Westtown School Subject: Nosema Spring treatment for nosema. Anybody have advice? I live in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, where bees have already been out foraging on skunk cabbage, crocus, and winter aconite. (Yes, I know we may have a snowstorm in March!) Should I treat with with Fumidil B in the spring? Tim Tim Sterrett Westtown, (Southeastern) Pennsylvania, USA tim_sterrett@westtown.edu ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 10:52:40 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ian Watson Subject: Re: drone brood culling In-Reply-To: <199703010304_MC2-11EB-DE88@compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 1 Mar 1997, Brian Gant wrote: > At the end of September the hives were treated with Bayvarol and the two > test colonies produced 702 and 1282 mites, as counted on the floor below > a 3mm wire screen. Curiously the control colony which > had no drone culling ended up with only 663 mites although it had a rather > higher infestation at the start of the season, as measured by natural mite > mortality. All three colonies were kept in the same apiary for most of the > season. The sample is small and I do not think that the actual numbers are > significant. But I feel safe in deducing that in my situation this method > of controlling varroa, as described above, is not effective. Brian, maybe your control colony has hygenic behavior? @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ Ian Watson @ @ iwatson@freenet.npiec.on.ca @ @ @ @ THREE BEES: @ @ Bach singer ,/// @ @ Bee keeper >8'III}- @ @ Bell ringer ',\\\ @ @ @ @ 5 hives, 2 years in Beekeeping @ @ St. Catharines, Canada @ @ "I BEE, therefore I am" @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 11:26:42 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ian Watson Subject: Re: Fw: bee identification In-Reply-To: <199703010609_MC2-11EA-3648@compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 1 Mar 1997, James Morton wrote: > They were probably at least an 1" long. The size was amazing to > us as well as the fact that we would see them mostly at night on our back > porch buzzing the lights like a moth. Although they were very scary they > never > attacked us and eventually we stopped seeing them. They did not have fuzz > on their bodies. They were actually a pretty color. Kind of a rich rust > color.< > > The bald bodies, large size and nocturnal activity suggest to me that they > were not bees at all. In Europe, my guess would be the hornet Vespa crabo. > Is this species is present in the US? These actually sound like what we call June Bugs here in Canada. They buzz around the lights at night and make quite a noise. Also June Bugs have a similar colour. But they arent a bee or even a Vespa as far as I know. I think they are in the beetle family. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ Ian Watson @ @ iwatson@freenet.npiec.on.ca @ @ @ @ THREE BEES: @ @ Bach singer ,/// @ @ Bee keeper >8'III}- @ @ Bell ringer ',\\\ @ @ @ @ 5 hives, 2 years in Beekeeping @ @ St. Catharines, Canada @ @ "I BEE, therefore I am" @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 11:37:50 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael C Dooley Subject: Re: drone brood culling In-Reply-To: from "Ian Watson" at Mar 1, 97 10:52:40 am Content-Type: text/plain > @ "I BEE, therefore I am" @ > @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ > Ah yes, Ebonics. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 11:42:31 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ian Watson Subject: Re: drone brood culling In-Reply-To: <199703011637.LAA66645@pilot21.cl.msu.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 1 Mar 1997, Michael C Dooley wrote: > > @ "I BEE, therefore I am" @ > > @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ > > Ah yes, Ebonics. Ah No, That would be what we like to call a "play on words", otherwise known as "humour".... @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ Ian Watson @ @ iwatson@freenet.npiec.on.ca @ @ @ @ THREE BEES: @ @ Bach singer ,/// @ @ Bee keeper >8'III}- @ @ Bell ringer ',\\\ @ @ @ @ 5 hives, 2 years in Beekeeping @ @ St. Catharines, Canada @ @ "I BEE, therefore I am" @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 11:50:03 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Robert Watson Subject: Re: drone brood culling In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII > On Sat, 1 Mar 1997, Michael C Dooley wrote: > > > @ "I BEE, therefore I am" @ > > > @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ > > Ah yes, Ebonics. Then Ian Watson wrote: > Ah No, That would be what we like to call a "play on words", otherwise > known as "humour".... > > @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ I thought would it bee:"Apisonics".... ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 12:06:54 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: PondSite Subject: Re: Eighty Six and Wide Open for a Freeze MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Just got back from the South Carolina beekeepers spring meeting, to sunshine and 80f in BarnwellSC, and peachs and plums are in full bloom here. Remember last year, we lost all our peachs and plums because of just this kind of weather. It is going to freeze at least once more, here. At least it is nice while it lasts. all bees flying. Walt ---------- > From: David Green > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Eighty Six and Wide Open for a Freeze > Date: Thursday, February 27, 1997 7:14 PM > > Florence, South Carolina broke the all-time temperature record for ANY > date in February today at 86 degrees. Pears have been blooming for a week, > and peaches are opening. > > Honey is pouring in, and strong hives are capping new honey. Anise > hyssop, redbud, wild mustard and many other flowers are in full bloom. This > is the earliest spring I have ever seen. Global warming? > > But I am starting to chew my fingernails. We could easily get a serious > freeze, which would now severely damage all hardwood flower buds, and could > wipe out fruit. Bees would be hurt bad. > > We must now pray for mild weather all through. > > I pulled off a little of this new honey, before it gets eaten or > contaminated by later blossom. I wish I had a small hand extractor, because > there won't be more than 30 or 40 pounds, and it's hard to clear the lines > for that. But it is VERY nice tasting honey, so we'll probably pack it in > little jars, as long as it holds out, assuming we can figure out a way to > extract it. > > BTW, we would be interested in obtaining some cherry honey, which is one > of the best honeys made, but is usually consumed by bees in build up. Anyone > who is in a cherry orchard; I'd be glad to pay top dollar for a pail or two, > and I can give you some tips on how to get some to save. > > Apple blossom is a little easier, as bloom is later and longer, but we'd > love to get some of that too. > > Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green, PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC > 29554 (Dave & Jan's Pollination Service, Pot o'Gold Honey Co.) > > Pollination for lay people, students, teachers > ....Of bees, beekeepers, and food > http://users.aol.com/queenbjan/primbees.htm > > Pollination for the pros - those involved in doing it: > Practical Pollination Home Page Dave & Janice Green > http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html > > Jan's Sweetness and Light Varietal Honeys and Gift Sets > http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 09:30:52 -0800 Reply-To: mwr@hotcity.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Reddell Subject: Re: Mites on bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Steve Duncan wrote: > > Hello Everyone, > > We are looking for bees for an SEM segment in a film we are just > finishing. We were originally using honey-bees with Varroa mites on > them (the point of the shot was to show a relationship between one > creature and another). For various technical reasons, and the fact > that > we found the destructive element of Varroa to deter from our point, we > are not using these. This leaves us in quite a predicament, because we > still have the same deadline and no specimens! > We looked at Acarapis, but they were also not suitable. > Can anyone suggest a species that we can use that would look similar to > the honey bee, but have phoretic mites that were not destructive. They > do not have to be native to Canada or the US. We do need to get a hold > of samples (bees with mites attached) as soon as possible. We are > happy > to pay for the samples, or make a donation to a research fund or > university if direct payment is awkward. > You can contact me directly at the e-mail address below. > Thanks very much. > > Steve. I have no idea how to go about getting specimens but the native host of varroa in south east Asia seems like a possibility. They have coexisted with varroa for a long time. Is anyone out there doing research with them? Michael Reddell mwr@hotcity.com http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 12:56:58 -0500 Reply-To: Pat@Lynchburg.Net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Pat Barrett Organization: Way Of Grace Fellowship Subject: Top Bar Hive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am new to this list,and do not know much about bees yet. I was wondering if someone could direct me to information on building top bar hives. Thank you. -- Pat Barrett This is the day that the LORD has made, rejoice and be glad in it! http://members.tripod.com/~Pats_Soap ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 14:15:55 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Kirk Jones Subject: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi all, I'm having problems with ants in Florida(first year)killing off my queen mating nucs that I'm trying to get going. I wondered if I spread some powdered sugar and borax around if it would be attractive to bees too? Any simple answers out there on the Bee-L? *Kirk Jones/ Sleeping Bear Apiaries /971 S. Pioneer Rd./Beulah,MI 49617 *Sharon Jones/ BeeDazzled Candleworks /6289 River Rd./ Benzonia, MI 49616 e-mail b-man@aliens.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 13:11:15 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "James C. King" Subject: Plastic Frame Problems Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Yesterday Don wrote that he was having a problem with Plastic frames. The bees built comb on the frame tops making separation of a super above difficult. I don't know if these were Pierco frames, but I have had the same problem with Pierco's. In fact, I have the plastic frames mixed in with conventional wood frames, and only one or two plastic frames will caused the supers to stick together. The plastic frames must be individually separated from the frames above to separate the supers. I have talked to Nick at Pierco about this. Apparently there is no solution. It is not a problem caused by inappropriate frame spacing, but just an idiosyncrasy of the Pierco frame. Perhaps any plastic frame? Jim King, Riegelsville, PA ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 13:30:43 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs On Sat, 1 Mar 1997 14:15:55 -0400 Kirk Jones writes: >Hi all, > >I'm having problems with ants in Florida...... Hi Kirk: Awhile ago there were some discussions about how to take care of ants around hives. I recall one that talked about putting some ant poison inside a jar, punching holes with a certain size nail (a size big enough for ants to get through and too small for bees, and then putting this underneath the hive tilted slightly downward. I am sure that others will come back on BEE-L with some of the other methods previously mentionned. There were quite a few suggested. Al Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"-- Educational Program About Honey Bees With A Superb Slide Show-Version 2.1 (c) 1997 Download From Sweden At : http://www.kuai.se/~beeman ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 19:50:11 +0200 Reply-To: Anders.Hakansson@kristianstad.mail.telia.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Anders Hakansson Subject: Re: Entrances MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sid Pullinger wrote: > Warm way is when the combs are parallel to the entrance.... > Cold way is when the combs are at right angles to the entrance... > Wherever beekeepers gather the argument arises -- which is the > better way. So far no one has come up with a convincing reason > for either. Cold way is more common among wild bees than warm way. Is that a concincing reason? Anders Hakansson Ryttmastarevagen 12 SE-291 77 GARDS KOPINGE SWEDEN ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 15:00:32 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MR MARK G SPAGNOLO Subject: pollen pattie recipe Hi: Because of the huge number of requests for my pollen pattie recipe, I have decided to post it to the You will notice that this is recipe uses a 50 lb bag of brewers' yeast. We mix this in a commercial morter mixer and fill a 100 gallon water trough with two loads. I would imagine you might want to divide the recipe into a more managable size. By adding more or less sugar syrup you can make softer or harder patties. The most important ingredient is the pollen. Without the pollen the bees will not eat the pattie. Good luck! Pollen Pattie Recipe Ingredients: 2 - 5 gallon buckets of sugar syrup fill to 4" from top 40 oz. of pollen 50 lbs brewers' yeast Mix for 3 minutes. Form into 1 1/2 lb. patties and put in wax paper bag. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 16:45:47 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "" Subject: Re: Book: *A Beekeepers Year* FYI Wicwas Press has the book, A Beekeepers Year, in stock. The price is $16.95 and $2.50 for book rate mail and $3.90 priority mail. Larry Connor Wicwas Press PO Box 817 Cheshire CT 06410 You may want to phone and leave your Visa/Mastercard info at 203 250 7575 if you do not like to leave cc info on the internet. L ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 16:55:39 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Bruce Bond Subject: UK beekeeper visits USA/ Florida Mar 97 Hi, my name is Bruce Bond and I,m a keen beekeeper from Somerset here in the UK. My interests extend to all things BEE and I have an extensive (over 100) of honey pots. I am coming to the States on 3 March for an extended vacation, starting at Orlando, travelling to Texas and the Rio Grand before flying back home from Orlando on !st April. I would be interested in having a chat with anyone who shares my interests during my visits. Time is short and I don't have e-mail myself - yet! Replies can be sent to my Techno-brother Paul who has agreed to forward them to mestraight away by phone. His e-mail address is BEEZ4RUS@AOL.COM Looking forward to meeting some of you soon Bruce Bond ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 17:21:54 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael C Dooley Subject: Re: Book: *A Beekeepers Year* In-Reply-To: <970301164547_-971061791@emout20.mail.aol.com> from "<@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU:owner-bee-l@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU>" at Mar 1, 97 04:45:47 pm Content-Type: text/plain > > FYI > Wicwas Press has the book, A Beekeepers Year, in stock. The price is $16.95 > and $2.50 for book rate mail and $3.90 priority mail. > Larry Connor > Wicwas Press > PO Box 817 > Cheshire CT 06410 > You may want to phone and leave your Visa/Mastercard info at 203 250 7575 if > you do not like to leave cc info on the internet. > L > I found it in Iowa City Public Library, too, if anybody's interested in that route. Mike Dooley ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 17:21:50 +0000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Richard Drutchas Organization: Bee Haven Honey Subject: Re: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit hey kirk the ants are actually wiping out two frame nucs? I bought some hives from an old timer once that kept borax on a solid inner cover to keep the ants off the top. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 19:23:02 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: bartlett Subject: Re: bee identification Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit sounds like the english hornet probably or could be a cicada killer (wasp) They can sting but like most stinging insects, if you don't bother them they don't bother you. ---------- > From: MIDNITEBEE > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Fw: bee identification > Date: 28 fivrier, 1997 23:56 > > http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ > Greetings:I received this message and I am hoping someone can help me I.D. > this "bee" > Thanks-Midnitebee(Herb) > Was it the midnitebee?:)) > > > Subject: bee identification > > Date: Friday, February 28, 1997 8:17 PM > > > > Hi! Maybe you can help? We live in Penna. Last year we had some large > bees > > visit us. They were probably at least an 1" long. The size was amazing to > us > > as well as the fact that we would see them mostly at night on our back > porch > > buzzing the lights like a moth. Although they were very scary they never > > attacked us and eventually we stopped seeing them. They did not have fuzz > on > > their bodies. They were actually a pretty color. Kind of a rich rust > color. I > > saw one on vacation once on the skyline drive in WV. Do you have any > ideas? > > I'd like to think they're not as dangerous as they look. If you could > educate > > us we would appreciate it. If not, Thanks anyway! ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 21:14:19 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Mike Worrell Subject: Re: question: ground corn as a pollen substitute I am looking for a report and formula using Maverick with the use of plywood blocks that originated in Israel, Would appreciate any help. Thanks. Mike ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 02:14:19 GMT Reply-To: Tim_Sterrett@westtown.edu Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tim Sterrett Organization: Westtown School Subject: Division Board Feeders Questions about using division board feeders: They seem to be wider than one frame. Do people use them as a tenth frame with nine other brood comb frames? They are advertised as having "horizontal serrations" so bees can crawl up and down the sides. Should I float a piece of wood in them as well? Can I set the division board feeder alone in an empty deep hive body on top of the colony for warmish weather feeding? Or does the feeder have to be tucked in with other frames? Thanks, Tim Tim Sterrett Westtown, (Southeastern) Pennsylvania, USA tim_sterrett@westtown.edu ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 22:37:20 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Brian Tassey Subject: Re: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs & Bear Fences Kirk, This is going to sound strange but I took a part of the advice from someone on the list and made a paste using old melter honey, borax soap, powdered sugar and water. I kept the borax at about 10% (like most commercial poisons) and made it the consistency of thin lube grease put it in a cheap air grease gun ($20.00) and using the thin pencil like tip I use for my chainsaw I injected it into drinking straws. If the tip fits the straw you can place it well inside and shoot it in till 2" from the end and pull it out so that it's 2" from the other end also. I've put these on my pallets in the yards that are traditionally ant problems and it works so far. I run Myers clips on my pallet so there is a 3/8-1/2" gap between the boxes and that's where I've dropped a straw between each box (2/pallet). You can fill quite a few straws with one gun load and very fast too. FWIW If your a real cheapskate you can refill the old straw after you dig it out. No apparent problem with the bees. I also need some advice on building a electric bear fence. Is it the same as a fence for cows or is the configuration different. I've picked up some new locations that had bear sightings within a mile last year. These are good ones so I'd like to risk keeping out the bears. Thanks! Brian Tassey Atwater, CA Kaykin@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 19:52:06 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Roy Nettlebeck Subject: Re: Brewers' Yeast Comments: To: Allen Dick In-Reply-To: <23374302301299@internode.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Wed, 26 Feb 1997, Allen Dick wrote: > It's feeding time again, and I'm wondering about brewers' Yeast. > > I notice that it is recommended in some formulae and not in others. When > I went to purchase, I find that there is a variety of price on the market, > and a variety of colour. > > I wonder if anyone on the list has had any experience with different > kinds of brewers'yeasts and if any are actually harmful (say the ones that > are dried at high temoperatures). > > And while I am asking, has anyone actually experimented to see if Mann > Lake's BeePro is any better than soy flour with or without brewers' yeast? > > I dutifully read the section in the Hive and the Honeybee, and all I could > really conclude is that bees will eat just about anything and that any > given formula will work sometimes and apparently not others. > > Has anyone some real answers on this? > Hi Allen and All, I used a 50 pound bag of Coors brewers yeast and did not kill my bees. I mixed it with Bee Pro and pollen plus some honey when I made pattys. I dry feed it in Febuary if I can get a few good days. I want to push for early drones so I can do queens.I would stay away from soy flower in any high % of the mixture.For me 20% is tops. Thats why I use bee Pro as a base. Steve Taber did a paper on the problems with soy flower in the digestive system of the Bee. If the bees can get out and fly it is not as bad of a problem as feeding them in the hive, and there inability to get out and have a cleansing flight. I feel that honey in the patty will help the bee to digest the soy flower.Maybe not much but it is what the bees can handle with ease. Now I have a question. What test can you do to check if you have good corn syurp.I can get some at a good price , but my little ladies have to get only something good.I can get it tested but I need to know what we are looking for in bad corn syurp. Best Regards Roy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 21:49:12 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Corn Syrup MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > Now I have a question. What test can you do to check if you have good > corn syurp. I can get some at a good price , but my little ladies have > to get only something good.I can get it tested but I need to know what we > are looking for in bad corn syurp. >From what I can understand of the results of recent investigations, there are *many* ways to make bad corn syrup, but if you stick to on-spec HFCS, you should be okay, especially for spring feed. First, let's be sure to call it 'HFCS' (High Fructose Corn Syrup), not just 'corn syrup'. There are many syrups, and this is the *one* that is good -- if it is made to specs. To get good syrup you need *HFCS type 55* that meets the following criteria: 1. Syrup that is first class, not off-spec 2. Syrup that has been produced by enzymatic inversion, *not* acid hydroysis 3. Syrup that is white like water -- no colour 4. Syrup that the seller will warrant for bee feed and is willing to provide specs for. Get it in writing. What may indicate problems: 1. pH under 5.0 -- the closer to 7, the better. Reduce to 40% sugars and test with a garden soil acidity tester kit. A bee's gut is pH 6 2. HMF (hyrdromethyfurfural) readings under 40 PPM (at 120 PPM, HMF becomes toxic, and FWIW, 8 year old honey can run 800 PPM HMF) 3. Any significant amount of colour when in a sample jar is bad news. In caged bee studies, nothing matches sucrose syrup for bee survival, but the on-spec HFCS was a lot better than the off-spec stuff, which was lethal. Off-spec is normally sold for animal feed, and should never be fed to bees, particularly those that are confined. Free flying bees, and those that have other food can tolerate off-spec syrup better, but, what the heck -- why gamble with your livelihood? Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 01:26:50 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MIDNITEBEE Subject: bee diseases & prevention MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ I have added a new link,located at my Beelinks page entitled"Bee Diseases & Prevention".IMHO,this would be good information for first time beekeepers or others who are interested in Maine beekeeping techniques. Midnitebee(Herb) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 02:03:08 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: David Green Subject: Re: Treated Lumber for Orchard Bee Nesting Blocks In a message dated 97-02-28 14:23:52 EST, SYSAM@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU (Aaron Morris) writes: << I agree with John Spalding's assessment of building a nesting block for blue orchard mason bees in treated lumber. That is, don't do it! I have absolutely no scientific data for this OPINION other than a greenie aversion to treated lumber. >> Ask for the info sheet at the lumber yard. They usually won't give it to you unless you ask. The last one I looked at, specifically said not to use in beehives, in any place where bees would come in contact with it. Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green, PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC 29554 (Dave & Jan's Pollination Service, Pot o'Gold Honey Co.) Pollination for lay people, students, teachers ....Of bees, beekeepers, and food http://users.aol.com/queenbjan/primbees.htm Pollination for the pros - those involved in doing it: Practical Pollination Home Page Dave & Janice Green http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html Jan's Sweetness and Light Varietal Honeys and Gift Sets http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 00:09:22 -0800 Reply-To: mwr@hotcity.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Reddell Subject: Re: Division Board Feeders MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Tim Sterrett wrote: > > Questions about using division board feeders: > > They seem to be wider than one frame. Do people use them as a tenth > frame with nine other brood comb frames? > > They are advertised as having "horizontal serrations" so bees can > crawl up and down the sides. Should I float a piece of wood in them as well? > Division board feeders are designed to take the place of 2 frames. I don't use them much in California, but when I was in Seattle I did. I floated thin flat strips of wood in them because the bees tended to fall off the "horizontal serrations" into the syrup otherwise. They work pretty well in colder climates. They put 3/4 of a gallon of syrup right in the brood chamber and the bees can take it up as fast as they want to. If the weather is a bit too cool to open the hive to refill them you can slide the inner cover over just enough to pour the syrup without exposing the frames. (Always put the feeder against one side of the box.) Michael Reddell mwr@hotcity.com http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 06:22:04 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John Beck Subject: Feral Bees Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" As a new beekeeper, I've been very interested in the discussion on parasites. As I understand it, the feral bee population in the US has been decimated by the infestation of mites. Would it be safe to assume that surviving colonies might have built up some resistance? Has anyone had any experience with this? John ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 08:05:12 -0600 Reply-To: Charles Harper Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Charles Harper Subject: Re: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Sat, 1 Mar 1997 14:15:55 -0400, Kirk Jones wrote: >Hi all, > >I'm having problems with ants in Florida(first year)killing off my queen >mating nucs that I'm trying to get going. > >I wondered if I spread some powdered sugar and borax around if it would be >attractive to bees too? > >Any simple answers out there on the Bee-L? > >*Kirk Jones/ Sleeping Bear Apiaries /971 S. Pioneer Rd./Beulah,MI 49617 >*Sharon Jones/ BeeDazzled Candleworks /6289 River Rd./ Benzonia, MI 49616 > e-mail b-man@aliens.com > Try YARDEX it is labeled for ants and fleas in yards acative ingerdient is the same as APISTAN charlie@iamerica.net ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 08:27:37 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ed Levi Subject: Re: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >hey kirk the ants are actually wiping out two frame nucs? I bought some >hives from an old timer once that kept borax on a solid inner cover to >keep the ants off the top. I heard that this will kill entire ant colonies and I ridded my house of ants last year trying it: Mix alittle jam or jelley with borax and pack it into sections of soda straws. The ants will empty the straws taking the party back home to share. Seems like this could work around a few hives also? When someone tries it, please let us know. Ed Levi Mountain View, AR, US ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 09:29:19 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: David Green Subject: Re: Division Board Feeders Comments: To: Tim_Sterrett@westtown.edu In a message dated 97-03-01 21:37:56 EST, Tim_Sterrett@westtown.edu (Tim Sterrett) write: << Questions about using division board feeders: They seem to be wider than one frame. Do people use them as a tenth frame with nine other brood comb frames?>> It is easier to use them with 8 frames. If you stick one in as the 10th frame, you have to have well cleaned frames, because it will be tight. I used to have a bunch of singles made up more or less permanantly with a feeder. But to pull out a frame in an existing hive and stick in a feeder is difficult. It's hard to clean up the propolis of all the frame shoulders with bees in it. You usually mash a few bees (might be the queen). << They are advertised as having "horizontal serrations" so bees can crawl up and down the sides. Should I float a piece of wood in them as well?>> I think that's a good idea. Or a little pine straw. Anything to help keep bees from drowning. << Can I set the division board feeder alone in an empty deep hive body on top of the colony for warmish weather feeding? Or does the feeder have to be tucked in with other frames? >> I'm putting a deep with assorted comb and foundation over strong singles right now. Each one has a division board feeder, followed by a frame of comb, followed by foundation or alternative foundation and comb. The last one on the wall is always comb. They never will draw foundation as well, in the wall position. If you have foundation in that position, you need to go back and trade the wall foundation with a drawn center comb, ASAP. A lot of times they will build brace comb to the wall, thus ruining the foundation. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 08:32:06 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: Division Board Feeders MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > They seem to be wider than one frame. Do people use them as a tenth > frame with nine other brood comb frames? Yes. Or with one on either side of 8 or 9 frames. > They are advertised as having "horizontal serrations" so bees can crawl > up and down the sides. Should I float a piece of wood in them as well? Yes, and use 67% syrup to avoid drowning (and fermentation). Thin syrup drowns bees and ferments quickly. I have three kinds of plastic frame feeders here, plus ones made of wood and masonite. The wood ones are the best -- bees empty them twice as quickly. After them, the Mann Lake ones appear much more rigid and robust than the others, he old Silverbow ones have the greatest capacity and are durable, but slippery inside, and the remaining one, which will remain nameless, resembles the old Valley Co-op one, which is too flimsy IMHO, although I have used thousands of them over the years. The Mann Lake ones have bumps on the sides which allow bees to walk up and down all around them and serve to hold them off the hive walls so that condensation or other water will not run down into them. This should make them more comparable to the wood feeders in terms of not collecting smelly garbage in the bottom. > Can I set the division board feeder alone in an empty deep hive > body on top of the colony for warmish weather feeding? Or does the > feeder have to be tucked in with other frames? Well, you could, but there are many (good) reasons not to. Frame feeders are designed to be used instead of an outside frame, and that's what I recommend. (You can even use one on each side). As you increase interior hive volume and distance from the cluster, effectiveness diminishes. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 13:20:11 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: James Morton <106074.517@compuserve.com> Subject: Mavrick (was - Re: question: ground corn as a pollen substitute) Message text written by Discussion of Bee Biology >I am looking for a report and formula using Maverick with the use of plywood blocks that originated in Israel, Would appreciate any help. Thanks. Mike < Mike, Please don't even try! The use of agricultural pesticides such as Mavrick to treat Varroa is extremely unwise, and is illegal in most countries. A belief has developed amongst beekeepers in some countries that since the active ingredient (a.i) of such pesticides is the same as, or similar to, those found in some registered varroa treatments, then home-made pesticide soaked wooden strips must be an equally good but cheaper alternative. However, there are several reasons why this is not so. A key problem is that it is impossible to achieve an accurate and predictable dosage. This is because the amount of pesticide soaked up by the strip is very variable and, more importantly, the rate at which the a.i is released from the strips will be completely different than for commercially manufactured strips due largely to differences in the way the a.i binds to the different materials used. Furthermore the emulsifiers and other additives used to make the pesticide suitable for agricultural use have not been shown to be safe for use in bee colonies, and are likely to influence the behaviour of the a.i in the hive ,possibly making it more likely to end up in honey. Concentrated pesticide solutions can also be very toxic and hazardous to handle. You might overdose your bees, risking harming them and leaving unacceptible residues in bee products. Or you might underdose them and risk inadequately controlling Varroa and encouraging the development of pyrethroid resistant mites -there is strong evidence that misuse of agricultural pyrethroid pesticides in this way was the cause of the Varroa resistance to Apistan now present in parts of Europe. The economic cost of loosing your bees, or loosing consumer confidence in your bee products is in the long run going to be vastly higher that the cost of buying and using properly manufactured and tested varroa treatments. Better to stick to the safer alternatives. James Morton London UK ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 12:39:55 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "MR WILLIAM L HUGHES JR." Subject: Different bees in hive Yesterday it stopped raining long enough for me to start treating some of my colonies. I noticed that two of the colonies have all black bees. Just last month they were Italian. Could a feral colony taken them over or have they superceded the old queen and the new one mated with "wild" bees. The brood pattern is excellent and these two colonies are full of bees. Bill Hughes Bent Holly Honey Farms Brighton, Tennessee, U.S.A. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 10:34:00 PST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ivan McGill Subject: Re: Division Board Feeders Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >In a message dated 97-03-01 21:37:56 EST, Tim_Sterrett@westtown.edu (Tim >Sterrett) write: > ><< Questions about using division board feeders: > > They seem to be wider than one frame. Do people use them as a tenth > frame with nine other brood comb frames?>> > > It is easier to use them with 8 frames. If you stick one in as the 10th >frame, you have to have well cleaned frames, because it will be tight. I >used to have a bunch of singles made up more or less permanantly with a >feeder. But to pull out a frame in an existing hive and stick in a feeder is >difficult. It's hard to clean up the propolis of all the frame shoulders >with bees in it. You usually mash a few bees (might be the queen). Hi: If you have the time and the workshop one thing that can be done is make some a little a little larger than the frame (but not much) it will not hold as much but you can put in 9 frames. I made some a few years back with masonite board with the rough side in, worked fine bees could get in and out without drowning. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 11:33:26 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: Pollen Substitute In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > Is it possible to use soy meal, like you buy at the grain elevator to > feed cows, in place of soy flour in a pollen substitute? I can only find > soy flour at the local health food store, and they want $1.45 per pound, > whereas I can buy soy meal at the elevator for around $8.00 for 50 > pounds, quite a savings, assuming it can be used for feeding bees. In Western Canada, people use Honeysoy soyaflour from Honeymead in Mankato, Minn, 56001. Delivered here, it is about $11 US for 25kg (55lbs) > Where do people purchase brewers yeast at a reasonable price? Again I > can only find it at the health food store for $5.29 per pound. Is there > somewhere it can be ordered in bulk? Animal feed companies sell Brewer's yeast cheaply. We got some from ShurGain. Mark mentioned Spray Dry in CA. (I wonder if he can provide a fax or phone number, or better yet, email)? I have some concerns that some brands may be superior to others, so it is likely best to use what another successful beekeeper uses. I haven't used the SureGain yeast yet, and am going to try contacting several other references. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 11:33:26 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Announcing: D Sammataro's MIte Video Now Available In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Diana Sammataro has asked me to announce that her Tracheal mite video is now released for sale to the public. It is available from Robert D. Smith 238 East Fifth Street Perrysburg, OH 43551 (419) 874-6003 rdsmith@juno.com I can personally highly recommend it. I saw it several days ago in Edmonton and was *very* impressed. Here are some of the highlights: - see tracheal mites running around. - see two ways of removing trachea demonstrated clearly and simply. - see adult, immature, and egg stages of TM inside the trachea - see grease patties mixed by hand. - understand how grease patties work This is an ideal video to show at association meetings. It comes with a reference reading list, as well. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 10:42:13 -0800 Reply-To: mwr@hotcity.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Reddell Subject: Re: Feral Bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit John Beck wrote: > > As a new beekeeper, I've been very interested in the discussion on parasites. > > As I understand it, the feral bee population in the US has been decimated by > the infestation of mites. Would it be safe to assume that surviving > colonies might have built up some resistance? > > Has anyone had any experience with this? > > John >From what I've read, it appears that the feral population is probably around 10% of pre-mite levels in many areas. And most of the remaining 10% are probably recent swarms from managed hives that have not yet succumbed to the mites. Hopefully there are some pockets of resistant developing out there, and an article on p.140 of the February '97 ABJ documents a case in Italy where resistance might be developing. Also, there have been several studies that suggest that hygenic behavior contributes to resistance. P.143 of the same issue of ABJ describes an experiment that further suggests genetic differences in the ability to resist varroa. The bottom line is, nobody really knows how this will turn out yet, but my personal view borrows a line from 'Jurrasic Park': Life will find a way. I have a related question though. By introducing managed but not resistant drones and swarms into the feral population, are we actually retarding the progress of genetic resistance?? Michael Reddell mwr@hotcity.com http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 10:20:01 PST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Dennis Subject: Bear Fences MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; X-MAPIextension=".TXT" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable In response to Brian Tasseys' question about bear fences... One (possible) way to build them is with standard field fence, 6" x 6" = 'woven' wire, that is mounted to a piece of PVC pipe (cheap black plastic= works) sliped over a steel fence post as an insulator. Remember that electric fences need good 'grounding' to work properly. = Dry ground may require a bit of help with a grounding grid on the outsid= e of the electrified fence. That can be another piece of field fence tha= t is layed flat and pinned to the ground with some simple U shaped pieces= of wire. Keep the electrified wires clear of the ground and grass, weeds, etc., = get as good a charger as you can, and good luck. Dennis Morefield Talent, OR, USA denmar@mind.net Dennis Morefield Sideline Beekeeper, Oregon, USA denmar@mind.net ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 00:18:04 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tim Towsend Organization: TPLR Honey Farms Subject: Re: Plastic Frame Problems MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit James C. King wrote: > > > The plastic frames must be individually > separated from the frames above to separate the supers. > > I have talked to Nick at Pierco about this. Apparently there is no > solution. It is not a problem caused by inappropriate frame spacing, but > just an idiosyncrasy of the Pierco frame. Perhaps any plastic frame? > > Jim King, Riegelsville, PAJim; I response to your inquiry about plastic frames sticking, it can be a problem with Pierco frames, it is because the top bar is relatively "thin" in comparison to traditional wood frames. The bees don't recognize the pierco top bar as an end to the frame, and so continue to build. We've come to accept that we have to "crack" between ALL supers with a hive tool, somewhat difficult and time consuming to start with but we have adjusted to it. We also find that this problem is greatly increased if the bees are allowed to plug out. I believe the chances of catching a queen between the supers is less than rolling her when frames are pulled. While the pierco frames do end up with more burr comb on the top and bottom of the frame, there is almost none on the sides of the top and bottom bar. Which helps reduce the chances of rolling the queen when the frames are pulled. I guess you could call it a trade off, more burr comb but less brace comb. We find the extra 15% of cell space worth the bother. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 12:23:01 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: Bear Fences In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Remember to bait the fence with a can of sardines (punctured with nails and wired to the fence) on each of the four sides, or a huge furry bear might just wander through your fence in the middle of a dark night without really noticing it. The secret is *not* in trying to make a fence strong enough to stop a bear -- you can't afford it. The secret is making sure that a bear knows a fence is there and shocking him a good one -- before he tests its strength. Once a bear has been through any fence and gotten used to eating your brood and bees -- and honey, nothing is going to stop him except lead or trapping. Therefore, don't ever let your fencer battery get run down. Solar units are best for that reason. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 12:30:45 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Ladder Comb In-Reply-To: <331937BC.7AB4@IBM.NET> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > We've come to accept that we have to "crack" between ALL supers with a > hive tool, somewhat difficult and time consuming to start with but we > have adjusted to it. Here's how we do it: we loosen the super just enough that we can rotate it around it's vertical axis without lifting, then give it a twist. A few degrees (20-30? will do. This breaks all ladder comb neatly without pulling frames and comb apart, and the box can then be lifted without frames comming out of the lower box too. This trick is useful in all cases where ladder comb is a problem. As Tim says, it is best not to get to the point where the boxes are plugged, but then sometimes we get lucky and it happens. I wish it would happen more. We no longer remove the burr/ladder comb on tops and bottoms of frames unless it is extreme, but leave it to provide better continuity up and down the hive. In double broods, particularly, the queen will go up and down much better. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 19:23:10 GMT Reply-To: Tim_Sterrett@westtown.edu Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tim Sterrett Organization: Westtown School Subject: Re: Feral Bees Discussion of Bee Biology,BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU,Internet writes: < Would it be safe to assume that surviving Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Repost: How to Reduce Your Email MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT For those who wish to reduce email flow from BEE-L, yet still receive the essential material from BEE-L, there are several options: 1. One is to change the subscription option to BEE-L to DIGEST by sending email to LISTSERV@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU saying SET BEE-L DIGEST 2. The other option is to send email to LISTSERV@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU saying SET BEE-L NOMAIL, and at the same time sending email to HoneyBee@systronix.net, saying JOIN BESTOFBEE you@whatever.com (where 'you@whatever.com' is your the email address to which you want the list to be sent). The first option -- digest -- will get you only one message per day from BEE-L, with *all* the day's messages in it. The second option -- subscribing to Best of Bee -- will bring you *only* selected and edited posts from BEE-L, a reduction of 10% to 100% in mail flow on any given day. Best of Bee is also available in digest form by sending email to HoneyBee@systronix.net, saying DIGEST BESTOFBEE you@whatever.com For more information, send email to bees@systronix.net, saying SEND BESTOFBEE in the subject line. You will receive a text file in return. For those who want to know the selection and editorial policies of Best of Bee, send email to bees@systronix.net, saying SEND CRITERIA in the subject line. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 16:53:25 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Joe Trattle <106170.150@compuserve.com> Subject: Mites on bees Comments: To: Steve Duncan Braula coeca is a wingless fly that is very common in colonies here in the UK. It rides on the backs of workers and especially the queen who often carries 5 or 6 of them. They are reddy brown in colour and about the size of a pin head . They do no harm to the bees, existing by steeling food as it is passed between bees. Their eggs are laid in the cappings of honey and the lava produce thread like tunnels across the face of the comb, which can be a problem if your trying to produce comb honey. We are still in the grips of winter here in the UK so there would be little chance of filming for a month or two. Regards Joe Trattle Norfolk ,England. > Can anyone suggest a species that we can use that would look similar to > the honey bee, but have phoretic mites that were not destructive. > There is another bee mite (the bee louse actually) that does no harm > whatsoever to the bee. You may be able to use it, although I have no > idea where you will find photos or specimens. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 14:59:37 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Nassenheider Evaporator vs Pads MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT (Note: I wrote this for sci.agriculture.beekeeping and thought it might be of interest here. Of course I am always interested in being proven wrong (that's how I learn), so rebuttals are welcome). >The Nassenheider evaporator, of which 50,000 have been sold in Germany >alone, does not kill queens because it releases the formic in a very >controlled fashion and very slowly over a two to three week period. Some preliminary Canadian research indicates that there may be very noticable reduction in honey production when *slow release* methods are used in the spring. >The Canadian researchers at The American Beekeeping Federation highly >recommended it for "hobbiests." I disagree with them. I think commercial beekeepers can use it far more efficiently than the Canadian system. The evaporator requires filling only once and uses much less formic. Treatment costs 25 cents per hive - not bad for treating both mites. The Canadian pad system requires much more formic and 3 to four trips to the bee yard. I have a Nassenheider Evaporator in my hand-- and the instructions -- as I write this. The Nassenheider Evaparator requires either 100 cm2 or 150 cm2 (ml) of 60% formic. Two such units must be used if there is brood in 2 chambers such there is in Alberta in the fall. This totals 200-300 ml of 60% formic. Moreover, each unit must be placed fairly close to the brood, I understand that it must be in a half-frame in place of a comb. Therefore, two special frames are required per normal hive, and they must be inserted in each box of each and every hive, a time consuming process, that mandates extra equipment be on hand. The displaced frames must also be toted somewhere for temporary storage. Dangerous free liquid formic acid must be carried on the truck and poured into a special filler bottle every few units. Then the units must be filled. Safety practice requires use of a respirator, gloves, and goggles when handling liquid formic. The units themselves are fairly delicate, and have a wick that is subject to damage in normal commercial rough handling. The wick must be replaced at each use. Recommendations are to check evaporation rate after 2-3 days and trim the wick, if necessary. This means a trip to pull frames and check. These are hardly simple, quick processes, and require partially disassembling each hive thrice -- once to treat, and once to check, and once to remove the unit. Skilled staff is required for each action. Compare to the Canadian system: Take a known number of meat soaker pads and place in a bucket with a measured amount of formic. Wait overnight. Pour off any excess acid. Send almost anyone to a bee yard in a light vehicle with a pair of plastic or stainless tongs, safety glasses (maybe) and some emergency safety equipment, as well as a smoker. The person removes the outer lid, peels back the sack, and with the tongs places a single pad on each top box and quickly turns down the sack or plastic. If no sacks or plastic is used, the bees *should* be smoked down, but I imagine are often not. The pads are not dripping and no liquid is apparent. There is no potential for serious leakage. Most people do not wear goggles or a breather for this since there are not many fumes, and no free acid. Soda and a mask, and water should be available though in case of some freak accident. The treatments should be repeated from three to five times at intervals of anywhere from 4 to 10 days (not critical). Since we often pass yards on the way to working on others, this method does not necessarily mean more driving. The visits are very brief. Using 30-40 ml treatments, the total dose is 90-150 ml (min) or 120-200 ml (max). This minimum dosage is actually *lower* than the amount needed for maximum treatment using a single Nassenheider Evaporator. We usually have brood in two or three boxes in Sept, so we would need two for a total of *300-400* ml using the Nassenheider Evaporator, but only 200 with the pads. >> The danger of queen loss by the sudden evaporation from the pads is much >> more. Although there have been some anecdotal reports, they are usually associated with applying the formic on the floor -- not pads -- or using incorrect amounts at poor times. When the recommendations are followed, there is no appreciable loss using pads. >With the Nassenheider, you can treat at the last honey harvest and leave >the evaporator in the hive until the first Spring inspection. This means having a big gap in the frames where the thing sits. This is likely to cause poor wintering (colony death) here in Alberta. > This results in much less labor and mileage costs than the pad system. If > two men are harvesting a thirty hive yard, it adds about 15 minutes to > remove one brood frame and put in the frame with the evaporator on it. The official instructions require *two* Nassenheider Evaporators per hive for my outfit. That means opening the lower brood chamber -- not a simple task. This doesn't look like a 15 minute job to me. After all, we still have to fill these things with liquid formic. >If you wanted to get some Fumidil into them, you could come back a month later and replace the evaporator frame with a division board feeder filled with sugar syrup. Sounds like re-arranging the brood chamber in fall -- a prescription for hive death where I live. Besides we are far too busy in the fall to fool around with this. >The formic works in cold weather on the tracheal mite too so I see it as >the salvation for Northern beekeeping - we can't all take our bees to >Florida. There is a whole page on these evaporators in the 1997 Betterbee >catalogue - they cost about two varroa strips! Soaker pads cost 1.5 cents each for a total of 7.5 cents -- if we go the whole 5 trips. We use much less formic, have less danger, cut labour cost to a trivial amount, and ensure that, since there are multiple visits, that each hive will get treated at least most of the trips. None will be accidentally missed. The Nassenheider Evaporators cost *much* more, use more acid and are not proven in North American conditions. Moreover, most experts agree that formic alone will not always control varroa sufficiently that Apistan will never be needed. Usually there is a recommendation to monitor mite levels and rotate treatments where varroa is a problem. Of course, I am not sure about how many of the Nassenheider claims to believe, since, for one thing, the literature that comes with my Nassenheider Evaporator claims 'an acaricide effect of appr. 90% was achieved in sealed brood cells'. (If this is truly the case, then we had better watch out because the +Tracheal Mites+ in Germany now seek out sealed brood, and not predominently 1 to 4 day old bees as they do here). Anyhow, all funning aside, we can use pads spring or fall, save tons of money and fussing, and still get a good honey crop, something that slow release methods cannot guarantee when they are used in spring. And we still have the many thousands of dollars (10,000?) that we would have spent on Nassenheider Evaporators, if we find that next year there is a fantastic breakthough. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 18:36:47 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: KEN LAWRENCE Subject: Frames MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Looking for some ideas for storing my super frames at the end of the honey season. Does anybody out there store their frames out in the open (under a roof)? I am thinging about leaving my frames out of the supers and put them on a rack made out of 1 inch square tubing. Am open for any coments for do's and don'ts. thanks Ken ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 18:40:43 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Roy Nettlebeck Subject: Re: Bear Fences In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sun, 2 Mar 1997, Dennis wrote: > In response to Brian Tasseys' question about bear fences... > > One (possible) way to build them is with standard field fence, 6" x 6" 'woven' wire, that is mounted to a piece of PVC pipe (cheap black plastic works) sliped over a steel fence post as an insulator. > > Remember that electric fences need good 'grounding' to work properly. Dry ground may require a bit of help with a grounding grid on the outside of the electrified fence. That can be another piece of field fence that is layed flat and pinned to the ground with some simple U shaped pieces of wire. > > Keep the electrified wires clear of the ground and grass, weeds, etc., get as good a charger as you can, and good luck. > Hi , I use normal aluminum electric fence wire. Three strands, the hot ones are on the top and bottem. I use pig steel posts with insulators. The key is the sardine cans that you wire to the top hot wire every 20 to 30 feet. Punch some holes in the cans. The sardines I use are packed in oil.I have been doing this for 25 years and I have seen some outstanding tell tail signs of what happens when the bear grabs the can in its mouth.I bet they are good for two miles before they look over there shoulder. They don't come back and you could plant a garden in the ground that they work up as they try for traction. The wires are spaced 12 inches from the ground for the first one then 12 inches above that for the ground wire then 12 inches above that with the hot wire for the sardine cans. They go for the sardines first and then they are history. Best Regards Roy ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 16:48:04 -1000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Walter Patton Subject: stop best of bee-l Thanks any way Allan DICK MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Aloha Bee L family In case any of you are considering signing up for best of bee-l for what it is worth in my humble opinion DON'T DO IT . I did and I am quitting today as I can't stand to see everyone of the editor's postings twice, once on bee-l and once on best of bee-l. I have often wondered what might be offensive to the capricious, arbirtrary and opinionated editor who sits in judgment every day of the world, deciding which messages he chooses to be good enough for his high and mighty group, that he hopes to save the anguish of having to suffer through the uncensored postings by good old down to earth beekeepers trying to express themselves and share information and experiences. What is the real use? You have to stay on bee-l to make a posting, and then wait and see if the " Illuminata" of the north country approves. Well for all the "Empirial We" who sit in judgment at best of bee. Aloha I have posted the "Catch All " criteria for best of bee for all to read without having to ask for "The Rules" Things are nice here in the Pacific and God Bless everyone Aloha, Walter > dear Allen, Can you advise if my posting on or about 1-30or31 about > surviving varroa got posted to best of bee. My machine had a major > crash almost immediatly after I posted to bee-l . I do not think my > post went up on best of bee and I am wondering why. I don't recall. Here is how we select material for Best of Bee: Criteria for Selection of Posts for Best of Bee ----------------------------------------------- Only about 10% to 90% of posts that are sent to BEE-L go on to Best of Bee on any given day. Reduced traffic flow is part of our mandate. On busy days, editor(s) are more selective than on low volume days. Here is how different types of messages are evaluated and treated: Chatter: is *generally* ignored. Misdirected Posts: Posts directed at only one list member are ignored. Me Too Posts: Generally even otherwise good posts are not passed on. if they cover matters that have been adequately discussed recently and add nothing new. Political or Inflammatory Posts: and matters of only regional interest are not used, unless they are of possible general interest too, since our readership includes all parts of the world. Provacative Posts (Trolls): Generally ignored unless they have some intrinsic merit. They may be edited to remove excessively provacative material. Flames: Ignored! As are those who use abusive tactics. Off Topic Posts: Ignored. Badly Composed Messages: may be edited for relay, if they are otherwise of potential interest to our readers. Posts Containing Significant Errors of Fact: or which are highly opinionated are generally ignored. Gratuitously Long Signatures: are removed before retransmission. Bad Spelling: Sometime corrected. Poor Formatting and Lack of Paragraphing: Corrected or rejected by the editor depending on how ambitious he is and the general worth of the article. Beyond this, editorial discretion allows for exceptions to these rules and additionally, any message may be ignored without need for justification. Moreover posts from individuals who have a history of insulting behavior may be ignored, regardless of content. Regards Allen W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper VE6CFK RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 Internet:dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net Honey. Bees, & Art ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 22:07:11 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ian Watson Subject: Re: stop best of bee-l Thanks any way Allan DICK In-Reply-To: <199703030244.QAA03690@lehua.ilhawaii.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sun, 2 Mar 1997, Walter Patton wrote: > Aloha Bee L family > In case any of you are considering signing up for best of bee-l for what > it is worth in my humble opinion DON'T DO IT . I did and I am quitting > today as I can't stand to see everyone of the editor's postings twice, once > on bee-l and once on best of bee-l. That is because you were supposed to send a "NO MAIL" to Beeline...... @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ Ian Watson @ @ iwatson@freenet.npiec.on.ca @ @ @ @ THREE BEES: @ @ Bach singer ,/// @ @ Bee keeper >8'III}- @ @ Bell ringer ',\\\ @ @ @ @ 5 hives, 2 years in Beekeeping @ @ St. Catharines, Canada @ @ "I BEE, therefore I am" @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 20:27:00 PST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ivan McGill Subject: Re: Bear Fences Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >On Sun, 2 Mar 1997, Dennis wrote: > >> In response to Brian Tasseys' question about bear fences... >> >> One (possible) way to build them is with standard field fence, 6" x 6" >>'woven' wire, that is mounted to a piece of PVC pipe (cheap black plastic >>works) sliped over a steel fence post as an insulator. >> >> Remember that electric fences need good 'grounding' to work properly. >>Dry ground may require a bit of help with a grounding grid on the >>outside of the electrified fence. That can be another piece of field >>fence that is layed flat and pinned to the ground with some simple U >>shaped pieces of wire. >> >> Keep the electrified wires clear of the ground and grass, weeds, etc., >>get as good a charger as you can, and good luck. > > > Hi , I use normal aluminum electric fence wire. Three strands, the hot >ones are on the top and bottem. I use pig steel posts with insulators. The >key is the sardine cans that you wire to the top hot wire every 20 to 30 >feet. Punch some holes in the cans. The sardines I use are packed in oil.I >have been doing this for 25 years and I have seen some outstanding tell >tail signs of what happens when the bear grabs the can in its mouth.I bet >they are good for two miles before they look over there shoulder. They >don't come back and you could plant a garden in the ground that they work >up as they try for traction. > The wires are spaced 12 inches from the ground for the first one then 12 >inches above that for the ground wire then 12 inches above that with the >hot wire for the sardine cans. They go for the sardines first and then >they are history. >Best Regards > >Roy one question: How you anchor the corner posts? Ivan ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 21:34:04 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Peter Wilson Subject: Cleaning a Jennter Queen Rearing Kit In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Can someone tell me the best method of cleaning a Jennter Queen Rearing Kit? Thanks Peter Wilson Edmonton, Alberta Canada. email: pjwilson@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 21:55:56 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: stop best of bee-l Thanks any way Allan DICK In-Reply-To: <199703030244.QAA03690@lehua.ilhawaii.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > In case any of you are considering signing up for best of bee-l > for what it is worth in my humble opinion DON'T DO IT Thanks for your viewpoint, Walter. Frankly, I'm not at all surprised that you don't care for Best of Bee. I notice that for some reason you apparently either did not read or did not understand the instructions to set BEE-L NOMAIL, and consequently were receiving *both* lists - and for a long time. I wonder why. Curiously, after posts on BEE-L such as your last one, I notice the subscriber numbers often suddenly *increase* on Best of Bee. Allen -- For those who have had enough of this and want relief, here's your chance: To subscribe to Best of Bee, send email to honeybee@systronix net saying join bestofbee you@whatever.com (where 'you@whatever.com' is your actual email address) Then send email to listserv@cnsibm.albany.edu saying SET BEE-L NOMAIL You can then still post to BEE-L, but the only messages you will receive will be those that the editor of the day finds worthy to send on to you. You won't miss much, but this action may preserve your blood pressure, and your sanity, if you are sensitive. Of course, most of us will stay right here on BEE-L, but there *are* about 130 people who prefer Best of Bee Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 17:16:26 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Dung Nguyen Subject: Re: Mites on bees > >I have no idea how to go about getting specimens but the native host of >varroa in south east Asia seems like a possibility. They have coexisted >with varroa for a long time. Is anyone out there doing research with >them? Hello, Some years ago, I did a research on the reproduction of Varroa in A.cerana and A.mellifera worker and drone cells. The mites do not reproduce in A. cerana worker cells, but I am not sure that if the mites are harmless for the bees. If these bees and mites are suitable, please contact me. We will discuss to get the speciments as now I am not in Vietnam. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Nguyen VanDung Int.Edu.Office University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury Richmond, NSW, 2753, Australia Email : nguyen@hotel.uws.edu.au -------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 01:40:53 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ted Fischer Subject: Re: Frames MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit KEN LAWRENCE wrote: > > Looking for some ideas for storing my super frames at the end of the > honey season. Does anybody out there store their frames out in the > open (under a roof)? I am thinging about leaving my frames out of the > supers and put them on a rack made out of 1 inch square tubing. Am open > for any coments for do's and don'ts. thanks Ken First of all, I'm wondering why you would want to do this. It seems to me that you would now have to have space to store frames *and* the empty supers. Since you probably have a good reason, there are at least three considerations to keep in mind: 1) Wet comb attracts wax moths, which would have easy access to open frames. Be sure therefore to have the bees clean all the stickiness completely out of them before storing. 2) Mice love honeycombs as well, and would have much easier access to the combs in open than in super storage. You would have to be sure that you have a mouse-free environment. 3) Bees themselves will come snooping around, especially in early spring when there is a limited bloom available, so you will have to have a bee-tight space. If you're sure you can keep bees, moths and mice away, I see no problem. Ted Fischer Dexter, Michigan, USA ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 07:46:06 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Trevor Weatherhead Subject: Re: Films of mites In Australia, a video on exotic pests. e.g. varroa, tracheal and Asian mite has been produced as a research project from our Honey Bee Research and Development Committee. It is mainly aimed at making Australian beekeepers aware of these exotic pests and the advisablity of keeping them out of Australia. They may be of use to some others in the world. There may be a problem with the video not playing on equipment in say the USA but I believe there are ways of converting our video to a format that can be viewed in the USA. We can covert USA videos to a format that can be used in Australia. The video runs for 20 minutes. I am not aware of price at the present time. If anyone is interested, I can find out more details for you if you would like to contact me directly. Trevor Weatherhead AUSTRALIA ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 13:06:56 +0000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: OAKES DAVID W Subject: Top Bar Hives MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Response to Pat Barrett's inquiry for info on top bar hives try www.gsu.edu/~biojdsx/main.htm good article! Dave in Indiana USA ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 00:10:03 +1000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Peter Drury Subject: Re: Films of mites MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: Trevor Weatherhead > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Films of mites > Date: Monday, March 03, 1997 10:46 PM > > In Australia, a video on exotic pests. e.g. varroa, tracheal and Asian mite > has been produced as a research project from our Honey Bee Research and > Development Committee. It is mainly aimed at making Australian beekeepers > aware of these exotic pests and the advisablity of keeping them out of > Australia. > > The video runs for 20 minutes. I am not aware of price at the present time. > If anyone is interested, I can find out more details for you if you would like > to contact me directly. Trevor, I am the Secretary of the Central Victorian Apiarists Association, and would be most interested in finding further information on this video. Please contact me directly. Thanks Peter. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 08:35:20 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: stop best of bee-l Thanks any way Allan DICK On Sun, 2 Mar 1997 16:48:04 -1000 Walter Patton writes: >Aloha Bee L family >In case any of you are considering signing up for best of >bee-l for what it is worth in my humble opinion DON'T DO IT . Best of BEE-L: I had thought that one of the major reasons for creating this alternative was that some folks are pretty busy, and either do not have the time to read all of the daily Bee-L postings (or, simply did not want to read the "chatter" and wanted to stick to the "meat") so they could simply just subscribe to this alternative. I do not think that simply saying "DON'T DO IT" to everyone on the list is the proper advice to be passing out. Like you Walter, I tried it for awhile and decided for the same reasons you posted that I didn't want to read some things "twice"....so I "simply unsubscribed". No big deal! I believe that we are all "reasonably intelligent" humans, with an occassional ascent into "insanity" now and then :-). Hopefully most of us return from that "ascent" on a regular basis. :-). So we can probably trust that each one of us will make the best decision for "ourselves". Have a bit of faith in your fellow man/woman Walter...:-) Lighten up..:-) It's is good for your cardiovascular system. Cheers, Al ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 08:38:09 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Daniel G Jones Subject: Re: Fw: bee identification In-Reply-To: <199703010609_MC2-11EA-3648@compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sat, 1 Mar 1997, James Morton wrote: > They were probably at least an 1" long. The size was amazing to > us as well as the fact that we would see them mostly at night on our back > porch buzzing the lights like a moth. Although they were very scary they > never > attacked us and eventually we stopped seeing them. They did not have fuzz > on their bodies. They were actually a pretty color. Kind of a rich rust > color.< > > The bald bodies, large size and nocturnal activity suggest to me that they > were not bees at all. In Europe, my guess would be the hornet Vespa crabo. > Is this species is present in the US? > My guess would be a moth. Probably one of the clearwings. I'll have to take a look in the books tonight. There are some great mimics amongst the moths. There is one clearwing that look and acts almost exactly like a hummingbird. We get hummers and the hummer mimic on the Monarda (bee balm) at the same time. They seem to ignore each other. Dan Jones dgj+@pitt.edu Phone: 1.412.624.2189 ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 08:52:58 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Joel Govostes Subject: Re: Frames Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Ted Fischer wrote: > there are at least three >considerations to keep in mind: 1) Wet comb attracts wax moths, which >would have easy access to open frames. ...> Is this generally the case? Are moths attracted to honey, as such? As I understood it, wet combs are better in storage, as the honey-film is a deterrent to the moths. I have seen moth-larvae damage to light, dry combs, and most severely in dark dry or wet combs. The presence of pollen in combs which have contained brood is the attraction, I thought. With light, sticky combs in storage, the damage from wax moths has been very minimal, IME. Wonder what others have found??? Also, PDB (moth crystals)is ONLY to be used on completely DRY comb, n'est-ce pas? JWG ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 11:47:22 -0300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jorge Euclides Tello Duran Subject: Re: Book: *A Beekeepers Year*More informations In-Reply-To: <970301164547_-971061791@emout20.mail.aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hi Larry I like to know about a Beekeepers Year book, what subjects or topics treat. I have Visa and Master Credit Card. I wait for your answer. Regards Jorge Tello On Sat, 1 Mar 1997, wrote: > FYI > Wicwas Press has the book, A Beekeepers Year, in stock. The price is $16.95 > and $2.50 for book rate mail and $3.90 priority mail. > Larry Connor > Wicwas Press > PO Box 817 > Cheshire CT 06410 > You may want to phone and leave your Visa/Mastercard info at 203 250 7575 if > you do not like to leave cc info on the internet. > L > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 12:27:38 -0300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jorge Euclides Tello Duran Subject: Re: Repost: Announcing BestOfBee In-Reply-To: <14512910700898@systronix.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII I like to receive a Best Of Bee. Thank you in advance Jorge Tello On Fri, 31 Jan 1997, Excerpts from BEE-L wrote: > From: Allen Dick > Organization: The Beekeepers > Last Revised: January 31, 1997 > > *** Please save this message for future reference *** > > We are pleased to announce Best Of Bee, a new way to read BEE-L. > (BEE-L is the internet mailing list for discussion of bees, wasps, > etc.). > > As the volume has grown on BEE-L, a number of members have grown > tired of receiving large numbers of messages daily, many of which are > sent in error or not of general interest. Many worthy subscribers > have simply given up and left. > > Therefore, to lighten the load, several list regulars (who merrily > read *everything* anyhow), have agreed to select the best material (in > their opinions) and re-post it to a new list, called Best of Bee (The > '-l' is left off due to changing standards on the net regarding > punctuation in list names). > > Since it is pretty well unanimous that BEE-L should not be split or > censored, this provides a way for those who wish to read the list, > but be selective and not be exposed to flames,and trivial or > misdirected posts to enjoy a filtered version of BEE-L. Currently > about 75% of the posts to BEE-L (or less) are being re-transmitted on > BestOfBee. This varies from 0% to 100% on a given day. > > If you would like to try this new free service, simply send email to > Honeybee@systronix.net saying > > join bestofbee > > You will shortly start receiving messages. > > IMPORTANT Additional Information For Current BEE-L Subscribers: > --------------------------------------------------------------- > If you get BEE-L currently, these messages from BestOfBee will be > *duplicates* of *some* the ones you get from BEE-L presently, but > some may be edited to remove excessive quotes from previous messages > and bad formatting or gratutous material if they are otherwise > suitable. Many messages from BEE-L will not merit repeating on > bestofbee, since they are chatter, or redundant. > > After you are satisfied that the new list is working and get a feel > for the degree of filtering, you may wish to send a message to > LISTSERV@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU saying SET BEE-L NOMAIL and thereafter > read only the filtered messages -- if you like the way it works. You > can get a full BEE-L log for comparison any time you like by sending > email to the same LISTSEV, saying get BEE-L log9701b, (for example) > where '97' is the year, '01' is the month, and 'b' is the (second) > week of the month, or you may read them from Adam's Sunsite archives, > the address of which is on my home page. > > IMPORTANT: You will still need your BEE-L subscription if you wish > to post (or retreive BEE-L logs), since the only way to get a post to > Best of Bee is through posting a message on BEE-L. > > We expect that soon you will be able to search these selected Best of > Bee messages using a web brouser after a number have accumulated. This > will give a searchable 'opinion base'. We may add some edited > material from old BEE-L logs too. > > PLEASE NOTE: *No one* will be able to post to BestOfBee (regardless > of what the welcome message says -- I haven't had time to fix it) > except the three moderators, so direct all replies to Best of Bee > articles to BEE-L where they will be read and perhaps selected for > re-transmission. > > We hope this service helps more people to enjoy BEE-L, and that those > who wish to post will do so freely now without fear of offending > those who desire decorum and lower traffic levels. > > We are also open to constructive comments and ideas for improvement. > > Regards > > Allen > > W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper > VE6CFK RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 > Internet:dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net Honey. Bees, & Art > > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 07:37:50 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Roy Nettlebeck Subject: Re: Bear Fences In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Sun, 2 Mar 1997, Ivan McGill wrote: > > The wires are spaced 12 inches from the ground for the first one then 12 > >inches above that for the ground wire then 12 inches above that with the > >hot wire for the sardine cans. They go for the sardines first and then > >they are history. > >Best Regards > > > >Roy > > one question: > > How you anchor the corner posts? > Hi Ivan, The corner posts has a heavy wire like bailing wire attached to the top with 3 or 4 bends in it, then down to a stake about 6 to 8 feet outside of the fence. ( I split the 270 degrees that is outside of the 90 degree corner. I tighten them last.I have never had a bear get inside the fence. The sardine trick gets them and as I read on in my mail , I see that Allen Dick posted the same system. Sorry I jumped the gun Allen. Best Regards Roy ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 12:40:06 -0300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jorge Euclides Tello Duran Subject: Re: Catalog 1997 from Wicwas Press, My address In-Reply-To: <19970201062923.AAA27455@LOCALNAME> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Please send your price list as below to: Jorge Tello Av. Allan Kardeck, 202 CEP:14870, Jaboticabal S.P. Brasil Regards > > At 06:10 PM 1/31/97 +0000, you wrote: > >Dear List Members: > > > >Wicwas Press has a new price list, which has been mailed to current customers > >only. The list contains about 300 book titles, plus educational video > >programs and slide sets. > >If you would like a copy sent to you by surface mail, I will send it to you > >free. (It is not available via internet as an attached file). > >Quantities of the list may be requested for use in bee schools, classes on > >bees, bee associations, honey sales booths, etc. Just let me know how many > >you can use. > > > >Make your requests to > > > >"Catalog request" > >LJConnor@aol.com > >Wicwas Press LLC > >P.O. Box 817 > >Cheshire CT 06410 USA > >phone and fax 203 250 7575 > > > >Thanks! > >Larry Connor > > > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 12:33:59 -0300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jorge Euclides Tello Duran Subject: Re: Catalog 1997 from Wicwas Press In-Reply-To: <970131131016_749508131@emout18.mail.aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Thanks in advance, i like a copy. Jorge Tello On Fri, 31 Jan 1997, wrote: > Dear List Members: > > Wicwas Press has a new price list, which has been mailed to current customers > only. The list contains about 300 book titles, plus educational video > programs and slide sets. > If you would like a copy sent to you by surface mail, I will send it to you > free. (It is not available via internet as an attached file). > Quantities of the list may be requested for use in bee schools, classes on > bees, bee associations, honey sales booths, etc. Just let me know how many > you can use. > > Make your requests to > > "Catalog request" > LJConnor@aol.com > Wicwas Press LLC > P.O. Box 817 > Cheshire CT 06410 USA > phone and fax 203 250 7575 > > Thanks! > Larry Connor > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 11:32:08 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Nosema MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT The recommended time to treat with Fumidil-B for Nosema is in the fall, two gallons or 2:1 syrup (sugar:water) with 1 tsp Fumidil-B per gallon. Spring feeding for overwintered is less often recommended, but some recommended a spring treatment of a gallon of 1:1 syrup with a tsp of Fumidil-B. The same spring treatment is recommended for packaged bees. _The_Hive-and_the_Honey_BEE_ also cautions that treated bees on infected equipment equals infected bees. Treatment for infected equipment is fumigation with acetic acid. I can't quote time of treatment or concentration of acid. I really need an office library! Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee! ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 11:47:39 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John A Skinner Subject: Re: Different bees in hive In-Reply-To: <199703021739.MAB76130@mime3.prodigy.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Bill, It is possible that a feral colony took over or a supercedure occured but due to the season and the lack of ferals now this appears less likely. One possibility is that in the queens initial mating flight she mated with drones that manifest dark color. Sperm that had been stored inside the queen in her spematheca may now be from dark drones while previously sperm came from "yellow" Italian drones. What kind of bee stock are you using now? If you have some Italians and some Carniolans, this could be a clue. Do your neighboring beekeepers use any different color stock? Grins, John John A. Skinner 218 Ellington Hall Extension Apiculturist University of Tennessee jskinner@utk.edu Knoxville, TN 37901 (423)974-7138 On Sun, 2 Mar 1997, MR WILLIAM L HUGHES JR. wrote: > Yesterday it stopped raining long enough for me to start treating > some of my colonies. I noticed that two of the colonies have all > black bees. Just last month they were Italian. Could a feral colony > taken them over or have they superceded the old queen and the new one > mated with "wild" bees. The brood pattern is excellent and these two > colonies are full of bees. > > Bill Hughes > Bent Holly Honey Farms > Brighton, Tennessee, U.S.A. > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 15:56:15 +0100 Reply-To: beeman@kuai.se Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: P-O Gustafsson Subject: Re: Cleaning a Jennter Queen Rearing Kit MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Peter Wilson wrote: > > Can someone tell me the best method of cleaning a Jennter Queen Rearing Kit? > Hi Peter, Put it all in a fine mesh string bag and throw it in the washing mashine at medium temp. Avoid doing it together with the wifes laundry, or you might get into trouble ;-) -- Regards P-O Gustafsson, Sweden beeman@kuai.se http://www.kuai.se/~beeman/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 12:28:06 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Maverick in plywood blocks MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Mike Worrell queries for the Maverick recipe. OH NO!!!! NOT AGAIN!!!! First off, it's MAVRIK! Next, DON'T USE IT! Review the BEE-L Logs for October '96 for the full story. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 13:03:02 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Janet Montgomery & Dan Veilleux Subject: Re: Nosema Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >snip >_The_Hive-and_the_Honey_BEE_ also cautions that treated bees on infected >equipment equals infected bees. Treatment for infected equipment is >fumigation with acetic acid. I can't quote time of treatment or >concentration of acid. I really need an office library! > >Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee! > >I wonder if the formic acid treatment for mites would not also control nosema as formic acic being a single carbon acid should be more biologicially active than the two carbon acetic acid. We in the US hopefully will be allowed to use the formic acid systems in the near future and this would shurely be a boon if the formic acid did indead reduce the spore load in the colonies to a below economic level especially since it would be an on going treatment. How about it my Canadian collegues---have any of your scientiests looked into this??? Dan Veilleux Columbus, Ohio USA montveil@iwaynet.net ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 11:11:07 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: Nassenheider Evaporator vs Pads In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > > Moreover, most experts agree that formic alone will not always control > > varroa sufficiently that Apistan will never be needed. Usually there > > is a recommendation to monitor mite levels and rotate treatments where > > varroa is a problem. > It is the later point that tempts me to consider them, there are times > when manipulation is unwise or when the mites are in the brood and we're > to close to a flow to wait, a volatile like formic might be quite useful > and give us another bite. Yup, exactly. But IMO, *pads* are the answer. They give a series of quick 'hits'. Several well timed hits knock back the mites without leaving the bees in a corrosive environment over time. > each unit must be placed fairly close to the brood, So do the pads, but you need not pull frames, etc. Pads are much less invasive and labour intensive. > > I understand that it must be in a half-frame in place of a comb. > > Does this not have the advantage of making the evaporation more stable? I don't see how, but maybe. I think the atmosphere at the top of a hive is much more likely to be moderated than that in lower areas. > One of the problems of pads or plates above or below the brood nest in > British weather is the variation in the rate of evaporation and the need > to monitor. By putting it into the brood nest the bees will maintain a > constant environment for us. Pads do go on top of the upper brood box frames, either in the centre, or further out, sepending on your appraisal of the situation. (Maybe someone like Kerry can help me here). The Nassenheider Evaporator is to be placed behind the next comb to the brood according to their literature. This may place it out of the cluster or below the cluster. It depends a lot on the hive config, I think. > > This means having a big gap in the frames where the thing sits. > > This is likely to cause poor wintering (colony death) here in Alberta. > I think this would be true for us here to, and I accept your point > about handling the acid. Its useful too that you point out that > Nassenheider's are probably an additional expense. I can't see economic > grounds for using them at all. ('Cept if you count the bees that are > lost maybe.) > Dave Black, Guildford, GU1 4RN. UK. Don't get me wrong. I think the Nassenheider Evaporators may have their place. It is just that it is not in commercial service. My article was to a post that made them sound (to me at least) like a proposed panacea for mite control and proposed commercial beekeepers use them. It is from that perspective that I wrote. I believe the Nassenheider Evaporators, and the Popodi device for that matter, are fine for hobbyists and others who aren't paying labour, don't have to haul free acid in & on crowded trucks, and don't care if they get a crop. The Nassenheider Evaporator literature seems to me to be a bit optimistic and neglects that controlling these mites is sometimes easy, and at other times difficult. Apistan is still the standard against which we measure success and is often still necessary in rotation with formic, since it formic has had some notable failures, and is also of limited usefulness against high varroa infestations. The Nassenheider Evaporator just seems to me to be a difficult, fiddly and expensive way to do a simple job. As usual, I'd love to be proven wrong. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 13:54:15 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MIDNITEBEE Subject: beeswax/bacteria MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ What property does a bee have to keep mold off of beeswax and bacteria (with the exception of Clostridium botulinum) and molds out of honey? Midnitebee(Herb) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 15:38:06 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: [Fwd: Spring Build up] In-Reply-To: <3317D9B1.363F@earthlink.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 1 Mar 97 at 1:24, Worker Bee wrote: [Fwd: Spring Build up] > room to grow. The hive with a store bought queen(96 to replace a swarm > queen that was not mated) had several uncapped queen cells up high on > the combs. I'm not sure why, but I'll keep an eye on them. There was one > funny looking capped cell that was larger than a drone cell but not > nearly large enough for a queen cell. I broke it open. I also found a > very large number of newly built drone cells in the shallow super where > last year they were worker cells. An almost text book description of superscedure. Lets deal point by point. Cells high up on the comb, superscedure cells. Funny looking cell, possibly an under fed queen, it wouldn't be allowed to progress too far. A large number of drone cells might point out the reason for the superscedure, running out of semen. Poor mating!! Suggest the store bought wasn't from a reliable source, or reputable breeder. > I have a peach tree in full bloom and have not seen a single honey bee > on a bloom and I have 3 hived not 200 feet from it. Last year, my bees > did not work the blueberries. This is always a bummer!! My neighbor has a black cherry tree close to my apples. If the cherry blossom hangs too long my apples don't get pollinated as well as I would like, as the cherry comes out first in our area. Who has the word for bees sticking to one flower instaed of moving around? ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 17:38:49 -0600 Reply-To: victork@sound.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Victor M.Kroenke" Subject: March fourth MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Tomorrow is Noah's Ark Day After Noah's ark came to rest on dry land he opened the doors of the ark and guess what he said to the animals. You got it, MARCH FOURTH. Vic ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 18:54:34 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: New Web Site To all interested parties: "The HoneyBee" - An Educational Program About Honey Bees, Their Role In Nature, & Their Value To All Mankind. This program can now be downloaded from my new site in the US. http://www.xensie.com/users/alwine "Learn About HoneyBees & Beekeeping" The overall theme of this site is the same as that for "The Honeybee" to generally educate the public on behalf of our Honey Bee Friends, and to encourage people to try out Beekeeping. With the decimation of the feral population here in the US, we could use a few more beekeepers! I also intend to make the site a little lighthearted with a touch of humor. There is one illustrated joke on one page now. Anyone, who would care to contribute a good bee/beekeeper joke is welcome to do so, and I will be pleased to give you "credit" unless you specify not to do so..... The site will be updated on a regular basis..since I am "retired" and do not have 30,000 hives under snow in British Alberta :-) Any constructive ideas/suggestions are welcome and will be very seriously considered! Thanks for your time! Al Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"-- Educational Program About Honey Bees With A Superb Slide Show-Version 2.1 (c) 1997 Download From USA At: http:www.xensei.com/users/alwine ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 15:28:11 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Bently Durant Subject: Re: Fw: bee identification MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: Ian Watson > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Fw: bee identification > Date: Saturday, March 01, 1997 10:26 AM > > On Sat, 1 Mar 1997, James Morton wrote: > > > They were probably at least an 1" long. The size was amazing to > > us as well as the fact that we would see them mostly at night on our back > > porch buzzing the lights like a moth. Although they were very scary they > > never > > attacked us and eventually we stopped seeing them. They did not have fuzz > > on their bodies. They were actually a pretty color. Kind of a rich rust > > color.< > > > > The bald bodies, large size and nocturnal activity suggest to me that they > > were not bees at all. In Europe, my guess would be the hornet Vespa crabo. > > Is this species is present in the US? > > These actually sound like what we call June Bugs here in Canada. They > buzz around the lights at night and make quite a noise. Also June Bugs > have a similar colour. But they arent a bee or even a Vespa as far as I > know. I think they are in the beetle family. That is a great possibility. I see june bugs down here in Texas (US) all the time, but usually during one of the wormmer moths such as june. I haven't seen them this year yett but my bug zapper will tell me when they arrive :) What confuses me is how thes brownish insects could be confused as bees. ...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````,,,...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````~~~ ~~~````` Why don't you join me in dyslexia land. A lend weair evey thimg is spelled ront. I think that I know everything because I know every thing that I learned and what I havent learned I don't know about :^) Bently Durant bently@hcn.hcnews.com ...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````,,,...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````~~~ ~~~````` Bee kind Bee tender Just bee cKbee for men hehehe I thought that I'd add that just for fun ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 15:37:36 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Bently Durant Subject: Re: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: Kirk Jones > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs > Date: Saturday, March 01, 1997 12:15 PM > > Hi all, > > I'm having problems with ants in Florida(first year)killing off my queen > mating nucs that I'm trying to get going. > > I wondered if I spread some powdered sugar and borax around if it would be > attractive to bees too? > > Any simple answers out there on the Bee-L? > > *Kirk Jones/ Sleeping Bear Apiaries /971 S. Pioneer Rd./Beulah,MI 49617 > *Sharon Jones/ BeeDazzled Candleworks /6289 River Rd./ Benzonia, MI 49616 > e-mail b-man@aliens.com I don't know what borax is but if you spread some and poison that ants will take to there nest like AMDRO it should get rid of them pretty quickly if they are the spiecies commonly called the fire ant (about 1 mm long with gards 2mm's long and winged ants 3-4mm's long red and black) as long as I'm on the subject... Why don't the pest control org's introduce like a ants varroa/trachal mite to get rid of these fire ants? My uncle said that they had one but were afraid of what it would eat after eating the ants. Are there any ways that ants help out more then they hurt? ...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````,,,...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````~~~ ~~~````` Why don't you join me in dyslexia land. A lend weair evey thimg is spelled ront. I think that I know everything because I know every thing that I learned and what I havent learned I don't know about :^) Bently Durant bently@hcn.hcnews.com ...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````,,,...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````~~~ ~~~````` ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 15:51:17 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Bently Durant Subject: Re: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > From: Richard Drutchas > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs > Date: Saturday, March 01, 1997 11:21 AM > > hey kirk the ants are actually wiping out two frame nucs? I bought some > hives from an old timer once that kept borax on a solid inner cover to > keep the ants off the top. again I will reply to this subject. heres my $0.04 on the subject Fire ants as we call them here in texas are a great pest. A beekeeper from my town was telling me about how his hives got wiped out compleatly during his two week vacation. I'd imagin that they were already killing bees befor that. The fire ant will not only kill bees but it will then eat them. I have seen these bees take out whole mounds of harvester ants (semi-harmless red ants measuring about 4-5 mm long) The problem with these ants is that they are so small that bigger ants cannot defend against them. Bees are precticly helpless adainst them too. These ants also hide under your bed at night waighting for the monster in the closet to go to sleep so they can eat him. hehehe :) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 19:58:31 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Brian Tassey Subject: Re: Bear Fences To all, Thanks for the bear fence hints! Roy your post put some goodvisual images in my mind, I had to laugh out loud. Brian ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 20:44:15 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Conrad Sigona Subject: Re: New Web Site In-Reply-To: <19970303.185338.3686.4.awneedham@juno.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII > "The HoneyBee" - An Educational Program About Honey Bees, > Their Role In Nature, & Their Value To > All Mankind. > > This program can now be downloaded from my new site in the US. > > http://www.xensie.com/users/alwine > "Learn About HoneyBees & Beekeeping" That should be http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine Conrad Sigona conrad@ntcnet.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 21:48:21 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Joel Govostes Subject: Re: Fw: bee identification Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" (NY) We get the "June bugs" coming to outside lights and windows after dark in May/June. Once I was called to come collect swarming bees in a willow tree, only to find out they were not bees after all, but hundreds of beetles darting around the perimeter of the tree. Against the sunset I guess they could have been mistaken for bees, size-wise, as well. Given the description, size, color etc. I would tend to go with the June-bug/beetle ID too (or a close relative?). ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 21:05:00 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: KEN LAWRENCE Subject: Re: Frames MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ted Fischer wrote: > > KEN LAWRENCE wrote: > > > > Looking for some ideas for storing my super frames at the end of the > > honey season. > > First of all, I'm wondering why you would want to do this. > > Ted Fischer > Dexter, Michigan, USA I had read that if combs were stored out in the open there would be less chance of waxmoths. Maybe I need to quit reading as each time I seem to get myself into trouble. (Wintergreen Oils and now Combs stored in the open light) Thanks for all the input I have received. The old man is still trying to learn. Ken Lawrence ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 23:13:24 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Dave from Scranton Subject: Re: Eighty Six and Wide Open for a Freeze In-Reply-To: <970227191433_884507412@emout17.mail.aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Thu, 27 Feb 1997, David Green wrote: > > BTW, we would be interested in obtaining some cherry honey, which is one > of the best honeys made, but is usually consumed by bees in build up. Anyone > who is in a cherry orchard; I'd be glad to pay top dollar for a pail or two, > and I can give you some tips on how to get some to save. I second the nod for cherry! First time ever in a bee yard, I could smell the black cherry from about 30 feet away and some honey from burr comb locked me into beekeeping! ****************************************************************************** Dave D. Cawley, Maitre d' | ***ALERT shameless plug ALERT*** The Internet Cafe | Scranton, Pennsylvania | ASK ME FOR A COPY OF WEBPHONE!!! (717) 344-1969 | (or try www.scranton.com/webphone) ddc1@lydian.scranton.com | ****************************************************************************** URL => http://www.scranton.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 00:20:36 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Gerry Visel Subject: Re: Different bees in hive Boy, I have the same question, and more: I just worked the observation hive at the forest preserve near here, and about 20 percent of the bees are now all black! They were not before??? Whazup? Could bees maybe lose their color? The rest are a mixture of bright orange tiger color and light brown, almost reddish (cordovans?) What a mixture! I'm inclined to believe that the queen is tapping a new source of sperm! Secondly, a couple of weeks ago, someone here noticed that the bottom board on one of his hives was covered with honey. The whole bottom of the observation hive was filled with honey more than a quarter inch deep! Whazup?? Why would they do this? I spooned it into a cup, and there was more than a cup of honey (real honey) filling the bottom, almost blocking the exit. In five years, that is the first time I've seen it. Anybody have any ideas? Gerry and the other Visels at Visel7@juno.com Winnebago, Illinois, USA On Sun, 2 Mar 1997 12:39:55 -0500 "MR WILLIAM L HUGHES JR." writes: >Yesterday it stopped raining long enough for me to start treating >some of my colonies. I noticed that two of the colonies have all >black bees. Just last month they were Italian. Could a feral colony >taken them over or have they superceded the old queen and the new one >mated with "wild" bees. The brood pattern is excellent and these two >colonies are full of bees. > >Bill Hughes >Bent Holly Honey Farms >Brighton, Tennessee, U.S.A. > ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 00:44:22 -0600 Reply-To: dvisrael@earthlink.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Worker Bee Subject: Lost web site MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks for all the help getting my bookmarks back. I remember a few weeks back someone posting a new page for selling bee items. I have not been able to locate it. I would like to know where it is. Thank you, Don ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 18:35:52 +0000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Paul Walton Subject: Re: Different bees in hive In-Reply-To: <199703021739.MAB76130@mime3.prodigy.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 In article <199703021739.MAB76130@mime3.prodigy.com>, "MR WILLIAM L HUGHES JR." writes >Yesterday it stopped raining long enough for me to start treating >some of my colonies. I noticed that two of the colonies have all >black bees. Just last month they were Italian. Could a feral colony >taken them over or have they superceded the old queen and the new one >mated with "wild" bees. The brood pattern is excellent and these two >colonies are full of bees. > >Bill Hughes >Bent Holly Honey Farms >Brighton, Tennessee, U.S.A. If the queen has mated with several different *types* of drone, you may find the colour of workers change throughout the season. Is colour important to you ? -- Paul Walton Email : Paul@adrem.demon.co.uk Toddington, Bedfordshire, England. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 22:02:22 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Frank & Phronsie Humphrey Subject: Re: Different bees in hive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: John A Skinner > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Different bees in hive > Date: Monday, March 03, 1997 11:47 AM > > Bill, It is possible that a feral colony took over or a supercedure > occured but due to the season and the lack of ferals now this appears less > likely. One possibility is that in the queens initial mating flight she > mated with drones that manifest dark color. Sperm that had been stored > inside the queen in her spematheca may now be from dark drones while > previously sperm came from "yellow" Italian drones. What kind of bee stock > are you using now? If you have some Italians and some Carniolans, this > could be a clue. Do your neighboring beekeepers use any different color > stock? > > Grins, John > > John A. Skinner 218 Ellington Hall > Extension Apiculturist University of Tennessee > jskinner@utk.edu Knoxville, TN 37901 (423)974-7138 I had a colony that I started with bees from a very good yellow italian queen and a YUGO queen. The first hatch were all black but a few weeks after the colony was started yellow bees began to reappear. Then still later there were some more black bees and so on. They had superseeded the YUGO queen and raised a yellow Italian queen. She apparentlt mated with both YUGO and Italian drones. > > > On Sun, 2 Mar 1997, MR WILLIAM L HUGHES JR. wrote: > > > Yesterday it stopped raining long enough for me to start treating > > some of my colonies. I noticed that two of the colonies have all > > black bees. Just last month they were Italian. Could a feral colony > > taken them over or have they superceded the old queen and the new one > > mated with "wild" bees. The brood pattern is excellent and these two > > colonies are full of bees. > > > > Bill Hughes > > Bent Holly Honey Farms > > Brighton, Tennessee, U.S.A. > > I have also observer that some strains of Italians darken as thy mature. The young bees out for play flights are very yellow while the more mature, foraging bees, are very dark. Frank & Phronsie Humphrey beekeepr@cdc.net ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 06:16:05 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Frank & Phronsie Humphrey Subject: Re: Frames MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: KEN LAWRENCE > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Frames > Date: Monday, March 03, 1997 10:05 PM > > Ted Fischer wrote: > > > > KEN LAWRENCE wrote: > > > > > > Looking for some ideas for storing my super frames at the end of the > > > honey season. > > > > First of all, I'm wondering why you would want to do this. > > > > Ted Fischer > > Dexter, Michigan, USA > > I had read that if combs were stored out in the open there would > be less chance of waxmoths. Maybe I need to quit reading as each time I > seem to get myself into trouble. (Wintergreen Oils and now Combs stored > in the open light) > Thanks for all the input I have received. The old man > is still trying to learn. > > Ken Lawrence I store all my unused frames with wax under an open shead. The supers are filled with frames and the spare frames are suspended from dowl rods fitted into the rafters. I have been doing this for some years now and I have never had any wax worms. I leave spaces for air in the supers and the bees clean up any honey that is left. Ants clean up any crystalized honey that the bees can' get out. As long as there is light and air circulaion, wax worms will not attack the combs. Frank & Phronsie Humphrey beekeepr@cdc.net ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 07:52:44 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Joel Govostes Subject: Re: Frames / moths Comments: To: KEN LAWRENCE Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi Ken, good to hear from you. Yes, the moths are a frustrating problem, moreso for you down in MO and other more southern areas. > The last two years I have had trouble with waxmoths. I use the >crystals at every 5-6 super. Still have some moths to get in and sure >makes me sick. I leave them stacked in a shed beside the big barn that >is open on the north side. Sounds like a good protected place. Hmm. I wonder if there is so much air movement that the moth crystals are evaporating too fast. When I kept supers in my basement I put a paper plate on about every 3rd or 4th super, and sprinkled some crystals on, covering them with a paper towel. As I recall, I had to repeat the treatment sometime in January. Maybe you could try stacking the supers in a tighter place, and use the crystals more, say every 4-5 supers instead. Then check in a couple months to see how much of them has disappeared. > I normally put the supers back on the hives and let them clean >them up so when I go to scraping it is not a mess on ME. When I was storing the supers in the house I would set them out after extracting and the bees would go nuts cleaning them all up. Then they were nice and dry. I might do that now but don't have any bees here at the house to do the work. Moving the supers out to the bee yards would be more work. However, one old-timer did tell me that it is a good idea to store the supers at the apiaries after extracting. That way next spring they are right where you need them and you don't have to worry about driving thru the mud. He built long stands covered with hardware cloth (1/4" mesh, against mice) to hold tight stacks of supers, and put a lid across, jacked up somewhat to keep air moving thru. You get the idea anyway. The bees could get right in there easily to clean up, and the constant air flow (and cold) foiled the moths. > Only seen three swarms last year. Yes swarms are quite a novelty anymore. A few years ago I had some nasty brood combs in a stack of supers which were not being used. It was maybe end of May and I opened the stack to find wax worms all thru them, starting to make a real mess. Well, I didn't know if it would help, but I put some moth crystals in there. A few weeks later a swarm actually showed up and moved into that stack! They were obviously confused by the moth crystal fumes (!!) so I set a clean hive right there and they went right in. Those bees must have been pretty desperate for a place to live! >> >> Why do you want to store the combs out of the hive bodies? Wonder if it >>is the moths that are of concern. > > Moths were the big thing. > I am the one that lost 28 hives last year when I tried >Wintergreen Oil. I was told that I started to late but I don't think >the stuff is as good as it is suppose to be. ( that is my opinion) Haven't tried the oil myself, yet anyway. Sorry to hear of your losses. I hope you can get things built back up this coming season. Best wishes, Joel Govostes Freeville, NY ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 08:21:29 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: David Green Subject: Reminder: A Common Mistake Bees are now building fast in most of North America, according to what I see and hear from others. It's a good time to review a simple basic thing that is one of the most common mistakes that new beekeepers make. (And old timers are not immune to this error too.) This is a very dangerous season for the bees. In the early winter, there is little brood, and bees are not very active, so they eat little. But they are raising a lot of brood now, and every chance they get, they are out looking for pollen and nectar. So they are burning up feed. Hives that die during the early winter, rarely die of starvation. Usually they are weak going into winter and cannot hold their heat. Or they have mites, or a failing queen. But the best, the strongest, the most beautiful hives are the most vulnerable right now. If they do not have sufficient provisions, they are living "on the edge." On good days they can bring in more feed. They will keep building. But you and I know there will be some cold days, perhaps a storm, a rainy spell, yet to come. And in a matter of just a couple days, that beautiful hive will be dead! You will find a huge mass of stinking bees most with their heads in the cells, trying to get a last trace of honey from the bottom of the cell. Or you'll find the brood all dead, and a remnant of bees quivering from the last energy their weakened muscles can extract from their bodies. It is a sad sight, and entirely preventable. Every strong hive right now is a pregnant cow. If you lose it, you've lost both the cow and the calf. CHECK THEM ASAP! If there is little CAPPED honey, only nectar, they are living day by day, and have no resources that will carry them through some bad days. Best plan of all, if possible. Give them back a couple frames of capped honey right next on either side of the cluster. That is a reserve that is instantly available to them, even in the nastiest weather. Don't do it on both sides, as you can block the queen from laying, if the weather should be nice. Then go ahead and feed some syrup, too. Alternatively, you can put on a super with three or four frames of honey. Center these directly above the cluster. If you are in the north, put a sheet of newspaper over the brood nest. You can make a small hole through it, just above the cluster. They can get the honey, but not have to heat the empty part of the box. They will remove the newspaper in their own time. If you don't have any honey saved, perhaps you can take from a hive that has a surplus. Any hives that are honey bound at this time of year, will not develop very well, and they are likely to swarm. A hive that is overly heavy may need a check anyway; sometimes it is queenless, so they are eating little. These can be broken up and given to other hives that need the honey. Better that you do it, than that they are robbed out later. If you don't have any honey available, then feed what you have. But in estimating the reserve of the bees; we need to emphasize the point: ONLY CAPPED HONEY COUNTS. If a hive has less than two full deep frames of capped honey, they are vulnerable to a bad weather spell. In the south we can easily get lulled at this time of year. We are experiencing an early flow. Hives with a honey reserve are making more honey. There is nectar dripping all over the place, and a few hives are capping new honey. But hives without a reserve have brought in much less nectar. They need capped honey within quick reach. You can guarantee there will be more barren times before the main flow. I have seen beautiful hives with big clusters, die just days before the main flow breaks. I am vulnerable to this failing as well. There is a lot of equipment to prepare. Honey customers are clammoring for the now scarce supply, as most beekeepers are sold out. There are flowers everywhere, and bees are just a hummin'. It's easy to get complaisant. But I have to remind myself that the bees come first: I've got to get out and make sure they have enough to get through to the real flow. May your flowers be full of nectar. And may you have plenty of surviving bees! Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green, PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC 29554 (Dave & Jan's Pollination Service, Pot o'Gold Honey Co.) Pollination for lay people, students, teachers ....Of bees, beekeepers, and food http://users.aol.com/queenbjan/primbees.htm Pollination for the pros - those involved in doing it: Practical Pollination Home Page Dave & Janice Green http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html Jan's Sweetness and Light Varietal Honeys and Gift Sets http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.ht ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 08:21:31 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: David Green Subject: First Swarm: Report from Carolina Eighty-six degrees yesterday: Bloom sighted: redbud, anise hyssop, huckleberry, strawberry, pear, peach, crab apple, mustard, collards. Farmers are cutting the fields as fast as they can, in preparation for corn planting. But the early warmth has given whole fields of anise hyssop on the uncut fields. I have never seen so much - whole fields of bloom. Yesterday a swarm from an unknown source moved into one of a stack of deadouts, just outside our warehouse. They are now cleaning up the comb, and happy as clams. I'll give them a couple days to settle, then give them a frame or two of honey. No serious cold weather in sight, though forecasts indicate some cooling. But the full moon is two weeks away, that that will be the time to watch. We can't have a freeze now, without a LOT of damage. Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green, PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC 29554 (Dave & Jan's Pollination Service, Pot o'Gold Honey Co.) Pollination for lay people, students, teachers ....Of bees, beekeepers, and food http://users.aol.com/queenbjan/primbees.htm Pollination for the pros - those involved in doing it: Practical Pollination Home Page Dave & Janice Green http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html Jan's Sweetness and Light Varietal Honeys and Gift Sets http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 08:32:47 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: New Web Site On Mon, 3 Mar 1997 20:44:15 -0500 Conrad Sigona writes: >> "The HoneyBee" - An Educational Program About Honey Bees, >> Their Role In Nature, & Their Value >To >> All Mankind. >> >> This program can now be downloaded from my new site in the US. >> >> http://www.xensie.com/users/alwine >> "Learn About HoneyBees & Beekeeping" > >That should be http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine Thanks Conrad, I think I have spent too much time getting the site up there! Al ___ Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"-- Educational Program About Honey Bees With A Superb Slide Show-Version 2.1 (c) 1997 Download From USA- http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 06:32:39 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul Cronshaw, D.C." Subject: First Swarm In-Reply-To: <199703030503.VAA20213@beach.silcom.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Bee-listers, I went out this weekend to check on my 5 hives. Lots of activity. While I was meditating and watching all this activity, I started to look around the neighboring trees to check for swarms. Lo and behold, I noticed some activity about 20 feet in front of my hives. Nice swarm resting on an oak stump. I grabbed a brood chamber and hived my first swarm this season. Even got a chance to find the queen and coax her into the hive. Just so happens that my neighbor has been asking me to put a hive on her 3 acres to help pollinate her trees (and the neighbor's also). Seems she has become aware of the lack of bees in her yard. Needless to say, she was very happy when I showed up with this swarm. It is a good feeling to be a pollinator in a small scale operation. It promises to be a good season in Santa Barbara, CA. Paul Cronshaw DC Cyberchiro and Hobby Beekeeper ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 07:56:43 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: tracheal mites in brood cells In-Reply-To: <1.5.4.16.19970304072240.53dfc5d4@wvnvm.wvnet.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > In your critique for Sci. agric., you made the statement that in Germany, > tracheal mites are beginning to invade brood cells: > > > (If this is truly the case, then we had > >better watch out because the +Tracheal Mites+ in Germany now seek out > >sealed brood, and not predominently 1 to 4 day old bees as they do > >here). > >Do you have a reference for this remarkable observation? I am trying to > >find all I can regarding mites of honey bees and missed this point. Oh, oh! I am going to have to quit trying to be witty -- or plaster my posts with smilies and 's. I *did* quote the source -- the Nassenheider Evaporator literature, and I'll quote the entire passage from my post again here: "Of course, I am not sure about how many of the Nassenheider claims to believe, since, for one thing, the literature that comes with my Nassenheider Evaporator claims (quoting here) "an ACARICIDE (emphasis added) effect of appr. 90% was achieved in sealed brood cells". (If this is truly the case, then we had better watch out because the +Tracheal Mites+ in Germany now seek out sealed brood, and not predominently 1 to 4 day old bees as they do here). ( Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: RICHARD BARNES Subject: Fructose level in Honey? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Can anyone out there tell me in general terms, what is the level of fructose and glucose in honey. I know it will vary depending on nectar source, but what is the average? Richard Barnes rbarnes@halnet.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 17:45:34 +0000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Seppo Korpela Subject: Re: tracheal mites in brood cells In-Reply-To: <14590970504166@internode.net> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > > To further clarify: in my understanding, the word 'acaricide' relates only > to Acarine disease, which is the effects of tracheal mites. The term 'acaricide' simply means a pesticide used to control mites (belonging to subclass Acari - the mites and ticks). This is a term analogous to 'insecticide' (used to control insects). Therefore there is a danger of misunderstanding (as you do) when the target species name (Acarapis) is so similar to the whole group. Any way, there is no error in the usage of the term 'acaricide' in the text translated from German language. When the Germans write and speak of acaricides in connection with the Nassenheider evaporator they surely only mean Varroa as the tracheal mite is no more a problem in Germany. ============================================================================= * Seppo Korpela Agricultural Research Center of Finland * Phone INT + 358 3 4188 576 Institute of Plant Protection * FAX INT + 358 3 4188 584 FIN-31600 Jokioinen * E-mail seppo.korpela@mtt.fi Finland ============================================================================= ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 08:36:46 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: stop best of bee-l Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Actually, I like the idea of Best of BEE-L, though I don't subscribe at present. BEE-L does fine by me --- I can erase nine out of ten of the messages without even opening them up. However, when I go out of town for a week (as occurs commonly --- for example a couple of weeks ago when I went to southern Mexico to see the monarch butterflies), too many messages accumulate in my mainframe mailbox. Then I get the message: System Mailbox Disk OverUse NOTIFICATION NUMBER 1 Alternatively, for the next trip (to Santa Cruz Island on the 17th), I will surely use Best of BEE-L instead of BEE-L. The mailbox won't overflow, but (hopefully) I shouldn't miss anything important. Adrian Adrian M. Wenner (805) 893-2838 (UCSB office) Ecol., Evol., & Marine Biology (805) 893-8062 (UCSB FAX) Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara (805) 963-8508 (home office & FAX) Santa Barbara, CA 93106 *********************************************************************** * "THIS LIFE may be the only chance you'll ever get to show what * * you can do." Pot-Shots #6923 * * Copyright, Ashleigh Brilliant --- used with permission * *********************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 20:36:29 +0000 Reply-To: progrope@iafrica.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Chris van Zyl Subject: DEAD BEES AT FREE HONEY MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT After exctracting I put my frames and extractor out for the bees to remove the unused honey. I alway find lots of dead bees after this. Can anybody explin why? Do they overfeed, fight or what? Is this a good thing to do? Regards Chris Chris van Zyl Progro Consultancy - Port Elizabeth - South Africa ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 18:04:24 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Charlie Bradley Subject: Re: Fw: bee identification > Message text written by Discussion of Bee Biology > >Greetings:I received this message and I am hoping someone can help me I.D. > this bee"...... > > The bald bodies, large size and nocturnal activity suggest to me that they > were not bees at all. In Europe, my guess would be the hornet Vespa crabo. > Is this species is present in the US? The hornet Vespa crabo is present in the US. It was imported some how several years ago and at least in the soutern part of Indiana has been identified frequently. It is a true hornet and as far as I know is the only one that will fly at night. It is frequently attracted to porch lights. Sometimes it will come inside when a door is opened. It can and does sting and should be treated with respect. The one good thing that about them is that they prefer deep woods and do not normally nest in areas of human habitation. If you want positive identification you should locate your local Cooperative Extension Service Office. There is one located in almost all counties in the United States. Hope that this is helpful. Charlie - - "One today is worth two tomorrows" Ben Franklin (0 0) ===============================================o00o==(_)==o00o== Charles R. Bradley Extension Educator Marshall County Extension Office 112 W. Jefferson Street Room 304 Plymouth, IN 46563 Phone: 219-935-8545 Fax: 219-935-8612 E-mail: Charles_Bradley@acn.purdue.edu ================================================================ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 11:06:30 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: Different bees in hive In-Reply-To: <19970303.231654.13335.0.visel7@juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 4 Mar 97 at 0:20, Gerry Visel wrote: Re: Different bees in hive > I just worked the observation hive at the forest preserve near here, > and about 20 percent of the bees are now all black! They were not > before??? Whazup? Could bees maybe lose their color? The rest are a > mixture of bright orange tiger color and light brown, almost reddish > (cordovans?) What a mixture! I'm inclined to believe that the queen is > tapping a new source of sperm! I remember when I got back into bees and hive I bought from a friend, the bees went black and greasy looking. That was Nosema! The hive went downhill and didn't build, numbers of dead and wounded being carried out. Young bees were still of the correct color, it was the older bees that went darker. Is it possible this might be the case? ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 11:06:31 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: Web Pages. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT For those who look for new information, we have upgraded our Web pages. Our views and methods of ventilation. A page listing just some of the products we handle from E.H.Thorne. Queen details and prices. I checked it out this a.m. and all links are now working. ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 11:17:23 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Kenny W Bailey Subject: Re: Fructose level in Honey? In-Reply-To: RICHARD BARNES "Fructose level in Honey?" (Mar 4, 10:46am) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Richard, Check the following NHB website. It may answer your question. http://www.nhb.org/ccp.html Kenny On Mar 4, 10:46am, RICHARD BARNES wrote: > Subject: Fructose level in Honey? > Can anyone out there tell me in general terms, what is the level of fructose > and glucose in honey. I know it will vary depending on nectar source, but > what is the average? > > Richard Barnes > rbarnes@halnet.com >-- End of excerpt from RICHARD BARNES -- Kenny W Bailey E-Mail : kbailey@cumberla Internet: kbailey@cumberla.ces.ncsu.edu Phone : (910) 484-7156 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 11:26:00 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "William J. Morrison" Subject: Starvation amidst plenty MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Never store empty supers above a slotted inner cover. That's what I did and the result was the starvation of a nice colony of bees. There was plenty of honey in two deep hive bodies below, but during the late winter they moved up into the two shallow supers that I had put on to be cleaned up. The probable reason for the movement of the cluster upward through the slot (size = approx. 4 cm X 12 cm) into the empties was probably the fact that is was warmer there on a sunny winter day. The lesson is that cluster and honey stores must not be separated in cold weather. Bill Morrison Southcentral Pennsylvania ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 11:34:47 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Joel Govostes Subject: Re: DEAD BEES AT FREE HONEY Comments: To: progrope@iafrica.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" This is unfortunately a common result. Bees do not normally gather honey. They go after nectar, which is not nearly as dense. Honey is so thick and sticky the bees who fall into or on it in all the melee usually get stuck. The more they move to try to get out, the more they get bogged down. A number often will fall in and evidently suffocate as the honey coats their abdomens. Honey also has a concentrated aroma which can make the bees really excited. I have seen some fighting and overall commotion in such a situation, with the bees all confused and many falling into honey, getting stuck. Once there are several bees floating in/on the honey, the others can land on them and feed without getting caught! When I am done using my small extractor I usually tip it sideways, downward at an angle and put a sheet of plastic or boards down, so the honey will have someplace to run and collect, spreading out the surface area to allow the bees access without so many falling in. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 06:47:15 -1000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Walter Patton Subject: Re: stop best of bee-l MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Adrian If I make any post while you are away I will send them also direct to you as I know you would not want to miss one of my posting, and I doubt if it would make it to " best of". Hopfully your travels will bring you back to Hawaii for another visit. I continue to use the knowledge that you shared about ant control. Our B & B has a lot less ants now. Have a good day. Walter Walter & Elisabeth Patton Hale Lamalani-Bed & Breakfast Hawaiian Honey House-Honey Packers A Hawaii Beekeepers Bed & Breakfast 27-703 A. Ka`ie`ie Homestead Rd. Papaikou,HI.96781 "The Bee Hive The Fountain Of Youth And Health" ---------- > From: Adrian Wenner > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: stop best of bee-l > Date: Monday, March 03, 1997 5:36 AM > > Actually, I like the idea of Best of BEE-L, though I don't subscribe at > present. BEE-L does fine by me --- I can erase nine out of ten of the > messages without even opening them up. > > However, when I go out of town for a week (as occurs commonly --- for > example a couple of weeks ago when I went to southern Mexico to see the > monarch butterflies), too many messages accumulate in my mainframe mailbox. > Then I get the message: > > System Mailbox Disk OverUse > NOTIFICATION NUMBER 1 > > Alternatively, for the next trip (to Santa Cruz Island on the 17th), I > will surely use Best of BEE-L instead of BEE-L. The mailbox won't > overflow, but (hopefully) I shouldn't miss anything important. > > Adrian > > Adrian M. Wenner (805) 893-2838 (UCSB office) > Ecol., Evol., & Marine Biology (805) 893-8062 (UCSB FAX) > Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara (805) 963-8508 (home office & FAX) > Santa Barbara, CA 93106 > > *********************************************************************** > * "THIS LIFE may be the only chance you'll ever get to show what * > * you can do." Pot-Shots #6923 * > * Copyright, Ashleigh Brilliant --- used with permission * > *********************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 12:36:56 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: James Morton <106074.517@compuserve.com> Subject: Re: Nosema Message text written by Discussion of Bee Biology >I wonder if the formic acid treatment for mites would not also control nosema as formic acic being a single carbon acid should be more biologicially active than the two carbon acetic acid. We in the US hopefully will be allowed to use the formic acid systems in the near future and this would shurely be a boon if the formic acid did indead reduce the spore load in the colonies to a below economic level especially since it would be an on going treatment.< I have wondered this too, but it seems to me that the the concentration of formic acid vapour in the hive is going to be a tiny fraction of the concentration of acetic acid vapour used to sterilise combs, as a result of the relatively small quantities used, slow evaporation and open hive entrance. My guess is that is wouldn't be effective, and as a general principle, I suspect that anything that would harm the relatively resilient nosema spores would also have an unfortunate effect on the bees in the hive. What do others think? James Morton London UK ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 12:44:06 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Mary Caldwell Subject: Re: Anise Hyssop seeds In the US, another source of Anise Hyssop seeds is Shepherd's Garden Seeds in Connecticut. I don't have their address handy, but they have a website: www.shepherds.com. Hope this helps, 'cause I'm growing anise hyssop this year from seed too... Mary Caldwell Benicia, CA ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 13:55:41 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Stan Sandler Subject: Re: wood rosin Comments: cc: harmon@cpnet.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Does anyone out there know where a person can purchase wood rosin to be >used in a coating to protect woodenwear used in beekeeping?I am located in >Manitoba. Thanks. Hello Murray and All: A large plant making rosins (there are MANY grades) from pine (they are a byproduct of the manufacture of turpentine) is: Hercules Incorporated Wilmington, Delaware 19894 USA That's the head office, the big plant is in Georgia, I think. A Canadian company that sells smaller quantities is: L.V. Lomas Limited 99 Summerlea Road Brampton Ontario L6T 4V2 416-458-1555 Rosin is one of those things that is MUCH cheaper in bulk. I bet you could buy a barrel of it for not much more than a music shop would charge for twenty little pieces to rub on your fiddle bow. But then transportation.... Rosin, rosin oil, mineral oil, and BEESWAX can be used to make your own flypaper. So stick that on your list of beeswax uses Herb! Regards, Stan ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 18:13:15 +0000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Joe Hemmens Subject: Pyrethroid resistance MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Hello Beekeepers, It is now accepted that there is Varroa resistance to pyrethroids in Italy and France, maybe elsewhere. When this subject is raised it is often said that this phenomenon is due to beekeepers either using approved chemicals in a non-approved fashion or using non-approved chemicals such as Mavrik. Of course I accept that this may be the case, but I would like to hear the evidence that these factors have caused resistance. Joe Hemmens ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 20:21:03 +0000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Seppo Korpela Subject: Re: Nosema In-Reply-To: <199703041237_MC2-120E-27BC@compuserve.com> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > > I have wondered this too, but it seems to me that the the concentration of > formic acid vapour in the hive is going to be a tiny fraction of the > concentration of acetic acid vapour used to sterilise combs, as a result of > the relatively small quantities used, slow evaporation and open hive > entrance. My guess is that is wouldn't be effective, and as a general > principle, I suspect that anything that would harm the relatively resilient > nosema spores would also have an unfortunate effect on the bees in the > hive. > > What do others think? > > James Morton > London UK > There is an article that answers to the above mentioned question by Ingemar Fries published in Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Research on Bee Pathology, September 5-7, 1990, Ghent, Belgium. 1991, 118-119. The last concluding sentence of the summary reads as follows: "The results show that treatment with formic acid for control of V. jacobsoni, as applied in this study, does not significantly decrease the infectivity of N. apis spores in honey bee faeces on the top bars of treated combs. " ============================================================================= * Seppo Korpela Agricultural Research Center of Finland * Phone INT + 358 3 4188 576 Institute of Plant Protection * FAX INT + 358 3 4188 584 FIN-31600 Jokioinen * E-mail seppo.korpela@mtt.fi Finland ============================================================================= ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 15:46:59 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: First Swarm In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 4 Mar 97 at 6:32, Paul Cronshaw, D.C. wrote: First Swarm > While I was meditating and watching all this activity, I started to look > around the neighboring trees to check for swarms. Lo and behold, I noticed > some activity about 20 feet in front of my hives. Nice swarm resting on an > oak stump. I grabbed a brood chamber and hived my first swarm this season. Without any sarcasm intended!! ;-)) I would be looking in the hives for swarming preparations not into the trees. We have discussed this many times, but the waste in letting a hive swarm (in regards to the honey crop) defies economic logic. My advice, keep them working, not swarming. It is nice helping out neigbours though!!! ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 20:00:01 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Frank & Phronsie Humphrey MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All It was 73 degrees today so I got a chance to look into some of my hives. All are boiling with bees. Most hve refilled their feed supers with nectur and are ready for mor supers. All had a fair number of drones. Some are so comjested that there is a real danger of swarming. Since I won't be getting queens until the first week in April, I 'm going to remove my breeder queen and let the colony raise me some. I've never tried this I have heard both pro and con from experienced beekeepers. Anyone care to comment?? Frank Humphrey beekeepr@cdc.net ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 23:43:53 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Dave from Scranton Subject: Re: First Swarm Comments: To: David Eyre In-Reply-To: <199703042053.PAA09715@segwun.muskoka.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Tue, 4 Mar 1997, David Eyre wrote: > > On 4 Mar 97 at 6:32, Paul Cronshaw, D.C. wrote: First Swarm > > > While I was meditating and watching all this activity, I started to look > > around the neighboring trees to check for swarms. Lo and behold, I noticed > > some activity about 20 feet in front of my hives. Nice swarm resting on an > > oak stump. I grabbed a brood chamber and hived my first swarm this season. > > Without any sarcasm intended!! ;-)) I would be looking in the hives for > swarming preparations not into the trees. I would also say look into your hives and see if there seem to be a few bees missing. Chances are they came from one of your hives if they were planted so close to your hives. ****************************************************************************** Dave D. Cawley, Maitre d' | ***ALERT shameless plug ALERT*** The Internet Cafe | Scranton, Pennsylvania | ASK ME FOR A COPY OF WEBPHONE!!! (717) 344-1969 | (or try www.scranton.com/webphone) ddc1@lydian.scranton.com | ****************************************************************************** URL => http://www.scranton.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 22:55:16 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "MR WILLIAM L HUGHES JR." Subject: Re: Different bees in hive >>What kind of bee stock are you using now? If you have some Italians and some Carniolans, this could be a clue. Do your neighboring beekeepers use any different color stock?<< Dr. Skinner, In this yard I have only Italian Bees. Also the closest beekeeper to me is over 4 miles away. I do have some Caucasain Bees in a yard around 2 miles from this one. Bill Hughes Bent Holly Honey Farms Brighton, Tennessee, USA ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 23:08:27 -0800 Reply-To: mwr@hotcity.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Reddell Subject: Re: beeswax/bacteria MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > What property does a bee have to keep mold off of beeswax and bacteria > (with the exception of Clostridium botulinum) and molds out of honey? I've gotten a little behind in my reading the past couple of days, but a quick scan of the subject lines of my still unread notes doesn't show any responses to this, so I'll take a crack at it. The bees evaporate about 12 parts of moisture out of the nectar to yeild one part of finished honey. There is less moisture in the honey than there is in the micro-organisms that find their way into it. Consequently, the moisture-hungry honey draws fluids out through the cell wall of molds and bacteria by osmosis. The result is that the organism dies of dehydration. Encapsulated bacteria such as botulism are encased in a hard protective shell that prevents thier demise, but nonetheless, honey is a hostile environment in which they merely survive, and do not grow and flourish. This is why it's important to store honey away from excess humidity or moisture. I don't know anything about the interaction of wax and microorganisms. Michael Reddell mwr@hotcity.com http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 23:58:57 -0800 Reply-To: mwr@hotcity.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Reddell Subject: Re: Help:Ant problem in Mating Nucs MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Bently Durant wrote: > Are there any ways that ants help out more then > they hurt? Ants are in the same class with yellowjackets in that they are EXTREMELY beneficial but don't have enough sense to keep from being branded as pests. The world would be a much messier place without ants cleaning up all the time. They quitely go about their business of cleaning up the messes of the world around them and go unnoticed until they get in our way. On the similar topic of wasps, one time in mid-summer I heard the characteristic hum of bees in a major nectar flow in my pussywillow tree. I did a doubletake, since pussywillow doesn't bloom in the middle of summer! Sure enough, the hum was not from bees but from yelowjackets feeding on a massive infestation of aphids in the tree. I had noticed the sticky honedew from the aphids on the sidewalk for several days before the yellojackets arrived and was considering how best to treat it. Within a week they had pretty much eliminated the aphid problem from the tree. Now if they would just stay away from the picnics and the beehives ... Michael Reddell mwr@hotcity.com http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 07:39:51 -0600 Reply-To: bbirkey@interaccess.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Barry Birkey Organization: www.Birkey.Com Subject: Internet Explorer Security Hole MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit A serious bug has been found in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0/3.01 for Windows95 and WindowsNT users. The nature of the bug is such that clever Internet hackers can set up a web page that sends commands to your computer. Thus casual web browsing to random sites could result in file corruption or other damage to your computer, including having your hard drive erased. Email, USENET, and browsing popular Internet sites (like Yahoo, etc) are perfectly fine. An update is available. For more information, check out the Microsoft site at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/default.asp Macintosh users are unaffected. -Barry -- Barry Birkey West Chicago, Illinois USA bbirkey@interaccess.com http://www.birkey.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 07:32:35 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Ants and aphids In-Reply-To: <331D27C1.D18@hotcity.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > Sure enough, the hum was not from bees but from yelowjackets > feeding on a massive infestation of aphids in the tree. I had noticed > the sticky honedew from the aphids on the sidewalk for several days > before the yellojackets arrived and was considering how best to treat it. > Within a week they had pretty much eliminated the aphid problem from the > tree. We have ants here that protect and herd aphids on poplar trees. They keep the aphids on one or two lower branches and overgraze those limbs to the point where the branches almost inevitably die. I understand the ants are keeping the aphids for their honeydew. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 08:48:15 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ed Levi Subject: Re: Different bees in hive Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >I have also observer that some strains of Italians darken as thy mature. >The young bees out for play flights are very yellow while the more mature, >foraging bees, are very dark. > >Frank & Phronsie Humphrey >beekeepr@cdc.net Are you saying that blondes have more fun? Ed Levi ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 12:28:21 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: Starvation amidst plenty In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 4 Mar 97 at 11:26, William J. Morrison wrote: Starvation amidst plenty > Never store empty supers above a slotted inner cover. That's what I did > and the result was the starvation of a nice colony of bees. There was > plenty of honey in two deep hive bodies below, but during the late winter > they moved up into the two shallow supers that I had put on to be cleaned up. > The probable reason for the movement of the cluster upward through the slot > (size = approx. 4 cm X 12 cm) into the empties was probably the fact that > is was warmer there on a sunny winter day. The lesson is that cluster and > honey stores must not be separated in cold weather. While I don't argue with the lesson, stated in the last line, I might question the cause of the starvation. If the cluster, (possibly not fed in the fall) started off too high in the brood chambers. Then during the course of the winter the bees can only go upwards looking for stores, of course, if there is no stores above then starvation results. I have seen hives, dead, up against the inner cover with lots of stores below and off to one side. My thoughts are that lots of fall feed drives the cluster down creating the ideal cluster position. Low down in the bottom box, with lots of stores above. Comments! ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 12:28:23 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks In-Reply-To: <199703050101.UAA00241@cdc3.cdc.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 4 Mar 97 at 20:00, Frank & Phronsie Humphrey wrote: > getting queens until the first week in April, I 'm going to remove my > breeder queen and let the colony raise me some. I've never tried this I > have heard both pro and con from experienced beekeepers. Anyone care to > comment?? By all means do it, BUT, do it right!! The breeder queen needs to be safe guarded, and allowed to build another hive. Take her plus some sealed brood plus stores and a goodly number of bees off to one side, leaving on the old site the remainder of the hive. (this assumes you want new queens from the old queen mother) The field bees from the old hive now return to the new hive , boosting the cell builder. The builder will now start to raise cells from larvae and eggs left on the old site. Here is where it can fail. You must be aware of ALL cells being produced and at the 4th day ALL sealed cells (even short, uneven or underfed) must be cut out.Brush the bees off the frame to be really sure you get them all. DO NOT SHAKE or you will damage the cells. If you don't cut them out the bees will produce an intercaste queen which for our purposes will be useless, in a few weeks that queen will be supersceded. In the meantime, of course, the hive will be in decline. Needless to say, the cell builder will need pollen and feeding with 1-1 syrup, and some feed to the queen mother would'nt go amiss. If you can restrict the flying drones of the breeder mother during mating time, even better. ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 12:28:21 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: DEAD BEES AT FREE HONEY In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 2 Mar 97 at 20:36, Chris van Zyl wrote: DEAD BEES AT FREE HONEY > After exctracting I put my frames and extractor out for the bees to > remove the unused honey. > I alway find lots of dead bees after this. Can anybody explin why? > Do they overfeed, fight or what? > Is this a good thing to do? > There many an arguement on this process of clearing extracted supers. Regardless of how it's done, fighting will invarably happen, and that's what happened here. If it doesn't bother you to see drifts of dead bees around, then yes, you can clear old honey or dripping boxes by leaving them around the bee yard. A better way to prevent robbing from becoming a problem would be to put the boxes back on the hives, leaving a opening in the inner cover. Just make sure there are no openings in these boxes to the outside.The bees will now come up and clean those boxes so that there is no honey residue left, when clean they can be stored with no drips, till next season. ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 12:47:30 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Free Bee Ads Now Working MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Someone was looking for a hive loader. One (plus more good stuff) has shown up on the Free Beekeeping Ads Page at http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/BeeAds/index3.htm The page is now working. And it is free! Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 22:17:21 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Robert Stevens Subject: Re: Nassenheider Evaporator vs Pads Comments: To: allend@internode.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: Allen Dick > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Nassenheider Evaporator vs Pads > Date: Sunday, March 02, 1997 4:59 PM > > (Note: I wrote this for sci.agriculture.beekeeping and thought it might be > of interest here. Of course I am always interested in being proven wrong > (that's how I learn), so rebuttals are welcome). > > >The Nassenheider evaporator, of which 50,000 have been sold in Germany > >alone, does not kill queens because it releases the formic in a very > >controlled fashion and very slowly over a two to three week period. > > Some preliminary Canadian research indicates that there may be very > noticable reduction in honey production when *slow release* methods are > used in the spring. >I'm not familiar with this research, but I would be interested in learning more about it. We are more interested in fall treatment anyway. With our apple pollination, and early Spring honey flow, it' s really difficult for us to do any Spring treatment, so if we can get the mites in the fall, we'll winter better. Maybe, we could use the pad system in the Spring, but according to our actual experience of experimenting with both systems, the pad system did use more formic, more labor and seemed far more hazardous. > >The Canadian researchers at The American Beekeeping Federation highly > >recommended it for "hobbiests." I disagree with them. I think commercial > beekeepers can use it far more efficiently than the Canadian system. The > evaporator requires filling only once and uses much less formic. Treatment > costs 25 cents per hive - not bad for treating both mites. The Canadian pad > system requires much more formic and 3 to four trips to the bee yard. > > I have a Nassenheider Evaporator in my hand-- and the instructions -- as I > write this. The Nassenheider Evaparator requires either 100 cm2 or 150 cm2 > (ml) of 60% formic. Two such units must be used if there is brood in 2 > chambers such there is in Alberta in the fall. This totals 200-300 ml of > 60% formic. We found it necessary to use only 100 cm2 in one brood chamber. In October and November in the Northeast, the brood, what there is of it, is in the bottom brood chamber, the second brood chamber is chock full of honey from our fall flow. > > Moreover, each unit must be placed fairly close to the brood, I understand > that it must be in a half-frame in place of a comb. Therefore, two special > frames are required per normal hive, and they must be inserted in each box > of each and every hive, a time consuming process, that mandates extra > equipment be on hand. The displaced frames must also be toted somewhere > for temporary storage. We didn't use a special frame - just an old one - we didn't have to temporarity store the displaced frame - we just extracted it. > > Dangerous free liquid formic acid must be carried on the truck and poured > into a special filler bottle every few units. Then the units must be > filled. Safety practice requires use of a respirator, gloves, and goggles > when handling liquid formic. The units themselves are fairly delicate, and > have a wick that is subject to damage in normal commercial rough handling. > The wick must be replaced at each use. We used a Kitchen joy bottle and put it in a five gallon plastic pail - seemed pretty safe to us. The nozzle fit right into the evaporator. the only time we were exposed to any formic fumes at all was when we poured the formic into a funnel. To us the amount of exposure with pads sloshing around in a pail and then being handled with rubber gloves and tongs seemed far more dangerous. > > Recommendations are to check evaporation rate after 2-3 days and trim the > wick, if necessary. This means a trip to pull frames and check. > > These are hardly simple, quick processes, and require partially > disassembling each hive thrice -- once to treat, and once to check, and > once to remove the unit. Skilled staff is required for each action. We did not find any of this necessary - we used the smallest amount of wick possible to get the maximum time of evaporation. I suppose if you were treating in the summer the way the Germans are and had hives of different strengths you might want to do this, but for fall treatment in a relatively broodless period, we did not find it necessary. > > Compare to the Canadian system: Take a known number of meat soaker pads > and place in a bucket with a measured amount of formic. Wait overnight. > Pour off any excess acid. Send almost anyone to a bee yard in a light > vehicle with a pair of plastic or stainless tongs, safety glasses (maybe) > and some emergency safety equipment, as well as a smoker. > > The person removes the outer lid, peels back the sack, and with the tongs > places a single pad on each top box and quickly turns down the sack or > plastic. If no sacks or plastic is used, the bees *should* be smoked down, > but I imagine are often not. > > The pads are not dripping and no liquid is apparent. There is no potential > for serious leakage. Most people do not wear goggles or a breather for > this since there are not many fumes, and no free acid. Soda and a mask, > and water should be available though in case of some freak accident. > > The treatments should be repeated from three to five times at intervals of > anywhere from 4 to 10 days (not critical). Since we often pass yards on the > way to working on others, this method does not necessarily mean more > driving. The visits are very brief. > > Using 30-40 ml treatments, the total dose is 90-150 ml (min) or 120-200 ml > (max). This minimum dosage is actually *lower* than the amount needed for > maximum treatment using a single Nassenheider Evaporator. We usually have > brood in two or three boxes in Sept, so we would need two for a total of > *300-400* ml using the Nassenheider Evaporator, but only 200 with the pads. > > >> The danger of queen loss by the sudden evaporation from the pads is much > >> > more. > > Although there have been some anecdotal reports, they are usually > associated with applying the formic on the floor -- not pads -- or using > incorrect amounts at poor times. When the recommendations are followed, > there is no appreciable loss using pads. > > >With the Nassenheider, you can treat at the last honey harvest and leave > >the evaporator in the hive until the first Spring inspection. > > This means having a big gap in the frames where the thing sits. This is > likely to cause poor wintering (colony death) here in Alberta. > > > This results in much less labor and mileage costs than the pad system. If > > two men are harvesting a thirty hive yard, it adds about 15 minutes to > > remove one brood frame and put in the frame with the evaporator on it. > > The official instructions require *two* Nassenheider Evaporators per hive > for my outfit. That means opening the lower brood chamber -- not a simple > task. This doesn't look like a 15 minute job to me. After all, we still > have to fill these things with liquid formic. > > >If you wanted to get some Fumidil into them, you could come back a month > later and replace the evaporator frame with a division board feeder filled > with sugar syrup. > > Sounds like re-arranging the brood chamber in fall -- a prescription for > hive death where I live. Besides we are far too busy in the fall to fool > around with this. > > >The formic works in cold weather on the tracheal mite too so I see it as > >the salvation for Northern beekeeping - we can't all take our bees to > >Florida. There is a whole page on these evaporators in the 1997 Betterbee > >catalogue - they cost about two varroa strips! > > Soaker pads cost 1.5 cents each for a total of 7.5 cents -- if we go the > whole 5 trips. We use much less formic, have less danger, cut labour cost > to a trivial amount, and ensure that, since there are multiple visits, that > each hive will get treated at least most of the trips. None will be > accidentally missed. Four or five trips to the bee yards may be possible in Sasketchwan where I imagine your beehives are all close together and placed in a manner whereby you can hit a lot of them in a single day, but in the Northeast, it is getting harder and harder to find rural locations for bee yards, and ours tend to be hither and thither, so that multiple trips to a bee yard are just not economically feasible. > > The Nassenheider Evaporators cost *much* more, use more acid and are not > proven in North American conditions. Moreover, most experts agree that > formic alone will not always control varroa sufficiently that Apistan will > never be needed. Usually there is a recommendation to monitor mite levels > and rotate treatments where varroa is a problem. This is certainly true and most Canadians I have talked to seem to be using apistan strips as well. The Nassenheider evaporators cost less than two strips. If someone in this country could perfect them and mass produce them, they ought to cost less than one strip. They are not the perfect delivery system, but then, for my operation anyway neither is the pad system, and having actually compared both systems and factoring in mileage and wear and tear on my truck and the cost of my labor, the evaporator is by far the most efficient and ecomomic for me to use, but it may not be for everyone. > > Of course, I am not sure about how many of the Nassenheider claims to > believe, since, for one thing, the literature that comes with my > Nassenheider Evaporator claims 'an acaricide effect of appr. 90% was > achieved in sealed brood cells'. (If this is truly the case, then we had > better watch out because the +Tracheal Mites+ in Germany now seek out > sealed brood, and not predominently 1 to 4 day old bees as they do here). This is fascinating - could you elucidate - how do they do it - do they actually penetrate the cappings? > > Anyhow, all funning aside, we can use pads spring or fall, save tons of > money and fussing, and still get a good honey crop, something that slow > release methods cannot guarantee when they are used in spring. > > And we still have the many thousands of dollars (10,000?) that we would > have spent on Nassenheider Evaporators, if we find that next year there is > a fantastic breakthough. Formic seems pretty good to me, in whatever form it is used. The sooner we get it approved in the U. S.,the sooner huge amounts of tactic and maverick will cease being used. One thing you might enlighten me on, Alan, is the whole question of immunity to chemicals. It is alleged that the mites cannot develop an immunity to formic as they are doing to fluvalinate. Is this so and if so, why? I think that formic is a simpler compound than fluvalinate. If you don't know the answer, perhaps someone with a background in chemistry can give us the answer. > > Allen Dick VE6CFK > Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 > dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net > http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 17:39:27 -0500 Reply-To: John A Skinner Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John A Skinner Subject: Re: tracheal mites in brood cells In-Reply-To: <14590970504166@internode.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Allen, Your suggestion about an acaricide meaning only refering to acarine disease should be modified a mite (couldn't resist, excuse me). An acaricide is a pesticide that is used to kill mites of all kinds. Ths mites fall under the scientific class name Acari, therefore acaricide literally means "mite killer". Another example, insecticide - a material that kills insects I know this was mitey picky of me ... Grins, John John A. Skinner 218 Ellington Hall Extension Apiculturist University of Tennessee jskinner@utk.edu Knoxville, TN 37901 (423)974-7138 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 20:52:28 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Bently Durant Subject: Re: Ants and aphids MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: Allen Dick > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Ants and aphids > Date: Wednesday, March 05, 1997 8:32 AM > > > Sure enough, the hum was not from bees but from yelowjackets > > feeding on a massive infestation of aphids in the tree. I had noticed > > the sticky honedew from the aphids on the sidewalk for several days > > before the yellojackets arrived and was considering how best to treat it. > > Within a week they had pretty much eliminated the aphid problem from the > > tree. > > We have ants here that protect and herd aphids on poplar trees. > They keep the aphids on one or two lower branches and overgraze those > limbs to the point where the branches almost inevitably die. > > I understand the ants are keeping the aphids for their honeydew. I think that bees will collect the honeydew from these aphids too. can someone comfirm this? In many ant books they are called ant cows because they are treated just like milk cows by ants. If I remember it right, speicial ants enlarge themselves and become storing tanks for liquids. thank you bently durant ...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````,,,...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````~~~ ~~~````` Why don't you join me in dyslexia land. A lend weair evey thimg is spelled ront. I think that I know everything because I know every thing that I learned and what I havent learned I don't know about :^) Bently Durant bently@hcn.hcnews.com ...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````,,,...,,,...,,,~~~~~`````~~~ ~~~````` ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 23:14:57 -0800 Reply-To: mwr@hotcity.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Reddell Subject: Re: Ants and aphids MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sugar ants (the little tiny black ones that don't really bite much but get into beehives and kitchens) definitely herd aphids and milk them for honeydew. Bees will collect honeydew in a pinch but it's inferior to nectar and they only use it in a pinch. In my opinion, herding aphids is not one of the things that make ants desireable in the ecosystem. It falls more in the pest category if you're a gardener. It is a pretty fascinating social behavior though. Michael Reddell mwr@hotcity.com http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 08:31:00 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "George W.D. Fielder" Subject: Re: Nassenheider Evaporator vs Pads BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU +++++ > ............... It is alleged that the mites cannot develop an >immunity to formic as they are doing to fluvalinate. Is this so and if so, >why? I think that formic is a simpler compound than fluvalinate. If you >don't know the answer, perhaps someone with a background in chemistry can >give us the answer. I certainly do not have a huge background in chemistry but I would like to add some comments especially for us beginners or hobbyists. At a recent OBA meeting there was a researcher, Dr Nasr, discussing mite treatment with Formic acid as well as a representative from the manufacturer of Apistan. Both made it clear that mites can build up a resistance (or tolerance) to EITHER chemicals. It was emphasized that ANY control (certainly any chemical control) can lead to resistance if it is used exclusively and continuously for long periods of time especially if during those periods the chemical concentration diminishes below the effective level. Thus it is desirable to have two (or more) alternate treatments used at DIFFERENT times. The idea is that any natural selection during the use of a chemical is quite useless when the second is applied so we are controlling those more resistant to the other chemical as well as the general population. Of course the mites might start a natural selection of resistance to the second chemical but that is then defeated when we apply the first chemical in the next cycle, Fortunately, the mechanism of these two, Formic acid and Apistan, are quite different and thus the mechanism of resistance or tolerance has to be quite different (i.e. the same change will not protect the mite from both). Apistan works by contact. As the bees walk over the strip, the chemical adheres to their legs and is transferred to the mites. It is effective in controlling Varroa but not trachea (if for no other reason that the tracheal mites are inside the bee and thus not contacted by the Apistan. Formic acid, on the other hand, controls by its fumes being breathed. Both the bees and the mites breathe it but the mites are more susceptible thus the concentration level is critical. It was stated that Formic acid controls both Tracheal and Varroa mites. But, too low a concentration encourages natural selection by allowing mites with a slight resistance from breeding while destroying the general population. If the concentration is too high the mites are destroyed but the bees are damaged or destroyed. Since the concentration in the beehive is a factor of temperature, ventilation, evaporation area etc. etc., one must be careful to follow recommendations and watch temperatures etc. The overall recommendation was to treat with formic acid in the spring during colony build up but before honey super are put on a ten day continuous treatment is recommended, this implies several visits for some pads that only work for 3 or 4 days or one visit if using an 8X10 inch pad of Homasote (tentest). I have no experience with the Nassenheider pads but intend to learn and try. (I seem to have missed the details of these.) In the fall, right after honey is taken off, it is recommended to treat with Apistan for the recommended 45 days. Thank you all for in depth discussions of the many areas. It sure helps to solidify understanding. ............. george fielder. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 09:22:15 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Mike Killoran Subject: Re: Plastic Frame Problems Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >I have talked to Nick at Pierco about this. Apparently there is no >solution. It is not a problem caused by inappropriate frame spacing, >but just an idiosyncrasy of the Pierco frame. Perhaps any plastic frame? I think I know what's going on here. I, too, had a super with mixed wood and Pierco frames. Only the Pierco frames were getting comb built on the tops connecting to the super above. What I realized was, the Pierco frames when new have a thick layer of beeswax on the _top_ of the frames. Wood frames, of course, don't have this. I guess when they coat the Pierco frames with wax, they just dunk them in a vat of melted beeswax. Now, when I install new Pierco frames, I scrape off any beeswax on the top, sides, and bottom of the frames. Sometimes quite a lot comes off. This has improved things considerably. Mike Killoran -------------------- killoran@ll.mit.edu Explanation is easy. (617) 981-2667 (Lexington, MA USA) Prediction is tough. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 08:42:07 CST6CDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Rodney L. Holloway" Organization: Ag. and Environmental Safety Subject: Re: BEE-L Digest - 4 Mar 1997 to 5 Mar 1997 I seem to be getting only the digest. Have been on the list for some time now and apparently was changed to digest only. How do I turn the "active mode" back on so I receive messages as they are posted to the list? Rodney Holloway ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 10:30:32 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ed Costanza Subject: Need More Bee Hives Near Albuquerque, NM I need to purchase or rent about 10 more hives for my orchard for mid to late April. Mites have taken a heavy toll on bee keepers in the area and hives seem to be unavailable. Another bee keeper has a contract for 100 hives near Clovis, New Mexico for apple pollination, but can furnish only 50. He needs 50 more. Is there anyone around NM, CO, AZ, TX, OK with bees for sale? You can contact me at JMPBC@aol.com or call 1-505-864-1621. Ed Costanza ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 11:03:16 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Janet Montgomery & Dan Veilleux Subject: Re: Nassenheider Evaporator vs Pads Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 08:31 AM 3/6/97 EST, you wrote: > BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU >REPLY TO RESISTANCE In my opinion ,Resistance is usually present in one form or another in almost any gene pool but there can different manifistations of this resistance-- For instance let's use us for a crude example-- if my skin is exposed to formic acid I will react in direct proportion to the thickness of my skin in the area exposed-- now we may have different skin thicknesses so those of us that have the thickest skin will tend to survive longer and propagate the species--such an individual may only exist in only 0ne to 1-2 millon. If one couples this with a behaviorial response where one has a better ability to sense the acid and therefore moves away faster than others --this too will increase the chances for survival.You can draw any number of situations. I believe that any organismcan adapt to almost ant situation over time---therefore Apistan , formic acid or even breeding for resistance to mites will ultimately be overcome with enough selection . The trick is to keep the selection pressure down by using different approaches. Sorry for the lecture > >> ............... It is alleged that the mites cannot develop an >>immunity to formic as they are doing to fluvalinate. Is this so and if so, >>why? I think that formic is a simpler compound than fluvalinate. If you >>don't know the answer, perhaps someone with a background in chemistry can >>give us the answer. > >I certainly do not have a huge background in chemistry but I would like to >add some comments especially for us beginners or hobbyists. At a recent OBA >meeting there was a researcher, Dr Nasr, discussing mite treatment with >Formic acid as well as a representative from the manufacturer of Apistan. > Both made it clear that mites can build up a resistance (or tolerance) to >EITHER chemicals. It was emphasized that ANY control (certainly any >chemical control) can lead to resistance if it is used exclusively and >continuously for long periods of time especially if during those periods the >chemical concentration diminishes below the effective level. > >Thus it is desirable to have two (or more) alternate treatments used at >DIFFERENT times. The idea is that any natural selection during the use of a >chemical is quite useless when the second is applied so we are controlling >those more resistant to the other chemical as well as the general >population. Of course the mites might start a natural selection of >resistance to the second chemical but that is then defeated when we apply >the first chemical in the next cycle, > > Fortunately, the mechanism of these two, Formic acid and Apistan, are quite >different and thus the mechanism of resistance or tolerance has to be quite >different (i.e. the same change will not protect the mite from both). >Apistan works by contact. As the bees walk over the strip, the chemical >adheres to their legs and is transferred to the mites. It is effective in >controlling Varroa but not trachea (if for no other reason that the tracheal >mites are inside the bee and thus not contacted by the Apistan. >Formic acid, on the other hand, controls by its fumes being breathed. Both >the bees and the mites breathe it but the mites are more susceptible thus >the concentration level is critical. It was stated that Formic acid >controls both Tracheal and Varroa mites. But, too low a concentration >encourages natural selection by allowing mites with a slight resistance from >breeding while destroying the general population. If the concentration is >too high the mites are destroyed but the bees are damaged or destroyed. > Since the concentration in the beehive is a factor of temperature, >ventilation, evaporation area etc. etc., one must be careful to follow >recommendations and watch temperatures etc. > >The overall recommendation was to treat with formic acid in the spring >during colony build up but before honey super are put on a ten day >continuous treatment is recommended, this implies several visits for some >pads that only work for 3 or 4 days or one visit if using an 8X10 inch pad >of Homasote (tentest). I have no experience with the Nassenheider pads but >intend to learn and try. (I seem to have missed the details of these.) >In the fall, right after honey is taken off, it is recommended to treat with >Apistan for the recommended 45 days. > >Thank you all for in depth discussions of the many areas. It sure helps to >solidify understanding. > >............. george fielder. > > Dan Veilleux Columbus, Ohio USA montveil@iwaynet.net ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 11:46:00 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "George W.D. Fielder" Subject: Re: Nassenheider Evaporator vs Pads BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU +++++ David you asked >What is Homasote (Tentest)? As I understand it from a building supply dealer: tentest is now a generic name for a very light weight fibre board about .5 inches thick. It has been made for decades. It can be used for this treatment but disintegrates quickly when soaked in acid. Homasote is a trade name for a denser fibre board that will take longer to absorb the acid but lasts longer. It also costs about 3 times as much as tentest. i.e. about $30 here in Toronto. It is used as a floor underlayment where good insulation properties are required. Do not confuse either with the thin pressed fiberboard generically called hardboard here in Canada, I understand that both tentest and Homasote are made in the US so building suppliers there should be able to help you. >I never used formic acid as a treatment. >I am new to beekeeping. I would appreciate any information you know about >the concentration and the method of using formic acid. Dr. Medhat Nasr's researched formic acid treatment has been discussed somewhat on BEE-L so check the logs. If you are stuck - email me directly (see below) and I should be able to respond directly to you in about one working day. I will be glad to help but would rather not bore everybody. My offer goes to anyone else as well george.fielder@hydro.on.ca ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 12:04:51 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: Nassenheider Evaporator vs Pads In-Reply-To: <199703052139.QAA15988@Omega.Capital.Net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 2 Mar 97 at 22:17, Robert Stevens wrote: Re: Nassenheider Evaporator vs Pads Allen Dick wrote > > Of course, I am not sure about how many of the Nassenheider claims to > > believe, since, for one thing, the literature that comes with my > > Nassenheider Evaporator claims 'an acaricide effect of appr. 90% was > > achieved in sealed brood cells'. (If this is truly the case, then we had > > better watch out because the +Tracheal Mites+ in Germany now seek out > > sealed brood, and not predominently 1 to 4 day old bees as they do here). Robert Stevens Wrote > This is fascinating - could you elucidate - how do they do it - do they > actually penetrate the cappings? Having read the instructions... carefully, the author writing the instructions is in fact talking about Varroa, not Trachael mites. The first line quotes "for the combat against Varroa mites of bees" further in the statement is made "An acaricide effect of aprox. 90% was achieved in sealed brood cells". Nothing about T-mites. Instructions are only as good as the person reading them. I would point out, there is patent protection on this unit. German Pat No. DBP D.D. 292 141 ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 13:14:10 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Dave from Scranton Subject: Re: Ants and aphids Comments: To: Allen Dick In-Reply-To: <14345059405514@internode.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Wed, 5 Mar 1997, Allen Dick wrote: > > We have ants here that protect and herd aphids on poplar trees. > They keep the aphids on one or two lower branches and overgraze those > limbs to the point where the branches almost inevitably die. > > I understand the ants are keeping the aphids for their honeydew. Yes, ants use aphids like we use cows for milk. A couple years ago my corn stalks were blue with them and starting to wilt, so I ordered a pint of ladybugs to get rid of the aphids. The aphids and ladybugs were gone within 3 days. The aphids were lunch and the ladybugs went looking for their next meal. I could have ordered green lacewings, but they were scary looking and the ladybugs were *much cuter! ****************************************************************************** Dave D. Cawley, Maitre d' | The Internet Cafe | Scranton, Pennsylvania | (717) 344-1969 | ddc1@lydian.scranton.com | ****************************************************************************** URL => http://www.scranton.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 09:16:18 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul van Westendorp of AGF 576-3737 Fax: 576-3730" Subject: Re: BEE-L Digest - 4 Mar 1997 to 5 Mar 1997 In-Reply-To: <01IG5OBEVFLUBN3QIF@saturn.gov.bc.ca> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Nassenheider Dispenser vs Pads I have been following the discussion between Robert Stevens and Allan Dick with interest. Robert mentioned that at the ABF meeting in Norfolk, the Canadian(s) claimed that dispensers such as the Nassenheider are only suitable for the hobbyist beekeeper and not for the commercial operator. I made the presentation at the ABF and I stated that because of the labor involved in the installation and maintenance of these mechanical dispensers, each occupying a frame space, commercial producers would not be tempted to use these devices. The pads Allan referred to have their distinct diasadvantages also. The application of the formic acid (FA) onto the pads or napkins/paper towels results in a short period of high FA concentration in the hive which then declines fairly rapidly over time. Within a couple of days FA can often no longer be detected, and the bees chew up the towel material. So, over the full course of 4 applications 5 days apart, you will have four high peaks in FA in the hive. These types of applications can be seen as repeated 'shock treatments'. Not very friendly to the bees (and the mites, of course). To minimize these major shocks to the colonies, and at the same time reduce the labor input component of the FA treatment, we have also been experimenting with larger plastic bags that are placed on the bottom board. Either Ziploc (R) freezer bags or similar vegeatble bags (with minute holes) have been used with great success. Essentially, ziploc freezer bags (approx. 9x11") are supplied with 20 to 30 layers of newspaper (or other suitable absorbent substrate) to which 250 mls (approx. 8 oz.) of 65% FA is added. All air is squeezed out and the bag is sealed. When installed, two parallel cuts are made on one side of the bag (we use a template for the location of the cuts, but they are roughly at 1/4 and at 3/4 of the width of the bag). At cool temperatures when the bees are more likely in the second super, the bag should be placed on the topbars. With warmer weather when the bees are well distributed, the bag can be placed at the bottom board. Although FA vapor are heavier than air, the bees aree sufficiently 'agitated' to ensure proper ventilation. (A one-super colony, only one single cut should be made in the bag. For 4-frame nucs, 1/2 of the amount of FA can be used). Some producers have reported their preference to bottomboard placement in the fact that the bag ends up also being a 'mite collection trap', offering a surface where 'knocked down' mites end up without the chance of recovery. After approx. 10 days, an additional parallel cut can be made in hte centre of the bag. After a total 3 weeks the bag has expended all its FA and can be removed. The advantage of this application mthod is that we have minimized labor, hive manipulation, removed the peak or shock treatments, all at a very low cost. Because the evaporation and distribution of FA is dependent on temperature, beekeepers will find different levels of efficacy. Over time, beekeepers will also apply modifications to the application methods but the above mentioned 'slow-release' method offers a great deal of advantages to many producers. Paul van Westendorp pvanwesten@galaxy.gov.bc.ca Provincial Apiculturist British Columbia ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 12:26:03 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: Nassenheider Evaporator vs Pads In-Reply-To: <19071113100755@systronix.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >What is Homasote (Tentest)? > As I understand it from a building supply dealer: tentest is now a > generic name for a very light weight fibre board about .5 inches thick. > It has been made for decades. It can be used for this treatment but > disintegrates quickly when soaked in acid. > Homasote is a trade name for a denser fibre board that will take longer > to absorb the acid but lasts longer. It also costs about 3 times as > much as tentest. i.e. about $30 here in Toronto. It is used as a floor > underlayment where good insulation properties are required. > Do not confuse either with the thin pressed fiberboard generically > called hardboard here in Canada, I understand that both tentest and > Homasote are made in the US so building suppliers there should be able > to help you. At a recent seminar held in Edmonton, a researcher from Manitoba mentioned that for slow release, they had found *boot felt* to be idea to use in slow release bags. However, it was also at that same seminar, that there was reference to some ongoing unpublished work which has shown a dramatic drop in honey yield in hives treated with slow release formic in the spring -- compared to rapid release methods which showed unchanged, or higher yields. After this revelation, the emphasis of the talk was strictly on quick release. This work in question has apparently not been released and is preliminary. The tests need to be extended over more years and more hives, however they *appear* to indictate a disturbing trend. I heard exactly the same story last year, so I *assume* that another year's work has confirmed the previous results. At this point, though I guess this has report the status of rumour or anecdote. Nonetheless, I personally would not seriously consider using slow release formic in the spring until this question is proven one way or the other. It seems logical to me that any method that exposes larvae, pupae and adults to prolonged formic exposure to get at the mites with an 'acaracidal effect' (I have learned the meaning of the word 'acaracide', thanks to all) is going to be harder on the bees than a method which periodically knocks down the phoretic varroa and damages the TM in the adult tracheae and dissipates quickly. As the Chinese say "a short pain is not like a long pain". Anyhow, it is reassuring to see that many people are working on this from many angles, and it is interesting to see the divergences of opinion. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 21:16:28 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Gerry Visel Subject: What a Site! For those of you who were trying to (re)build a list of bee links, check out http://weblab.research.att.com/phoaks/sci/agriculture/beekeeping/resources1.html (whew!) and linked pages, and you will see links to _every_ beekeeping page on the Web! It'll take a year just to wade through all them links! Thanx muchly to whoever put it together! Gerry and the other Visels at Visel7@juno.com Winnebago, Illinois, USA ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 21:16:27 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Gerry Visel Subject: Re: Queen Rearing Without Grafting On Tue, 4 Mar 1997 20:00:01 -0500 Frank & Phronsie Humphrey writes: > Since I won't be getting queens until the first week in April, I 'm going to >remove my breeder queen and let the colony raise me some. I've never tried this >I have heard both pro and con from experienced beekeepers. Anyone care >to comment?? > Frank, Check out the March issue of American Bee Journal (ABJ) page 201, for a how-to article on queen rearing, along the lines of C. C. Miller's method. (No grafting.) Gerry and the other Visels at Visel7@juno.com Winnebago, Illinois, USA ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 22:55:41 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "W. C. Uhlman" Subject: Larvae at entrance Need help. I discovered several white, fully formed larvae at the hive entrance of a strong hive with lots of bees and hive otherwise medicated and appearing in good shape. The temperature has been fairly cold--30 to 40 degrees. Do I have a problem? Thanks for any advice. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 22:32:54 -0800 Reply-To: mwr@hotcity.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Reddell Subject: working with kids MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Is anybody out there working with kids in a beekeeping project? (4-H, Boy/Girl Scouts, FFA ... ) I'm starting my second year with 4-H kids and would like to compare notes, share ideas, etc. Are there projects like this available for kids in countries other than the US that are represented in this list? Michael Reddell mwr@hotcity.com http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 02:55:33 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MIDNITEBEE Subject: seeking employment MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ I have received this e-mail message.Can anyone help this person? Midnitebee(Herb) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Mikhail Gromov Thu Mar 6 18:31:36 1997 Location: Sankt-Petersburg ,Russia E-mail: Gromov@acsu.buffalo.edu Comments: I am bee-keeper and honey dealer from Sankt-Petersburg region in Russia. I would appreciate your assistance to bild contact with the US Bee Co-op organization in any states. So I can apply a job for Bee-farmer . ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 15:46:03 GMT+2 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MIKE ALLSOPP Organization: N.I.P.B VREDENBURG Subject: Problem with foraging bees Hi all I have had a query from the owner of a hotel who has a serious problem with large numbers of bees foraging at the buffet tables that are set around the pool area. He is, understandably, concerned about the repercussions should one of his guests ingest a bee by accident. And at the same time he is loathe to decimate every feral (wild) honeybee colony in the vicinity, even if that were possible. So he asks if there is any way to adequately discourage the foragers from making a nuisance of themselves. I have no prior experience in this, and was hoping that someone on the list might have faced a similar problem before, or have some suggestions as to how I might proceed. I have an idea that UV light, or polarised light, in some form might be of some use. I look forward to any information or ideas. thanks Mike Mike Allsopp tel (27)(21) 887-4690 Honeybee Research Section fax (27)(21) 883-3285 Plant Protection Research Institute pmail plant3/vredma Agricultural Research Council email vredma@plant3.agric.za P/Bag X5017 Stellenbosch 7599 South Africa ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 09:01:03 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Problem with foraging bees? Wasps most likely! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT > From: MIKE ALLSOPP > > I have had a query from the owner of a hotel who has a serious > problem with large numbers of bees foraging at the buffet tables that > are set around the pool area.... > Mike, I can't speak with assuredness because you're in South Africa, but in these parts I'd bet my mortgage that the bees causing the problems are not honey bees but yellow jackets. Traps are somewhat effective but won't solve the hotel's problem as there are always more yellow jackets. Yellow jackets are ground nesters and can be eliminated if one can locate the nest. In their place, yellow jackets can be beneficial insects as they will eat other problem bugs. However, poolside they are admittedly a nusiance because they will readily scavange whatever they can find. Honey bees have little interest in buffet tables, but the will take water from pools if there is not a closer source to their hive. I have readily available the entire yellow jacket discussions fron BEE-L if you'd like them. The file is almost 7500 lines and goes back to 1991. Let me know if you're interested (or anyone else for that matter) Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee! ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 19:01:29 GMT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tim Kelsey Subject: Archives? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Somehow I missed the recent Bee-L digest that had the bear fence discussion. Is there an archive somewhere for Bee-L messages? Thanks, Tim Timothy W. Kelsey Dept of Agricultural Economics tkelsey@psu.edu & Rural Sociology (814) 865-9542 Penn State University http://www.aers.psu.edu/f/kelsey.htm ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 14:44:19 GMT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Steve Pearce Organization: Dept of Biochemistry Subject: Re: Larvae at entrance/chilled brood hi Sounds to me like chilled brood, I get this sometimes in the spring, the colony is expanding rapidly, and I suppose the ratio of bees to brood area is lower than at any time of the year, the cold snap then causes the bees to contract in the hive and the peripheral brood becomes chilled and dies. My bees fly off with these white pupae and deposit them away from the hive. One thing I have noticed is the pupae are always quite well formed. My question is, are the earlier stages more resistant to chilling ? As I have never seen early brood being carried out. Steve ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 09:39:51 EST Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Archives? Retrieving BEE-L LOGS from the source MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT BEE-L LOGS are available from the host site (University at Albany) and can be retrieved by sending mail to LISTSERV@cnsibm.albany.edu with a single line in the body of the mail that reads: GET BEE-L LOG9703A Since 1996, logs have been kept on a weekly basis. The format of the log name identifies the log by year, month and week. Hence, to get the log from the third week in July, 1996 one would send a single line of mail that reads: GET BEE-L LOG9607C where 96 is the year, 07 is the month and C is the third week. Prior to 1996 logs were kept on a monthly basis, so to get the logs for the third week in July in 1989 the single line sent to: LISTSERV@cnsibm.albany.edu would read: GET BEE-L LOG8907 Please note that these commands get mailed to LISTSERV as opposed to BEE-L. BEE-L logs are available back to July, 1989. Admisistratively yours, Aaron Morris ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 09:54:14 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: Larvae at entrance In-Reply-To: <970306225447_-1004079746@emout15.mail.aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 6 Mar 97 at 22:55, W. C. Uhlman wrote: Larvae at entrance > Need help. I discovered several white, fully formed larvae at the hive > entrance of a strong hive with lots of bees and hive otherwise medicated and > appearing in good shape. The temperature has been fairly cold--30 to 40 > degrees. Do I have a problem? Thanks for any advice. I would suggest they are pulling out chilled brood. Or, sometimes they will produce drones early, come a cold snap the bees think winters back, and pull out drone larvae. It they're dead they are not a drain on stores. Younger larvae not needed or chilled will be re-ingested, but there comes a stage where the larvae are too old for re-ingestion, so, out they go. Nothing to worry about!! ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 09:54:13 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: Queen Rearing Without Grafting In-Reply-To: <19970306.201318.19375.2.visel7@juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 6 Mar 97 at 21:16, Gerry Visel wrote: Re: Queen Rearing Without Grafting > Check out the March issue of American Bee Journal (ABJ) page 201, for > a how-to article on queen rearing, along the lines of C. C. Miller's > method. (No grafting.) For those interested. I am putting the finishing edge to a professionally produced Video on Queen rearing without grafting. Intended for the amatuer who wants to produce his/her own queens in small numbers. Shows 3 different methods and equipment. If you require more details please contact me direct. ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 14:52:45 GMT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: rbh Subject: Re: Problem with foraging bees What do the `bees' do when land on the buffet table? Put another way, what do they land on and seem to stay on? I say `bees' because honeybees are pretty selective in what they eat and drink. Wasps aren't. You will find no bees in a wasp trap made out a weak dilution of jam in water. Bees don't like acidic solutions. Nor will you find them (in my experience) on meat or fish. Rarely will you find a bee in the autumn, when nectar (sugar) sources are scarce in the holes made in ripe fruit by pecking birds. (Again, acid.) You will find plenty of wasps. (These observations are limited to the UK.) If the bees seem to be interested in liquids, it could be that there are no water sources easily available to them outside of the buffet area. So if the bees are, or appear to be, drinking, the hotel owner might make a start by providing water sources outside the hotel area. This is most easily done with a shallow pan of gravel placed beneath a leaking tap, hose, nozzle, or whatever. The idea is to give the bees something to stand on while they are drinking. (Because they like to stand on something, they will be much more attracted to a wet towel than to the adjacent swimming pool.) If they get a successful drink, they will return to their colony and distribute the liquid. The colony (I'm writing figuratively) will decide whether the liquid suits its requirements. On hot days it will prefer pure water or weak nectar. (There might, on hot days, be a division of labour, with some bees designated water carriers and others strongly-sugared-nectar carriers.) It will use the water, through evaporation by wing movements, as a refrigerant. On cool days it will prefer a stronger sugar solution. An incoming bee will do a complicated dance (among other things) to communicate the direction and distance of the source of its load. If the colony likes the load, it will send other bees out to the approximate location of the source. So if your hotelier friend is getting a lot of bees on the buffet tables, the home colony(ies) is getting lots of the closest thing available to what it wants. If the hotel is located, for instance, in the middle of an arid region, and sits on its own, (i.e., no local nectar sources in flower, no open water,) then your hotelier might have to destroy or have moved the bee colonies. But that's another story: how to find the home colony of a bee which has just landed on your buffet. A stupid question: does someone keep bees near the hotel? Hope this helps Roger Hardy ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 09:15:37 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: Larvae at entrance/chilled brood In-Reply-To: <180D4AF2744@bad.dundee.ac.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > My question is, are the earlier stages more resistant to chilling ? As I > have never seen early brood being carried out. I believe Steve Taber claims that young larvae and eggs are not very temperature sensitive. As I recall, he said that if wrapped in damp towel, a frame containing both can be placed in a refrigerator overnight and still be viable in the morning. His contention was that only a few moments of UV exposure (direct sunlight), or dehydration (wind) will kill them, and we call it 'chilling'. FWIW. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 09:10:31 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Duplicate Mail In-Reply-To: <01IG7SL6624S8WXHID@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I got this note today, and thought that since probably there are more people who are a bit confused about this, I'm sending this explanation to all via BEE-L and blind CCing the writer. It will be also re-sent to Best of Bee subscribers. (BTW, Best of Bee now has 140 subscribers, up ten on the week). > I know you've got to be a busy guy!! How the heck do I unsubscribe to > bee-L; the best of is most adequate for me and I don't need the addtional > mail. Keep up the good works! Here's how: To unsubscribe from BEE-L *entirely*, send email to LISTSERV@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU saying: SIGNOFF BEE-L However, if you just do not want to get mail direct from BEE-L, but still be able to participate in discussions by replying to messages through BEE-L, just send a message with SET BEE-L NOMAIL instead. You will then still be subscribed to BEE-L and be able to post to BEE-L, but you will get get no mail from BEE-L, unless it is an article that is selected to be sent to you by Best of Bee. (There is no guarantee that you will see all of *your* own articles on Best of Bee, if they don't make the cut, as one of our ex-subscribers pointed out recently). Remember: Best of Bee does not allow subscribers to post directly to Best of Bee. Best of Bee merely sends along *selected* and edited copies of messages that appear on BEE-L, with an occasionally bonus article from sci.agriculture.beekeeping. FWIW, I think some people have their mailers set to divide incoming flow into two separate mail directories, one for BEE-L, and one for Best of Bee. They can then decide - depending on time constraints - whether to read all the stuff that comes through on BEE-L, or just the high points on Best of Bee. Allen Dick VE6CFK Rural Route One, Swalwell, Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 dicka@cuug.ab.ca & allend@internode.net http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 08:26:38 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Roy Nettlebeck Subject: Re: Problem with foraging bees In-Reply-To: <17554876CF@PLANT3.AGRIC.ZA> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Fri, 7 Mar 1997, MIKE ALLSOPP wrote: > Hi all > > I have had a query from the owner of a hotel who has a serious > problem with large numbers of bees foraging at the buffet tables that > are set around the pool area. He is, understandably, concerned about > the repercussions should one of his guests ingest a bee by accident. > And at the same time he is loathe to decimate every feral (wild) > honeybee colony in the vicinity, even if that were possible. > > So he asks if there is any way to adequately discourage the foragers > from making a nuisance of themselves. I have no prior experience in > this, and was hoping that someone on the list might have faced a > similar problem before, or have some suggestions as to how I might > proceed. I have an idea that UV light, or polarised light, in some > form might be of some use. > > I look forward to any information or ideas. > Hi Mike, I have had experience with yellow jackets and there were some honey bees around also.When I put out my honey to sample at farmers markets , I put a sheet of Bounce fabric softener under a table cloth and it works very well, in keeping the yellow jackets away from the honey.Its hard to get people even close to your table if they have to stand in line with yellow jackets for a taste of honey.They will come up to about 3 meters and then leave after they get the sent of bounce. Best Regards Roy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 8 Mar 1997 07:35:33 +1100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Nick Wallingford Subject: NZ Apiaries Act MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT NZ's Government Printer is now making our Acts of Parliament available online. If you'd like to see the NZ Apiaries Act, go to: www.knowledge-basket.co.nz/gpprint/acts/reprint/text/1969/an/05.html (\ Nick Wallingford {|||8- home nickw@wave.co.nz (/ work nw1@boppoly.ac.nz NZ Beekeeping http://www.wave.co.nz/pages/nickw/nzbkpg.htm ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 18:16:12 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Kirk Jones Subject: Re: seeking employment Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ >I have received this e-mail message.Can anyone help this person? >Midnitebee(Herb) >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >-------------------------------------------- >Mikhail Gromov >Thu Mar 6 18:31:36 1997 >Location: Sankt-Petersburg ,Russia >E-mail: Gromov@acsu.buffalo.edu >Comments: I am bee-keeper and honey dealer from Sankt-Petersburg region in >Russia. I would appreciate your assistance to bild contact with the US Bee >Co-op organization in any states. So I can apply a job for Bee-farmer . Hello Mikhail, My name is Kirk Jones and I am president of Sleeping Bear Apiaries, a honey business located in Michigan. Michigan is located in the Great Lakes Region of the US. We operate over 3,000 bee hives for honey and pollination. We may have work for you. Please send information about yourself including your age, experience(we will train you), and other information. Yours truly, Kirk *Kirk Jones/ Sleeping Bear Apiaries /971 S. Pioneer Rd./Beulah,MI 49617 *Sharon Jones/ BeeDazzled Candleworks /6289 River Rd./ Benzonia, MI 49616 e-mail b-man@aliens.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 20:02:02 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul Cronshaw, D.C." Subject: New Swarm in Oak Tree Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Bee-listers: I was called by a friend today to look at a brand new swarm that moved into a nice hole in a large oak tree. I can look inside and see it is wall to wall bees. Since it is a new hive, what are my chances of smoking out the swarm or should I revert to the wirescreen cone and bait hive technique? Will tackle the project this weekend. Thanks for any help on this one. Paul Cronshaw DC Cyberchiro and Hobby beekeeper Santa Barbara, CA -- End --