========================================================================= Date: Sun, 31 May 1998 20:20:02 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: David Williams Subject: new bee keeper MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I bought a starter kit 2 weeks ago and installed my package of bees 5 days ago. I am fasinated. I would like starter hints, and especially like to meet other bee keepers in my area. I have read Delaplane's book and Dadant's, but I don't feel like I know nearly enough. Delaplane said that apiaries have to be registered with the county extension agent. I called the county extension agent and asked who keeps bees in Lowndes County (Valdosta), GA, and he said that there are no bee keepers in Lowndes County. This is unbeleivable. Hahira, also in Lowndes County, has an annual honey bee festival. I know you guys are out there and would like to talk to some of you and learn how to manage my first of several?? hives. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 00:19:40 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Andy Nachbaur (by way of Andy Nachbaur by way of Andy Nachbaur )" Subject: JUNE BEENEWS Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The OLd Drones BEENEWS http://beenet.com/bnews.htm June 1, 1998 Todays news is finding beekeeping information in this text form in your E-Mail box and the less then ideal California weather for the last two months which can only reduce the size of the total US Honey crop and increase the demand for US and Canadian honey later this summer. California normally produces about 10% of the US crop but was expected to add considerable to that percentage because of the above normal rainfall. Beekeepers in California have not given up and bees continue to be moved to Sage and Buckwheat locations. Major movement of bees out of state from California has also taken place and increasing movement to Alfalfa Seed and Melons for pollination is on. The same weather that has kept beekeepers from the Bumper crop now deemed Bummer is also taking its tole on farmers crops. One of great importance to honey production is cotton and it looks like it may not start blooming until late July or August in the San Joquin Valley. Cotton acreage is down, melon acreage is up, but all crops are at the best retarded with much replanting having been necessary after each heavy spring shower turned into frog strangling rain. Honey is being extracted, Orange honey was short but reported good at the end of the flow after many moved out because of the fear of pesticides. The total Orange Honey Crop will not meet the demands. It is still too early to put a volume on the Sage crop but it is not expected to be good without some dramatic change in the weather. ttul, the OLd Drone Some of the BEENEWS from the web page this last month.. BEEKEEPING RECORD KEEPINGS SOFTWARE http://198.22.133.109/soft/index.html POLLINATION RENTALS $108.00 per hive. http://www.albertabeekeepers.org/beenews/articles/a02_0198.htm Latest Buzz: All the rain we've had means more flowers, which means killer bees will come. Scientists say killer bees are no more dangerous than lightning. ''Except lightning doesn't chase you down the street,into your house and fly up your pants leg.'' (Leno) 5.1 BNEWS 5.6 Afro bees found in Las Vegas. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/1998/may/05/507174422.html BEENEWS Washington state Beekeeper fight $0.50 tax face $1000.00 fines. http://www.goodfruit.com/archive/March15_96/feature1.html BEENEWS 5.14 C.O.M.B.Details that will not thrill you from the pending bill HR2534 to change the National Honey Board found in the National Research & Promotion Act of the Agricultural Research Bill, S1150.. http://beenet.com/comb598.htm BEEKEEPERS NEWS 5.18.98 The Latest HYPE on Formic Acid. http://www2.modbee.com/pagearc\\A18178.htm BEENEWS 2.21.98 Attacks Continue on SUE BEE! Is it the Honey Packers ''CHINA HONEY GATE'' or our industries version of a Left Wind Conspiracy? http://beenet.com/SUE5789.htm BEENEWS ''Gleaning in Bee Culture puts Sam McGregors Pollination Book ON-LINE. A MUST SEE AND MARK PAGE. http://www.airoot.com/beeculture/book/index.html BEENEWS 5.24 A Site to See!BEEKEEPING IN MEXICO English-Spanish Good Photos Queen Rearing and much more. http://www.netcall.com.mx/abejas/en/bee.htm 5-18 Washington, DC USDA Glickman Names National Honey Board Members. http://www.ams.usda.gov/news/124b.htm BEENEWS 5.28 EARLY--MAY FLORIDA Honey Market Reports http://www.ams.usda.gov/mncs/archive/day2/or%5Ffv193.txt Early--May Honey Reports for the APPALACHIAN Beekeepers. http://www.ams.usda.gov/mncs/archive/day2/or%5Ffv193.txt ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 07:00:31 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: petty Subject: Re: Do Pheromone lures work? Comments: To: Frank Humphrey MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit great story! so, the $64,000 question is: what type of lure did you use? where did you get it? ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 07:42:39 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Joel Govostes Subject: Re: finding queen cells and "queenlessness" after swarming In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I had a ~~wierd~~ one this year. Went into the colony, which was very strong, only to find several completed swarm cells, some capped, and some already "open" (emerged or torn open). Yet the colony had not swarmed. There were no eggs to be seen, only older larvae. At the same time, I also saw a number of newer-looking swarm cells, with nice fat larvae and royal jelly in them. Why this "second round" of queen cells was underway, while there were still capped/emerged swarm cells in the hive is a mystery. New to me, anyway. Not knowing whether a queen or virgin was present, I left all the queen cells as they were, and reassembled the hive to let them carry on. That was a couple of weeks ago. They haven't swarmed, and are putting a nice crop up in the supers. Maybe in this case swarming was aborted in favor of supersedure? Anyone have any ideas on what was going on? tnx JG ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 08:05:29 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Midnitebee Subject: Georgia bee "clubs" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Greetings! check the below link to your Georgia beekeeping clubs: http://www.cyberTours.com/%7Emidnitebee/html/clubsus.html call /fax/phone Tom:head beeman? Mr. Tom Kowalski Atlanta, GA 30334 Phone: (404) 651 9486 Fax number: (404) 656 3644 Also:email beeman@hom.net Chip McCurdy/Ambrosia Apiaries/Perry,Georgia..he might bee able to help you.. Herb >county extension agent. I called the county extension agent and asked who >keeps bees in Lowndes County (Valdosta), GA, and he said that there are no >bee keepers in Lowndes County. This is unbeleivable. Hahira, also in >Lowndes County, has an annual honey bee festival. I know you guys are out >there and would like to talk to some of you and learn how to manage my >first of several?? hives. > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 07:46:37 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: sgt.tibbs@SYMPATICO.CA Subject: Need info from Nova Scotia Beekeepers MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am going to be moving to N.S. in the next few months, and would like to get info form local beekeeper on the area. sgt.tibbs@sympatico.ca ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 08:43:58 -0400 Reply-To: beekeepr@bellsouth.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Frank Humphrey Subject: Re: Do Pheromone lures work? In-Reply-To: <199806011051.GAA08546@garlic.negia.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > great story! > > so, the $64,000 question is: what type of lure did you use? > where did you > get it? > The label reads: PheroGuard #B101 Apis mellifera I got them from Brushy Mountain Bee Supply. Just order them out of the catalog. Cost $2.50 ea. US. Frank Humphrey beekeepr@bellsouth.net ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 08:59:44 -0400 Reply-To: beekeepr@bellsouth.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Frank Humphrey Subject: Re: new bee keeper In-Reply-To: <19980601001443031.AAA304@ppp8.valuu.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > I have read Delaplane's book and Dadant's, but I don't feel like I know > nearly enough. You've read 2 of the best books available now you just need to work your bees, observe what's happening then ask here about things you don't understand. What you will get are a lot of very good opinions from which you make up your own mind. I would recommend a copy of Deleplanes video series which is aimed at beginning beekeepers. Frank Humphrey beekeepr@bellsouth.net ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 09:15:19 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Meretsky, Vicky J." Subject: beedots?! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Bee listers, Can anyone confirm the Christian Graze in Germany is still making beedots? I called the phone number I used two years ago, got a change of number, called that number, and got a recording that doesn't seem to mention Graze or bees. I need beedots fairly quickly and would be most appreciative of any help. If anyone has extras I could buy, that would do fine. Many thanks, Vicky Meretsky Assistant Professor School of Public and Environmental Affairs Indiana University ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 10:29:24 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Rod Billett Subject: Nectar Flow's - Columbia, SC USA Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii For anyone in the South Carolina - Midlands. I'm a first year beekeeper in the midlands, and would like some information relating to the local nectar flows. The last couple weeks have been dry and hot and it looks like we've seen the last of the spring flow. Could anyone give me information relating to the 'average' flows. Spring and Fall, Start and stop months, I understand the flows vary from year to year, but some general information would be greatly appreciated. Rod Billett Lexington, SC. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 17:33:52 +0100 Reply-To: parker@airtime.co.uk Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Chris Parker Subject: Re: 2 queen colonies Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I've started using the two queen system, following Ron Brown's notes in his book " A Simple Two Queen System". To start the two colonies, Ron makes an on-site artificial swarm with the queen on one frame of brood in the bottom box, plus two frames of food and either frames of foundation or drawn comb to fill up. Over this box goes the queen excluder and a super. Over the super goes a "two Queen board" with the upper entrance pointing to the side, and finally on top of this board goes the original brood box, with the frames all moved together centrally, plus additonal frames of drawn comb or foundation to fill up the box. A queen excluder can be put on this and additonal supers placed above if necessary. Queen cells will be raised in the top box and in the course of time a new queen is produced. The special two queen board is a ventilated floor, plus a circular hole with a queen excluder permanently fastened over. A plain sheet of metal is fixed by one corner, so that it covers the QX. A wire is fixed to this sheet so that , when pulled, it will move the metal sheet and uncover the QX.. Normally the Qx is left covered, but when the top box has a laying queen you can pull the wire to uncover the QX and so unite the workers. You now have two queens with workers able to move freely between the two colonies. I'd like to understand if this is how other beekeepers operate the two queens ? If not then how ? =A0=A0 Chris Parker Bath Beekeepers ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 14:49:33 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Roger Flanders Subject: Re: KC Beekeepers MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Do any of you Live in Kc? I will be down there for a Few days And would Like to call a local Beekeeper to learn about the honey flows and stuff! I leave Fri. morn! Nick, does "KC"=Kansas City? If yes, and if "down there" means you'll be traveling from the north, you should consider visiting Larry Draper at Draper's Super Bee, 914 S Street in Auburn, NE, about 20 minutes west of the Rockport, MO, exit on I-29. I'm a real "new-bee" but Larry's my supplier and very helpful about beekeeping in southeast Nebraska/northwest Missouri. His business line is (402)274-3725. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 20:38:41 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Tim Dartt Subject: Free Hive (Of doom?) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I've just started my first hive (In vermont!) and it's doing quite well! A friend of mine found out that I had a hive now and gave me his old = hives. All his bees had died off over the winter and the two supers and = 2 shallows were still full of honey. I just opened them up and the first = supers frames are covered with a white mold. There is a faint odor of = fermentation and there still are a few bee corpses sticking in some of = the cells. The comb is mostly dark brown to black. I was wondering if I'd be dooming my bees to a horrid death if I used = some of these frames (They are now at the point where I should be = putting on a new super) or if I'm just paranoid, and should clean out = the dead bees and use the comb? (I have no experience with Bees and everything I know I've read in a = book. Most books seem to indicate that I should soak the frames in = boiling acid before even considering to use them? What's the practical = advise?) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 18:39:19 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Norman CotÊ" Subject: Re: beedots?! Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit What is a beedot???? ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 15:31:51 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: Do Pheromone lures work? Comments: cc: joschmid@U.Arizona.EDU Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Frank Humphrey described his experience with swarm lures, including the following: >All the boxes I used had at least 2 frames of old combs. Only difference was >the lure. That box caught 4 swarms while the other 6 only caught 1 between >them. Do Pheromone lures work? I'm now convinced that they do. Next year I >intend to put lured in all my swarm boxes. We had extensive experience with swarm hive lures on our Santa Cruz Island beehunt project. One can find a brief summary of that experience on p. 832 in the December issue of the AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. Swarm lures work very well indeed, as Justin Schmidt has so adequately documented elsewhere. (References provided upon request.) 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 *********************************************************************** * "...scientists are paradoxically resistant to change, even when * * confronted with evidence that virtually demands change of them." * * * * Barber, 1960 (in Greenberg, 1983) * *********************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 31 May 1998 23:11:15 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Al Needham Subject: Help From A Queensland Beekeeper Comments: cc: otteap@mail.cth.com.au I received the following message from a little girl who lives in Queensland. Any beekeeper there who wou;ld care to respond to her ? I told her I would post this question on her behalf. Message: username: Ellen Otte email: otteap@mail.cth.com.au messagetext: I am 7 years old and doing a project at school on bees. I have been given the task of finding out about the protection of bees. Things like protection from diseases and other animals. As well as what we may be able to do with the environment to promote bee safety and honey production Thanks for your help Ellen Otte Bribie Island Queensland Australia ................................... Thanks for any assistance you can give her. I just think a reply from OZ would be more appropriate, particularly since I know nothing about what animals there are in OZ outside of roos and tourists....... :-) Al, ....................................................................... <"Mailto: awneedham@juno.com" > Scituate,Massachusetts,USA The Beehive-Educational Honey Bee Site Visit The Beehive Book Shoppe http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 22:57:59 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Musashi Subject: swollen hand from a bee sting on finger This past weekend I had a great experience being stung by a bee on the middle joint of the index finger of my left hand. When the whole back of my hand swelled up and started itching, as well as adjacent knuckles and joints and I had pain and difficulty in closing my hand, I didn't have a worry in the world because I had just recently read on the bee list about the experience of another beekeeper being almost identical, with a follow-up of their improvement. Now, a day later, the swelling has gone down, and although there is still some itching, I can close my fist and use my hand without any problems. If I had not read about someone else's almost identical experience and therefore known about what to expect, then I might have been concerned yesterday. As it was, I just enjoyed the fact that I was having an experience that I had not before had. I think I need to get stung more often and maybe places other than right on the joints of my fingers. I appreciate the great variety of things people talk about on this list. Here in central Texas we are in drought conditions and today was record breaking heat. There has been no rain and it has been hot for some time, but the bees are making honey very well--probably from Chinese Tallow (trees) if I am not mistaken. It's light amber and a fairly nice mild honey. It seems to be good honey producing weather here, even though very hot. The old timers around here say that the bees really make honey when the weather is hot. Layne Westover College Station, Texas ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 21:08:48 -1000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Moriarty Subject: Re: BEE-L Digest - 31 May 1998 to 1 Jun 1998 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" One of the animals that can bother bees is the toad (Buffo) which you have in great abundance there. A toad will sit in front of a hive and devour bee after bee. Protection usually involves putting the hive up higher. In North America, bears can be a real threat, and beekeepers use electric fences to fend them off. In Africa there must be a number of animals which eat bees... one would be the honey badger, which will crawl right into a hive and eat the whole thing. Rats and cockroaches will raid hives, and making the hive entrance just big enough makes the bees more able to defend it. Bee diseases can be prevented by an aggressive breeding program, concientious cleanliness, by good inspection, national quarantine on imports and enforced destruction of diseased hives. To learn more about bee diseases, check... http://www.kohala.net/bees/ I administer kohala.net Pesticides threaten bees, and to protect them a comprehensive program of coordination between beekeepers and farmers is needed. This is particularly so where mixes of different crops occur in the same area... grapes and apples etc. and the farmers of one crop might want to spray while bees are in the area for another. aloha, mike moriarty \\\|/// \\~~ ~~// (/ @ @ /) +--oOOO----------(_)--------------+ | Michael Moriarty | | P.O. Box 1102 | | Kapaau, Hawaii 96755 | | 808-889-5809 | +--------------------------oOOO---+ |___|___| | | | | oooO Oooo ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 10:56:38 +0200 Reply-To: drs@kulmbach.baynet.de Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Dr. Reimund Schuberth" Subject: Re: beedots?! Comments: To: Meretsky@exchange.ucs.indiana.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Mr. Meretsky, the address of GRAZE, Germany is Chr. Graze Endersbach Staffelstr. 5 D-71384 Weinstadt phone number from US: 0 11 49- 71 51-96 92 30 or telefax number from US: 0 11 49- 71 51-96 92 33 > Can anyone confirm the Christian Graze in Germany is still making beedots? According to the catalogue Graze is still selling (but not producing) beedots? > I need beedots fairly quickly and would be most appreciative of > any help. If anyone has extras I could buy, that would do fine. Many > thanks, You can contact Graze directly. If you need help, I also can send you the beedots. Graze sells two sorts of them, one with numbers print on and one with different shape. All kinds can be get in the international colours and with glue. Bye for now. Reimund ________________________________ Beekeeper in Germany (Bavaria) Queen Rearing of Carniolan Bees Insemination Station ________________________________ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 10:57:08 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "HELP" Subject: Re: beedots?! Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Beedots are discs which come in five different colours to match the colour for queen marking, ie white yellow, red, green and blue, with numbers 1 - 99 in each colour. They are applied with glue to the thorax of a queen bee for breeding purposes or general identification, and workers and drones for research. Thomas Seeley in 'The Wisdom of the Hive' describes how to mark every individual in a hive. We have sold these for many years not only to beekeepers, but to people researching shellfish and many other invertebrates. Judicicious location or alignment can give many more number permutations than the 500 in the kit. Discs are also available without numbers; although slightly more awkward to apply, the regularity of the outlne really stands out in the hive, more than the irregular outline of a drop of paint, particularly with yellow, when there is a lot of yellow pollen around. Matthew J Allan Manager, Thornes of Windsor, UK ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 18:33:15 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Richard H. Glassford II" Subject: MEDICATING BEES Comments: cc: glassman@utah.uswest.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello, I am new to bee keeping. I have three hives. Two I bought as nuc's and one came from a local swarm. I have a couple of question. If someone could help I would greatly appreciate it. 1. Someone told me about a grease patty made of shortening, powdered sugar and TM. How much of each substances is mixed together? Are there any tricks to this ? How long and where is it placed in the hive. When can you take it out? 2. My first nuc was placed in my yard on April 25. I have the second brood box on. The queen is now laying eggs in the top box. My second hives were placed in the yard May 30th. My question is do I have to worry about these hives swarming. Do the bees continue to swarm throughout the summer? Bees are great!! Good luck, Rich (a newbee) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 23:31:55 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: David Green Subject: Bees & Minerals Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Summer heat has set in early here in South Carolina. It's been in the mid and upper 90's now for two weeks (99 yesterday!). Needless to say, we work with soaking wet clothes, and are fighting heat exhaustion. One day last week, I had chills and got sick. Now I am carrying pedialight for electolytes. It does seem to help. Maybe it's not just me needing minerals. I've seen a new phenomenon that I've never observed -- bees landing on my arms and drinking sweat! I would assume that bees will naturally get all the salts and minerals they need in their normal food supply. Perhaps the extreme heat makes an exception? Or are the organic folks right when they say our soils and plants are becoming depleted and deficient of minerals? Has anyone ever studied the mineral requirements of the bees. I recall years ago, an old time beekeeper who somehow fed cattle minerals to his bees. At the time, I thought it was an odd idea without any support. But perhaps some supplemental minerals would be a smart idea? Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles) http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 19:14:16 +0200 Reply-To: drs@kulmbach.baynet.de Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Dr. Reimund Schuberth" Subject: Re: beedots?! Comments: To: Teri Rhan MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Teri, beedots are small plastic discs with different shape or numbers. One is fixed with glue on the back of the queen to mark it individually. Although you can only get the numbers 0 to 99 you can also use different placings of the beedots, according to the arrangement of the numbers on a clock. So it is possible to sign up to 400 queen individually if needed. By the way it is very easy to find the marked queen in the hive. The beedots are used in 4 different colours. So you can easily identify the age of the queen. Teri Rhan schrieb: > What are "beedots"? > Thanks > Teri Rhan > Mountlake Terrace, Washington > ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 14:55:00 -0300 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Comments: RFC822 error: Incorrect or incomplete address field found and ignored. From: Decio Luiz Gazzoni Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Sir The XXI International Congress of Entomology will be held in Iguassu Falls (Brazil), August 20-26, 2000. Up to the end of June, the Scientific Committee Program will accept suggestions of symposia on the XXI ICE Sessions. If you are interested in suggesting a symposium, pls verify the rules for submitting it on our homepage ( http://www.embrapa.br/ice ), and send your suggestion to moscardi@cnpso.embrapa.br Yours Decio Luiz Gazzoni President, XXI ICE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Decio Luiz Gazzoni President, XXI International Congress of Entomology Phone +55 43 3716213 Fax +55 43 3716100 Caixa Postal 231 - 86001-9 70 Londrina - Brazil http://www.embrapa.br/ice http://www.sercomtel.com.br/ice/agro ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 23:48:37 -0500 Reply-To: davidscott@mtgroup.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: David Scott Subject: Re: MEDICATING BEES In-Reply-To: <357499CB.11AA@utah.uswest.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm just lurking on the list, trying to learn as much as possible before I start my first hive. However, I ordered a catalog of supplies from Brushy Mountain, and in it is the (a) recipe: 1 6.4 oz pk Terramycin 1 lb Crisco 3 lbs Granulated Sugar Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, then mix with Crisco. Divide into 12 equal portions and flatten into patties. Make 12 patties. Use one per hive. Do NOT use during honey flow. Hope this is what you are looking for. David Scott davidscott@mtgroup.com Memphis, TN > -----Original Message----- > From: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology > [mailto:BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU]On Behalf Of Richard H. Glassford II > Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 1998 7:33 PM > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: MEDICATING BEES > > > Hello, > > I am new to bee keeping. I have three hives. Two I bought as nuc's and > one came from a local swarm. I have a couple of question. If > someone could help I would greatly appreciate it. > > 1. Someone told me about a grease patty made of shortening, powdered > sugar and TM. How much of each substances is mixed together? Are there > any tricks to this ? How long and where is it placed in the hive. When > can you take it out? > > 2. My first nuc was placed in my yard on April 25. I have the second > brood box on. The queen is now laying eggs in the top box. My second > hives were placed in the yard May 30th. My question is do I have to > worry about these hives swarming. Do the bees continue to swarm > throughout the summer? > > Bees are great!! > > Good luck, Rich (a newbee) > ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 21:53:56 -0700 Reply-To: jcbach@yvn.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James C Bach Subject: Honey in brood boxes MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Marc Sevigny asks about the causes of bees storing honey in the top brood nest with an excluder over their heads, then a super of foundation, and a medium super of honey. Marc doesn't say whether the super is the same size as the medium with honey, or what size the brood nest super is. This information would make it easier to give advice more to the point to help Marc. Vince and someone else gave some good information in reply. Depending on the honey flow intensity, the colony size, and the super size, my advice would be as follows: a.) Always bait supers of foundation immediately over the excluder with honey or at least drawn comb. In Marc's case use honey from the medium super if the frames are the same size. b.) Move honey from the outside of the top brood nest to the center of the foundation super if the frames are the same size. Then spread the center honey combs and add comb or foundation to the top brood nest. c.) Move bait combs of honey from another hive that has the same size frames into the super of foundation. d.) If none of these is possible remove the excluder as Vince suggested and let the bees move up. They may do so if the honey flow is on. But something still needs to be done to alleviate the crowded condition in the brood nest which results from too much honey being stored there at this time of year. There shouldn't be more than two or three frames of honey in the second brood nest at this time. One of the major reasons for bees storing honey in the brood nest as you describe is that the queen is not producing enough pheromone to stimulate bee behavior above the two story brood nest. If you notice closely when you open the brood nest and manipulate the frames you will notice the bees getting "noisy," creating a lot of fanning noise. Colonies headed by such a queen often store two or three combs of pollen immediately above the brood nest in the first super even over an excluder. And, sometimes if the colony has moved up, the bees will also store a super of honey below the brood nest. This is what I call aberrant behavior. The bees shouldn't store food in this manner. It should be noted that if the colony size filled the brood nest supers and mostly filled the medium which has honey in it, and then the medium was lifted to put a deep super of foundation over the excluder, the bees may be reluctant to draw the foundation unless they are on the main honey flow. They want the honey close to the brood nest. For non-commercial beekeeping it sure pays to have the brood nest and honey supers all the same size so that combs can be exchanged between them. BUT, I grow more hesitant to recommend moving honey from the brood nest to the honey supers because of the use of all kinds of miticides in the brood nest. I favor removing the honey combs from the top brood nest to relieve the congestion and putting them into the warehouse, then replacing them into the hive later in the summer for winter stores. James C. Bach jbach@agr.wa.gov jcbach@yvn.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 08:00:20 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: David Green Subject: Re: MEDICATING BEES Comments: To: davidscott@mtgroup.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 6/3/98 12:50:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time, davidscott@mtgroup.com writes: << However, I ordered a catalog of supplies from Brushy Mountain, and in it is the (a) recipe: 1 6.4 oz pk Terramycin 1 lb Crisco 3 lbs Granulated Sugar Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, then mix with Crisco. Divide into 12 equal portions and flatten into patties. Make 12 patties. Use one per hive. Do NOT use during honey flow. >> Crisco is solid at room temp and is miserable to mix thoroughly without warming. Use liquid vegetable oil. -Cheaper, easier to mix, and works just the same. Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles) http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 13:15:44 +0300 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Carlos Aparicio Subject: Re: Bees & Minerals Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 11:31 PM 02/06/1998 EDT, David Green wrote: Maybe it's not just me needing minerals. I've seen a new phenomenon that >I've never observed -- bees landing on my arms and drinking sweat! > > I would assume that bees will naturally get all the salts and minerals they >need in their normal food supply. Perhaps the extreme heat makes an exception? > My hives are about half a mile near the sea. Some people said me they saw bees in shore near the sea, probably drinking salted water. Since al heard this I feed my bees one tablespoon of salt once a month. I put the salt in the entrance, and the result is very different in different hives, some of them eat the salt inmediatly, others may last about one week. May be this helps. Regards CARLOS APARICIO PLAYA SANTA ANA CANELONES Uruguay ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 09:44:44 +0000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Mason Harris Organization: SMCOE Subject: beekeepers in Ashville NC MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Bee Folks! I am going to Ashville North Carolina in a few weeks and would like to know if anyone knows of any local beekeepers I could visit while I am there. Please contact me by personal e-mail as no one else cares. smharris@ed.co.sanmateo.ca.us Thanks! -- Mason Harris, MA (\ SMCOE Educational Audiologist -{ ||| 8- smharris@ed.co.sanmateo.ca.us (/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 23:59:45 GMT+0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Garth Organization: Rhodes University South Africa Subject: Re: bees and minerals Hi All David, you mentioned bees collecting sweat of your arms. In southern and central africa in the range of trigona (stingless bees) this phenomenon can be quite commonplace with clouds of trigona landing on ones face and being quite a pest - people even use a special brand of mosquito repelant with sunblock in it to drive them away. (The sunblock is just so one has only one bottle to carry around not two) The guy I heard this from worked on a road project cutting bush - he later had to stop due to poisoning from euphorbeacious plants. This was in the Natal-Kwazulu region around Durban - ie sub-tropical. Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 21:02:52 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Diane Boller Subject: Combined hives MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi, I just combined a hive of laying workers with another hive using the newspaper method. Could anyone suggest how long I should wait until I peek in to make sure everything's okay in there? How about the poor bees that returned to where they thought their hive was and found nothing - will they find their new home? Diane ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 18:08:29 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Richard H. Glassford II" Subject: Bee Strains Comments: cc: glassman@utah.uswest.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello, As some of you know I am a newbee. So I am loaded with questions. A big thanks to those who have helped me. I have been reading info on different strains of bees. I am very interested in what real beekeepers who have worked with these different strains have to say. I know there are many different strains of bees used for different reasons. The three strains of bees I am looking at for future hives (I currently have Italians) are: Italians, Carniolans, Caucasians. Those of you who have these strains (or have had them in the past) could you tell me what strain you have now and why? I live in Zone 5 just south of Salt Lake City. I have three hives in my backyard. The three characteristics that are most important to me in a bee are gentleness, production and propensity not to swarm (in that order). If you know of another strain that might fulfill my needs better than above please share that with me. Oh! I almost forgot. Is it true that the swarms of carniolans are smaller and rather inconspicuous in comparison to the Italian swarms? Thanks, Rich ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 09:03:11 +0000 Reply-To: S.R.PEARCE@dundee.ac.uk Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Steve Pearce Organization: Dundee Biochemistry Subject: Re: Combined hives Hi Diane, I find the best way to unite is to gradually move the hives to be united until they are side by side, then once combined move the combined lot so that they straddle the join between the two hives, then no-one get's lost! Some of your lost bees will probably find their way to another hive others will get chilled and die. I would leave the hive until the bits of newspaper are in a little heap (a day or two) outside the hive, then remove the remaining newspaper from inside the hive or it will get propolysed and will be a pain to remove. Another point (for the future) Sometimes very entrenched laying workers will not tolerate a real Queen and you may find the queen you have united is killed! This can be avoided (too late for this lot of course) by taking the laying worker hive some distance and shaking all the bees out on the ground (get well protected), then moving the hive to the same site it came from. The laying workers bein non fliers will not come back to the hive, so you can then immediately unite the rest of the bees with a Queenright hive. hope this helps All the best Steve Kilspindie Scotland ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 03:09:46 -0600 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Subject: Re: MEDICATING BEES In-Reply-To: <3a2bc480.35753ad6@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > Crisco is solid at room temp and is miserable to mix thoroughly without > warming. Use liquid vegetable oil. -Cheaper, easier to mix, and works > just the same. I don't doubt Dave's experience. Maybe Crisco varies from place to place. From what Dave was saying about the temperature there in SC recently, I imagine that things can be very different under 'normal' conditions in different locales. Here, in Alberta, Canada, we just throw the Crisco into a cement mixer (sans blades) at temperatures as low as 60 degrees F and find it soon becomes soft and that the other ingredients mix in nicely. Sometimes we cut the shortening into small blocks to speed the process, but it isn't necessary. After about an hour, everything is blended nicely. We've used vegetable oil (and mineral oil) experimentally in some batches along with the shortening to see what effects are. We found that the patties that result do not hold together very well and are hard to handle when it becomes necessary to manipulate the hive later. They are also pretty runny and do not stack well in boxes to carry to the field. The ones made with Crisco are very nice -- not too soft, and not too brittle and stack up to a foot in height without much distortion. FWIW, Other shortening brands we've tried tend to be very hard to mix and result in brittle patties that shatter on the way to the hive or when they are disturbed. Part of the design of the patties is the texture. The way they are originally specified, they last a certain length of time -- and this measures out the dose of OTC. Softer patties may be removed faster and this may accelerate the treatment. I don't know -- maybe not. I do know that Mann Lake uses a larger dose of OTC per given amount of other ingredients and their patties are acceptable. Moreover, I believe they are the only ones registered with the US authorities for bee use. There is an awful lot of info on this topic in the logs, so I won't try to regurgitate it all again, however, there is a file I have offered in the past to those interested and will now offer again. Rather than suggest an email robot response, this time I'll just put it on a web page: if you care to, go to http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Misc/Extender.htm Allen -- Buy, sell, trade, get a job, hire help, announce a meeting, advertise a business or publication... For free *beekeeping related* classified ads, visit http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/BeeAds/ often. These ads work fast! ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 22:30:08 -0700 Reply-To: jcbach@yvn.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James C Bach Subject: Bee strains MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Richard Glassford II asks about strains of bees people use and why, and desires bees that will be gentle, productive, and have a minimal propensity to swarm. There are so many variations in behavioral traits of bees produced in the U.S. that it is practically impossible to accurately generalize in attempting to describe traits of individual strains. By that I mean that traits of production queens and their offspring vary widely between breeder operations and within most individual operations. Having said that, I am quite comfortable making the following comments on strains of bees. I base them on 30 years of observations and personal experience, and on discussions with many beekeepers. My comments are also predicated upon the use of successful bee management techniques which will minimize undesirable behaviors that are occasioned by the less desirable managment techniques. a.) Italians usually swarm more than other strains, b.) Carniolans swarm less than Italians, though they usually swarm more if allowed to requeen themselves, c.) Caucasians and Midnites usually swarm the least, d.) Some breeders produce bees that swarm less than others, e.) You seldom see true black and grey Carniolans or Caucasians anymore. They are fairly heavily crossed with Italians. f.) In recent years the dark strains appear to have greater problems with poor queens than they did 15 years ago, and generally worse than Italians. Of course there are some exceptions. g.) A few years ago I looked at colony problems for about 12 commercial beekeepers who had purchased queens from 15 different sources representing all queen production states. The dark strains of bees had problems with queens ranging from 25 to 100 percent while Italian sources had queen problems ranging from 10 to 60 percent. After studying bee behavior for the past 30 years I have ceased making any recommendations on where to purchase so called good queens. I have concluded that it is impossible to predict queen quality from year to year for any breeder. Studies of honeybee genetics by USDA suggest that all production queens in the US are produced from about 300 queen mothers. There seems to be some consensus that this constitutes too small a gene pool to ensure the ideal genetic diversity in our honeybee stock. A lack of genetic diversity results in inbreeding of a population which shows up as reduced survivability in brood. For comparison, I heard a carrot breeder say recently that he has 2,000 genetic lines of carrots, from which he selects 200 lines to test each year (for 2 years). He then selects maybe 20 lines for two subsequent years of production testing prior to general production by growers producing for consumer markets. James C. Bach Yakima WA jbach@agr.wa.gov jcbach@yvn.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 00:05:21 GMT+0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Garth Organization: Rhodes University South Africa Subject: Re: Bees and calcium Greets All Just another bit to your question David. I recall reading somewhere that bees have a high calcium demand as their exoskeletons contain quite a bit, or some polymer theirin. I would also expect them to need quite a bit of zinc for 1) DNA replication - they are rapidly growing organisms, and have a queen that produces huge numbers of eggs - these eggs contain DNA that has to replicate to allow for growth of new individuals - this requires zinc. 2) In enzymes for making all the fancyhydrocarbons/etc in the bees and the hive. I would also expect them to be excited by the vitamin B complex, some of which is lost in sweat. Questions to ask would be: Do you take any vitamin supplements? Just some 'thunks' (past tense) Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 05:52:07 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Barricklow, Walt" Subject: package bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Every year for the last 5 years I have started several new 3lb package bees. This year I started 5 new hives from packages. However, this year seems totally different. One package has already swarmed All the hives are full of bees, even though Ive added hive bodies and supers, with only foundation. My honey flow was severe and much longer than usual, plus Im still feeding the new bees. The rule that I learned on this list was feed sugar syrup until the bees stop taking it. The bees take about a qt a day per hive. The last years, the bees stopped taking syrup by early to mid May. This year They still want more and more. Is anyone else having a seemingly very different year?????Walt in SC ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 05:29:38 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Patrick Connell Subject: Characteristics of exceptional queens MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Further to James Bach's wise remarks on queen quality and paucity of alleels in the gene pool I would add that GOOD QUEENS ARE WELL FED DURING DEVELOPEMENT This produces queens with large thorax's, who hold their bodies high and don't drag their abdomens about on the combs. Good queen producers cull mishapen cells, cull small cells, cull all queens that look small or whose thorax's are not hughe. Good queen producers select for exceptional brood pattern of prospective queen mothers, any agressive queens do not make it into the breeding programme. Good queen producers accept queens back from customers when they are exceptional producers in the field. Good queens are raised from well nourished cells; this means that colonies in all phases of queen production are lavishly fed with syrup and pollen in frames next to cells. This is irrespective of a flow or not. Such queens can be had from members of the British Columbia Queen Breeders Association. Two of whom are James Macdonald (250) 546 3237 and Elizabeth Huxter (250) 442 5223 Fax (250) 442 3300 connell@bcgrizzly.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 04:47:48 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Patrick Connell Subject: Fw: Drawing foundation and Honey in brood boxes MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- From: Patrick Connell To: BEE-L @cnsibm.albany.eduBee List Subject: Re: Drawing foundation and Honey in brood boxes Date: June 4, 1998 4:42 AM Drawing foundation: Have been keeping bees for twenty four years and I have never expected bees to draw faundation above an excluder. Foundation is best drawn on a honey flow or whilst feeding 2:1 sugar syrup. Foundation is best drawn in the brood nest. Two or three frames of foundation in April/May in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, Canada. This aids in the prevention of swarming and keeps brood combs new. There may be some debate as to whether it is best to group foundation together in the centre of the brood nest or in the centre alternated with brood combs. As James Bach suggests supers of foundation should be baited with drawn comb. In my experience never expect bees to draw foundation above an excluder. An excluder may contribute to congestion in the broodnest. Establish a natural barrier to the queen going up for too long by allowing honey to force her to lay lower down. Give sufficient room to keep the broodnest free of being bound with honey but not so much room that the colony stores honey caverly all over the place in interupted amounts. I only use queen excluders when demareeing and in queen rearing operations. connell@bcgrizzly.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 09:08:19 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: STEVE PHILLIPS Subject: Bees and Minerals I frequently see my bees in the "mineral" feeder for my cattle. Cattle "mineral" is mostly salt, with calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, and trace minerals. I've always assumed the bees were there for a reason. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 10:06:00 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Ron Bogansky Subject: Propolis /Hive Strength/Swarms MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi All, I guess everyone is busy with their bees because there has not been much activity on the list. That being the case, I thought I would throw a few things out for discussion. But first a quick, funny story. When I first started with bees I was nervous about what my neighbors would say ( although the closest house is 150 yd. (m) away), so I surrounded my two hives with a 6 ft (2m) high solid fence. This caused the bees to fly up and out of harms way. Now, although I have hives both inside and outside the fence, I still keep it there. We have a bear in the neighborhood again, maybe it will save a few hives. The other day I was walking near the fence and thought I would peek in. I was greeted by a strange site. One of the hives had fallen over and was leaning at a 45 degree angle against the fence. The hive was totally intact just listing hard. It has two deep hive bodies, 3 med. and 2 shallow supers. I immediately went in and tried to stand it back up. It would not budge. I pushed and pulled until I noticed the supers starting to slide on the excluder. Not wanting to have 5 supers, apparently full of locust honey, come tumbling down on top of me I recruited help: My wife. Between the two of us we were able to get it back up. She pulled on the hive bodies while I pushed on the supers from the front. The supers had to weight in excess of 200 lb and I had just added supers 8 days earlier but the propolis held everything together. This really amazed me. Now the problem: Like other areas in the country we had and early spring, (some flowers bloomed a full 3 weeks early) and are now experiencing bizarre weather. (We had an unheard of F3 tornado touch down Sunday about 7 miles away. It completely destroyed a nearby small town.) The weather was warm leading into May then we had 11 rainy days in a row. That following week I had a number of swarms and talking to other area beekeepers they had the same problem. This was well after the dandelion bloom and they had plenty of room since the honey supers were already on. One yard in particular is very disappointing. There are 6 colonies at this location and 5 of them are not doing well. Normally I will get over 100lb. of honey from each colony in a normal year, more in a good year. I will be lucky if I get half that this year. The bees here are of Italian stock and do well. The colonies are not as strong as they should be and probably swarmed. I generally don't have major swarm problems, but this year seems to be an exception. I rotated brood chambers and they did not really show signs of swarming. Other than the weather there are two other things that are different. The first is I started using queen excluders. I would like to blame it on this but I don't think it was the problem. The hive that fell over in the above story had an excluder and was of Carniolian stock. It had plenty of honey and did not swarm. The other thing that was different was the farmer that owns the land allowed his cattle to free range right up to the hives. Until he was able to get a fence up around the hives the cattle had come close and moved at least one hive. I can't see how this would adversely affect the yard either. I am really at a loss as to why this yard is like it is. Generally I would not really be concerned as our honey flow in this area usually runs until early/mid July. But all of the trees have bloomed and the only thing left is clover which is currently blooming. I plan on taking George Imirie's workshop at EAS and hope I can figure out what I did wrong, but for now I am puzzled. Any ideas or discussion? Ron Bogansky Kutztown, PA ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 09:31:45 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Andy Nachbaur Subject: Re: Bees and Minerals In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 09:08 AM 6/4/98 -0500, you wrote: >I frequently see my bees in the "mineral" feeder for my cattle. Cattle "mineral" is mostly salt, with calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, and trace minerals. I've always assumed the bees were there for a reason. Hi Steve and Bee Friends, I think Honeybees are attracted to salt or chlorides. A one pound coffee can full of rock salt to a 55 gal drum of water with floats will keep bees out of stock tanks if they are any distance away. A few ounces of household bleach will do the same and helps keep bees out of back yard pools. Sometimes when working in the bees and you get hot and sweaty bees will land on your hands and actually bite, not sting, (but it feels like they are attempting to sting), on areas of the body that are especially rank or wet with perspiration like around a leather watch band, between the fingers, and around, how do you say it, the wave O's, (private parts). Panic sets in and many bees are killed when only looking for salt. Beekeepers are not the only one's that bees look to for salt and once a beekeepers witness what they can do to a sweaty horse a different attitude about horses and bees is for certain. A horse that attracts bees is not attacked by the bees but is plainly driven mad by them as they will fly in and out of their ears and nose which must be to the horse the same as setting off a firecracker to a sleeping person. They just go ballistic and if they can't get away from the bees will in a short time be covered with the foam of fear. Their body temperature raises to critical levels and they soon collapse and will sometimes die having never been stung. Granted you can go a lifetime and never have a problem with horses and bees, but I can tell all from witnessing the above in a small pasture and a horse and one bee hive that co existed for thirty years without a problem. The hive was twenty yards away from the fence and was not being worked at the time. In this case the horse was removed to a different pasture and was returned a week or so later with no problem. (I moved the hive.) I have another story about a stud horse and honey bees but since it was told to me by a President of the United States I can not be sure it is True and will leave it for another time. Of course he was only a state Governor at the time so maybe it could be True. I'll save it anyway, just in case. Back to Minerals... for several seasons I included trace minerals in my bee diets. I can't say they increased production more then 5% +- but at the time it seemed a good idea. Don't know if any beekeepers are doing this today. One thing that always amazed me in visiting with several professional Insectary operators was that they include some extras in their insect diets, TANG, the spaceman's tea, and none of them had any idea if it was necessary, it was something they just did. So adding electrolytes and trace minerals to honey bee diets because it does no harm may be a good idea. If you were selling the diet it sure would like good on the label. ttul, the OLd Drone Los Banos, California http://beenet.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 13:32:36 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: rmedders Hi Everyone, Can anyone offer suggestions for the questions below? Our compost bin has recently been taken over by honey bees. We would like to know how to safely remove them without killing them, so we can have our bin back. Tom and Dawn Guined, from Maui, HI DEGuined@aol.com Do you know of anyone who is using homeopathic remedies against bee mites? Kathleen Moore admiss@plainfield.bypass.com Thanks for your help, Sherry Medders beekeeping.guide@miningco.com http://beekeeping.miningco.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 21:10:05 +0100 Reply-To: gsm.wardell@virgin.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "GSM.WARDELL" Subject: Re: Bees in compost bin MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit rmedders wrote: > > Hi Everyone, > > Can anyone offer suggestions for the questions below? > > Our compost bin has recently been taken over by honey bees. We would like to > know how to safely remove them without killing them, so we can have our bin > back. > Tom and Dawn Guined, from Maui, HI > DEGuined@aol.com > > Do you know of anyone who is using homeopathic remedies against bee mites? > Kathleen Moore admiss@plainfield.bypass.com > > Thanks for your help, > Sherry Medders > beekeeping.guide@miningco.com > http://beekeeping.miningco.com From Geoff Wardell, Scotland UK. There are two possible ways of removing bees from the compost bin depending on access and time available both of which I have seen successfully carried out. 1. If the brood nest can be reached, prepare an empty hive with frames not fitted with foundation. In the evening transfer the combs into the frames, holding them in place with foundation re-inforcing wire taking care not to damage or distort them any more than is neccessary. This is more important than filling the frames as the bees will do this for themselves in due course. When the bees have settled down move the hive to another site at least one mile distant or if it is possible to move the compost bin, set up the hive in the same location and move it later at leisure. 2 Ifit is possible to reduce the bees' access to their nest inside the compost bin to one small opening comprising a bee escape by which the bees can fly out but not re-enter their nest. Set up a queen right hive close to the escape. Flying bees, returning to the bin will be unable to enter and will drift into the queen right hive where they will be accepted because they will be loaded with honey and pollen. After a month or two the compost bin will be empty of bees. Of course the Queen will be lost ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 21:18:28 +0100 Reply-To: gsm.wardell@virgin.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "GSM.WARDELL" Subject: Re: Bees in compost bin MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit GSM.WARDELL wrote: > > rmedders wrote: > > > > Hi Everyone, > > > > Can anyone offer suggestions for the questions below? > > > > Our compost bin has recently been taken over by honey bees. We would like to > > know how to safely remove them without killing them, so we can have our bin > > back. > > Tom and Dawn Guined, from Maui, HI > > DEGuined@aol.com > > > > Do you know of anyone who is using homeopathic remedies against bee mites? > > Kathleen Moore admiss@plainfield.bypass.com > > > > Thanks for your help, > > Sherry Medders > > beekeeping.guide@miningco.com > > http://beekeeping.miningco.com > From Geoff Wardell, Scotland UK. > > There are two possible ways of removing bees from the compost bin > depending on access and time available both of which I have seen > successfully carried out. > > 1. If the brood nest can be reached, prepare an empty hive with frames > not fitted with foundation. In the evening transfer the combs into the frames, holding them in place with foundation re-inforcingwiretaking > care not to damage or distort them any more than is neccessary. This is > more important than filling the frames as the bees will do this for > themselves in due course. When the bees have settled down move the hive > to another site at least one mile distant or if it is possible to move > the compost bin, set up the hive in the same location and move it later > at leisure. > > 2 If it is possible to reduce the bees' access to their nest inside the > compost bin to one small opening comprising a bee escape by which the > bees can fly out but not re-enter their nest. Set up a queen right hive > close to the escape. Flying bees, returning to the bin will be unable > to enter and will drift into the queen right hive where they will be > accepted because they will be loaded with honey and pollen. After a > month or two the compost bin will be empty of bees. Of course the Queen > will be lost ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 08:09:07 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Norman CotÊ" Subject: Re: Combined hives Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I would have moved the hive about 30 feet away and shook all the bees out and then returned the hive back to where it was. The laying worker wasn't ever out of the hive and will not be able to find her way back. The forageing bees will return to the hive. Norm ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 09:56:43 -0400 Reply-To: john.kriz@snet.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "John J. Kriz" Subject: Re: Bee strains MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit What about Starlines? Any experience there? ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 11:50:15 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "(Thomas) (Cornick)" Subject: Re: Propolis /Hive Strength/Swarms Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 6/4/98 11:20:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time, BOGANSRJ@APCI.COM writes: > > I plan on taking George Imirie's workshop at EAS and hope I can figure out > what I did wrong, but for now I am puzzled. > > Any ideas or discussion? > > Ron Bogansky > Kutztown, PA > I have been following George Imries tips from the Brushy Mountain catalog and from the Midnight Bee Website- And if you get to meet this man in a workshop you couldn't do better. It appears some of your bees built up on the honey flow instead of you building them up ahead of time for it. By the way I knocked a hive clean over checking for swarm cells and planned on getting dotted up by the bees- but the flow was so strong they didn't care -not one sting I only run 30 hives and maybe Georges reccomendations might be too much work for the big operators. My best hives now have 4 supers of drawn comb on them and I have extracted one super each allready and returned the wet combs for a refill. Next year they will get 5 supers each. I run queens from B weaver and Yorks and am in CT Yorks Midnights are outproducing the Queens from B weaver but not by much-and i didn't really get a good comparison as to how each overwintered. I am predicting 1 ton of honey this year from 30 hives- 20 of which are strong for the spring flow and 10 of which are splits or mediocre. Tom in New London CT ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 09:24:42 +1200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Mark Horsnell Subject: water blaster Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" to all honey house operators out there, does anyone use a water blaster for clean up operations? ie.: cleaning the inside sides of the extractor after use cleaning out the cappings vat & other assorted holding tanks cleaning honey, wax & propolis off the floor if so, what pressure & volume wld u recommend as optimum? pls note, it wld have to be powered by single phase electricity. i am also thinking about using one to clean up hive boxes before painting. thanx in advance, mark ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 22:06:17 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "John R. Valentine" Subject: OPOSSUMS ARE BEE PREDATORS ??? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Click here: Expert Systems Development Group HELLO BEE FRIENDS, I recently read a list of bee predators on the net, http://server.age.psu.edu/esdg/beepr.html and opossums are listed as one. This was a surprise to me. Do they eat bees like skunks?? John CT ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 21:33:09 -0700 Reply-To: jcbach@yvn.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James C Bach Subject: Bee strains MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit John Kriz asks about Starline queens. In the 1960s and early '70s a lot of Starlines were used by beekeepers here. I haven't heard them mentioned in ten years so I can't make any specific comments about them. James C. Bach Yakima WA jbach@agr.wa.gov jcbach@yvn.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 17:14:16 GMT+0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Garth Organization: Rhodes University South Africa Subject: Re: Bees in composter Comments: To: DEGuined@aol.com Greetings Bees enjoy settling in compost bings - I have removed at least ten swarms from such bins, in various stages of development. You have a young swarm. This is then simple and straight forward. Compost bins have lots of nice holes in to aid aeration - with time the bees will clog these up and you could get a lot of good quality propolis (at least 2kg's - I got a bag of 'aloe' propolis that way recently). Now they have probably not had the time, so make a little fire (smokey) next to the composter, or if one has access to a smoker smoke them liberally. Remove the combs for whatever use you will put them to. Take the whole composter and walk a few steps from the original site. Lift it up and drop it - this will dump the bees on the ground. Do so again, so as not to squash any bees. Remove the composter if all bees are removed (well if there are less than a hundred inside don't worry). PLace a box in the middle of all the bees on the ground, proppoing it up with four blocks of wood, with the bottom upwards - in no time the bees will run inside. They will do this better if one times it to happen at about 12.00 pm when the sun is overhead. The later in the day the less cooperative they are. Hope this helps. Keep well Garth PS - one I did a removal like this and found a small embalmed mongoose inside the compost bin - I gather it had crawled in there in winter and been 'terminated'. The bees covered it completely with propolis. Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P the I. may not stand for important. (rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 17:23:00 GMT+0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Garth Organization: Rhodes University South Africa Subject: Aardvarks surprise Hi All Just thought I would share a little story. Today somebody called to say they had a bee problem and so I went to see - they had gone shopping in the meantime, so went to look around in some bush nearby. A number of eucalyptus trees were flowering in the area, so I looked for a wild swarm of bees. Soon I found a nice colony in an aardvark hole in the ground (it is a sort of burrowing animal). Later that day I dug the swarm out, and while doing this heard a snuffle nearby - I turned around and a really old vagrant was watching me. He had a big whitey dirtyish beard and tattered cloths. He said 'Ubusi' (xhosa for honey). I gave him a big chunk and he ate it instantly, and sat there in a shaft of sunlight with golden honey trapped in his beard and running down his dirty jersey. He also had this big grin (with one tooth with most of the root showing). Anyhow, I took the bees away and put them in a box, but made a little detour to leave another comb next to the old guy as he slept underneath a tree - with a number of bees walking around his face licking up the honey. Interesting how the product of another society is still so pleasant to a man like him who has by the looks of it rejected, or been rejected by society. Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P the I. may not stand for important. (rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 13:20:50 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Malcolm (Tom) Sanford" Subject: Request for information on honey processing--respond directly Comments: cc: itrading@bblanca.com.ar MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Mr. Malcolm T. Sanford Bldg 970, Box 110620 University of Florida We are developing an elaboration and packaging of Honey plant, in Argentina, South America. We are looking for honey processing equipment. They all must meet with ISO 9000, CE and A-3 requirements. They can be new or second hand reconditioned. Can you supply us any address in USA of this ? Your answer will very usefull to us. Please contact us via e-mail and send you detail about our requirements. Thank you very much for your time. Jorge Luis Gross Vicepresidente Inter-Trade s.a. Alsina 19 Piso 9 Oficina 3 8000 Bahia Blanca Pcia. de Buenos Aires Argentina itrading@bblanca.com.ar Tel/Fax +54 91 - 55 82 57 ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 01:12:52 +0100 Reply-To: mail.lists@dial.pipex.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Bernie Duggan - Mail Lists a/c Subject: Re: Pollination Books Sought MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Roger, For your and everyone's information, Bee Books New and Old, Tapping Wall Farm, Somerset, UK have just gone on line. Heady stuff for British bee-keeping! You can find (for example) E.B. Wedmore's "A Manual of Beekeeping" on sale at http://www.in2it.net/bees/books.html Good luck, Bernie Duggan. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 14:36:49 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Andy Nachbaur Subject: Re: Aardvarks surprise In-Reply-To: <2ECD403C5D@warthog.ru.ac.za> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 05:23 PM 6/5/98 +0000, you wrote: >Interesting how the product of another society is still so pleasant >to a man like him who has by the looks of it rejected, or been >rejected by society. Wonderful uplifting story.....You should enjoy the feeling, the warm and fuzzy's, after such a humanitarian act.... Some would say you would have 2nd thoughts about a few in our society when returning to your hives a few weeks later and finding every other honey comb removed and filled in by the bees with wild comb. In any case its a fact that to give a gift to someone just because you can see the need is much better then doing nothing and later feeling guilty because you could have done something. I once had a chance as a younger man to do that myself and closed my eyes and mind to anothers simple needs and did nothing. But I saw someone I did not know well give, and with no more wealth then I, and he gained such great instant respect in my eyes over others who I knew well who could have done something and did not, including myself, that I have since become a giver or maybe to some a easy mark. I don't care as the instant rewards of a giver are so much greater compared to the costs of not giving I shall never change. I now am a better person today because I give when I see the need even if its only a cup of coffee or a meal to a transit just moving through our small town. I have seen others call the police and have seen the police harassment of the defenceless poor and sick and can only thank God that it was not me but I always remember that no one knows what the future holds for them and it could be me next time. All this has nothing to do with keeping bees other then to know bee keepers too have a heart like real people and I am sure many if not all of you are also unconditional givers. I am sure I have told this next story before but its worth repeating and concerns a "gift" returned. I was moving bees to the South Coast for the Sage and had pulled into a local truck stop for dinner. Just about the time I received my food a man came into the restaurant who without a doubt was the ugliest man I have ever seen, then or since. Not scare'ee ugly, just ugly ugly. At once all noticed he was dressed in an old fashioned dark gray double brested suite and at once all realized he must have been released from the many custodial homes that California once maintained for the storage of human beings that if left in society would stand out, and this guy sure qualified. He sat down and ordered and all would have been normal if he had not given all of us a "gift" I shall never forget even if at the time I may not have recognized it or its value. The gift.. This unbelievingly ugly man started to laugh, not the normal giggle or laughter we normally hear or make, not the belly laugh one sometimes is forced into by a funny story but the laughter of the insane. So complete and infectious that as I looked around the room that was full of people who looked like they were about to bust to keep themselves from joining in....and soon a little giggle escaped from someone who just could not hold it any longer and within seconds the whole place erupted with such a force of uncontrollable laughter that if there were any crystal on the shelves it surely would have burst. The relief expressed on the faces of all was complete as was the man's "gift" which was nothing more then to make a whole room full of people laugh and not one of them were laughing at the man only with him.. Hard to believe we once locked up people with this gift and at the same time made millionaires out of others who could not do any better by speaking funny words or actions to do the same, make us laugh. The ugly man had a real gift and he shared it for free. ttul, the OLd Drone Check out the BEE CAM page http://beenet.com/bcam/swarm.htm Try the Bee SPY-Cam (under construction) Bee sure and see the Dead Drone at "University of Montana Bee Cam" and the nice Amazing Black Bee screen at "USDA Bee Lab's Amazing Bee CAM" (c)Permission is given to copy this document in any form, or to print for any use. (w)OPINIONS are not necessarily facts. USE AT OWN RISK! ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 08:46:24 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Garrett Dodds Subject: Re: Bee Strains Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" There are very few strains of hoeny bees in the U.S. that is kept pure. Without the accidental introduction of unwanted stock through cross matings. This is maintain only by Instrumental Inseminations here in the U.S. Those strains are New World Carniolans, Starline (Midnite is no longer produced). Glenn Apiaries and Koehnens also use insemination to control their stock. The New World Carinolans have been maintain for over 15 years in a Closed Population Breeding Program, with Instrumental Insemination. This breeding stock is all uniforally black (naturally mated queens will show some yellow workers because their matings cannot be controled). This is a gentle bee, that builds up fast in the spring and produces a lot of honey, it has also showen decreasing tracheal mite levels over the last 5 years, with very high brood viability (NO INBREEDING). Garrett Garrett Dodds Royal Gold Farms Custom Inseminations 305 E. Hale St. P.O. Box 63 Ridgeway, OH 43345 (937) 363-3119 dodds.12@osu.edu gdodds@bright.net ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 21:19:51 +0900 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: j h & e mcadam Subject: Re: OPOSSUMS ARE BEE PREDATORS ??? MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >I recently read a list of bee predators on the net, >http://server.age.psu.edu/esdg/beepr.html >and opossums are listed as one. This was a surprise to me. >Do they eat bees like skunks?? Possums (we don't use the "o" suffix Down Under) are certainly very fond of honey and I know of at least one person who has trained wild possums to enter through the window to enjoy bread and honey nightly. One local beekeeper declares that the possums will clean up the slum gum residue on his beeswax blocks right down to the clean wax. This has not been my experience - my resident possum takes an apple nightly from my tree but leaves the slum gum alone. However I think it likely that possums enjoy cleaning up comb from failed wild hives which would consist of honey and dead brood. It is for this reason I discourage the poisoning of feral hives with the use of pest strips which release a pesticide over a period of time. I have read that beeswax absorbs the pesticide and is toxic thereafter. If the beeswax cannot be removed and properly disposed of the poison is introduced into the food chain. I do not know whether possums will tackle a live colony in the same manner as the honey badger I saw on a recent television documentary. Possums are nocturnal so presumably could help themselves without the bees being able to fly to defend. Betty McAdam HOG BAY APIARY Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island J.H. & E. McAdam Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "John R. Valentine" Subject: Will OPOSSUMS attack a live Coloney ??? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hello Bee friends, Will opossums attack a live colony? What are the signs of an opossum attack? I have a hive. The grass and dirt in front are torn up. This is probably a skunk? To live trap this little stinker (skunk) "that won't leave no matter what we do" what should we use for bait? John CT ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 22:26:30 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: David Williams Subject: lost queen? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Today i checked my hive after 2 weeks, I'm a new bee keeper. I found = that the bees are drawing out cells, but I couldn't find the queen. I = saw a few cells with honey, but I didn't look for eggs are really young = larve. I was looking for capped cells which I now know it is too early = to see. anyway, I'm afraid that my queen is lost. I'll check again = tomorrow for eggs, bur I'm afraid I lost her. What do you think ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 23:02:20 +0300 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Drory hive on the move MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Drory hive (1873) en route and beautiful pollen pictures of Cucurbitaceae, Cucurbita pepo of Cucurbita maxima In Dutch: Komkommerfamilie, kalebas, pompoen of reuzenkalabas http://members.tripod.com/~tempelman/Bestuiving.html greeting, jan ------------------------------------------------- home of the drone frame method. de darreraat methode ------------------------------------------------- http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index3.html Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | mailto:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 ------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 23:37:39 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Richard Barnes Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain I was at the farm and garden today and noticed a product. The material was sold under the name: Kelthane Spray and contained 1-1-bis (chlorophenyl) 2,2,2-trichloroethane. The product claimed to be a miticide. The label said it was specific for mites and would not hurt honey bees. Could this product be used in hives to kill mites where I just want to raise queens and am not collecting honey? I am also thinking that it might be used to save some wild hives in trees that are near my home. I don't want to get flamed about chemicals in honey so I am only posing the question for use in queen breeding operations. Under strict understanding that the honey would not be collected or the comb put into any hives that might be used for honey production. Richard Barnes richard.barnes1@halliburton.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 09:03:00 +0200 Reply-To: drs@kulmbach.baynet.de Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Dr. Reimund Schuberth" Subject: Re: lost queen? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear David, if you have lost the queen, which sometimes can happen, you should find a lot of queen cells on the combs within 2-4 days. They are not at the lower outlying areas of the frames like swarm-cells but in the middle of the frames. This can be tested if the hive has a egg-laying queen before it possibly got lost. If you want to test whether a hive has its queen and there are no eggs or larvas, you can make a so called (in Germany) "queen-test". Take a frame with eggs or young larvas in its combs out of a hive that's o.k. and put this frame into the hive you want to test. If there is no queen the bees of the hive will try to produce their own queen and make queen cells. Hope this was a little help. Bye for now. Reimund ________________________________ Beekeeper in Germany (Bavaria) Queen Rearing of Carniolan Bees Insemination Station ________________________________ David Williams schrieb: > Today i checked my hive after 2 weeks, I'm a new bee keeper. I found that the bees are drawing out cells, but I couldn't find the queen. I saw a few cells with honey, but I didn't look for eggs are really young larve. I was looking for capped cells which I now know it is too early to see. anyway, I'm afraid that my queen is lost. I'll check again tomorrow for eggs, bur I'm afraid I lost her. What do you think ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 14:24:34 GMT+0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Garth Organization: Rhodes University South Africa Subject: Bushpigs and bees Hi All We seem to have an increase in postings recently about animals and bees so here is another little one. I recently moved some hives to a farm where they used to grow kitchen herbs. The herb patches are now fallow with wild herbs and I moved my hives into the middle of these patches. The bees are now working some nearby bluegums. Interestingly, a few days after they were moved in the farmer phoned me to say somebody was diggin up the fallow plots. I went and had a look and sure enough the lands were being dug up - closer inspection revealed that the somebody was a large number of bushpigs -rather unfriendly characters fond of roots. Anyhow, I went back there on friday and found that all of the field has now been dug/snuffled and worked except for a small patch around my bees. The conclusion I can draw is that bushpigs don't like bees. I would however have loved to have heard the learning proccess!! Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P the I. may not stand for important. (rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 08:21:36 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: David Green Subject: Re: Kelthane as a varroacide Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 6/7/98 12:42:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Richard.Barnes1@halliburton.com writes: << I was at the farm and garden today and noticed a product. The material was sold under the name: Kelthane Spray and contained 1-1-bis (chlorophenyl) 2,2,2-trichloroethane. The product claimed to be a miticide. The label said it was specific for mites and would not hurt honey bees. Could this product be used in hives to kill mites where I just want to raise queens and am not collecting honey? I am also thinking that it might be used to save some wild hives in trees that are near my home. I don't want to get flamed about chemicals in honey so I am only posing the question for use in queen breeding operations. Under strict understanding that the honey would not be collected or the comb put into any hives that might be used for honey production. >> Thousands of possible miticides have been tried; I am confident that Kelthane is among them. If it had shown promise, I'm sure we'd have heard about it by now. Beside the problem of toxicity to humans, there is also the question of effectiveness, dosage, and many other aspects as well. Many of the miticides that used to be commonly used in orchards have lost their effectiveness, due to build up of mite resistance. I've been away from active apple growing for a while, but, if my memory serves, Kelthane is one of those which had become ineffective and not much used anymore. (BTW, it stinks to high heaven!) The dosage question is also important. Kelthane, at the label dosage, is not supposed to hurt honeybees. It is likely to be highly toxic at higher dosages. But how do you translate that to a totally different situation, within beehives? That is a problem for trained researchers, not amateurs. So far Apistan (fluvalenate) is the only legal product we have in the US. Why do you reject it? In the long run, we are at greater risk for having only one product. The key method of preventing mite resistance is to use alternate products with different modes of operation to kill the mites. This is why fruit growers usually switch off between two or more miticides. But with the fruit, there are several registered products. With the bees, we have only one. I don't know how much the individual beekeeper can do about this, except to push for registration of additional products, as quickly as safe and possible. Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles) http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 08:10:02 -0400 Reply-To: mpalmer@together.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Palmer Organization: French Hill Apiaries Subject: Re: Will OPOSSUMS attack a live Coloney ??? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I hate to do it, but I poison skunks when they get out of control. Make a small hole in the dirt in front of the hive being worked by the skunks. Place a raw egg, with the top chipped off, in the hole. Put some poison in the egg, and stir it around. No more skunk problem. I use zink phosphide (rat poison) that I get from the orchard. I've heard of using cyannide, but I think it too dangerous. Don't be indescriminate with this procedure. Use it only when skunks get to be a real problem. Don't use it in the neighborhood where dogs may be present. If the egg isn't eaten in a night or two, remove and bury it. Light predation can often be controlled by using chemical fertilizer on the ground in front of the hive. They don't like the taste I guess. Mike John R. Valentine wrote: > Hello Bee friends, > Will opossums attack a live colony? What are the signs of an opossum attack? > I have a hive. The grass and dirt in front are torn up. This is probably a > skunk? > To live trap this little stinker (skunk) "that won't leave no matter what we > do" what should we use for bait? > John > CT ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 10:03:27 -0600 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Subject: Re: Kelthane as a varroacide In-Reply-To: <91ad7db9.357a85d1@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > So far Apistan (fluvalenate) is the only legal product we have in the > US. Why do you reject it? Hmmm. I'm not sure where the original writer is located. If in Canada, there are two approved treatments for varroa, if in Europe or elsewhere there are many other possibilities. Some jurisdictions reached by this list may not have *any* restrictions. And FWIW, I don't think the original writer rejected Apistan at all. Merely asking about the possibility of finding and using alternate treatments is not the same as actually using them and, to me, it does not mean the writer does not use or approve of Apistan. Asking such questions is a first step towards deciding if there is a potential alternate control here. There are other steps that need to followed prior to actual use and the matters of detemining safety and approval by authorities are part of that process. I don't think we can trust the chemical companies, scientists and regulators to take care of our interests. They simply do not understand the subtleties as well as we do ourselves. Moreover, they are not in the same kind of trouble we are when their solutions fail. We must ask questions and look for answers ourselves, all with due regard for the regulations and procedures for approval, and the safety of the public and our bees. The additional or different controls that could potentially be used in beehives that will never produce honey for consumption (how can we ensure that?) is an interesting question that has never been adequately explored -- to my thinking anyhow. Should queen rearers and package bee producers who never make honey be held to the same standards as the rest of the industry? Maybe if the equipment for such activities were a differerent, non-compatible size that will not interchange with standard equipment (like some types of nucs, or the DE hive) and if everyone knew that such units must not be used for honey production, different chemical controls might be approved for queen and bee rearing operations. On the risk side, I suppose, there is always the chance that such equipment might be robbed by bees that *are* making honey, so that some risk would still be there, but AFAIK, there is no law against mixing toxic substances with sweets and leaving them exposed, so I suppose the hazard already exists. Apistan has been to date a most effective method of varroa control, but it will likely almost totally lose its effectiveness this year and next in the USA as the resistant strains of mites are distributed by migratory beekeepers. The controls that are currently in the pipeline in the US depend AFAIK on formic acid. Formic does work, but has some severe limitations compared to Apistan, and is not nearly as effective. Yes, we do need to be on the lookout for new and better ways to deal with varroa. Unfortunately, from what Dave says, I gather this chemical is not too promising. but let's keep looking and thinking... Allen -- Buy, sell, trade, get a job, hire help, announce a meeting, advertise a business or publication... For free *beekeeping related* classified ads, visit http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/BeeAds/ often. These ads work fast! ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 10:22:28 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jerry J Bromenshenk Subject: Bee Cams Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Andy Nachbauer says: Try the Bee SPY-Cam (under construction) http://beenet.com/bcam/swarm.htm Bee sure and see the Dead Drone at "University of Montana Bee Cam" http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees As Andy now knows, the only reason he saw the Dead Drone at our Bee Cam was that he bookmarked our old address (which I warned people not to do). As soon as he linked to the correct address, he saw moving bees. Had us scratching our heads about that Dead Drone. Thought it might be Andy. Ever since we got our observation hive on-line, we have been working towards a better video server. Our video cam now has a dual 333 MHz processor unit firing the camera. You can see a cam image at 15 second intervals (for those of you with slow connections) or a "video" of bees moving into and out of the hive at 1 second intervals. Check out our link about the Observation Hive to see a picture of the setup (hive, camera, etc.) BUT, DON'T USE OUR OLD ADDRESSES. THE AUTOFORWARDS DO NOT ALWAYS ENGAGE. Clear any old bookmarks for our site (we use four servers, so clear them all). Find us at http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees Also, our weather is still cool. Our bees are usually flying between late morning (after 11 a.m.) until about 6 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time). If the camera is not showing any bees, CHECK the TIME and the WEATHER. We are two hours behind the east coast, and one ahead of the west coast. You can access a weather station on the roof of our building to see weather the bees will be going out. Remember, they don't fly in rain, wind, or cold. Also, the observation hive flight counter is also on line. Finally, we have re-done the kids page with jokes, our own trivia questions, and some tougher questions about famous beekeepers for kids of all ages (even old beekeepers). Cheers Jerry J. Bromenshenk Research Professor The University of Montana-Missoula jjbmail@selway.umt.edu 406-243-5648 406-243-4184 http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 10:26:46 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jerry J Bromenshenk Subject: Bee Predators Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Add to that list badgers. We have had badgers carry off and bury nucleus hive boxes. Jerry J. Bromenshenk jjbmail@selway.umt.edu http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 12:48:37 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "John R. Valentine" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 6/7/98 12:42:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Richard.Barnes1@halliburton.com writes: > -trichloroethane 1,1,1 -trichloroethane will kill anything that breaths it. My experience is it's nasty stuff, don't know about 1-1-bis (chlorophenyl) 2,2,2-trichloroethane. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 12:59:46 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "John R. Valentine" Subject: Request for Connecticut Honey Bee Registration Form Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hello Bee Friends, Request for CT Honey Bee Registration forms I have recently expanded and moved my bees to a new location and need to reregister them with the state does anyone have a form they could e-mail me? John CT ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 11:00:48 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jerry J Bromenshenk Subject: Sorry, part of network is down this Sunday Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" If you have trouble reaching the bee cam, I discovered parts of the University's Server Network is down (sometimes they service it on Sundays) or maybe it just died. Try again tomorrow. Sorry about any inconvenience. Jerry Jerry J. Bromenshenk, Ph.D. Director, DOE/EPSCoR & Montana Organization for Research in Energy The University of Montana-Missoula Missoula, MT 59812-1002 E-Mail: jjbmail@selway.umt.edu Tel: 406-243-5648 Fax: 406-243-4184 http://www.umt.edu/biology/more http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 10:28:17 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Andy Nachbaur Subject: Bee Cam "down" In-Reply-To: <3.0.3.32.19980607102228.00afc3d0@selway.umt.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:22 AM 6/7/98 -0600, you wrote: Hi Jerry and Friends, Oh darn I was just posting Jerry a note and he found out his server was not using his cgi code or something. But the OLd Drone is not dead and all are welcome to visit the 24 hr Bee Cam, spy cam, and swarm cam that has never failed, yet. Someday I may get hardware to go along with the software but until then enjoy what I have put together.. BTW the "spy cam" software is free for all if interested use the button at my site to D/L it. I really would like to see more beekeepers do the Bee Cam thing, the cameras are not all that expensive today and it would be something that would bring in the public to beekeeping web sites. >Andy Nachbauer says: >Try the Bee SPY-Cam (under construction) http://beenet.com/bcam/swarm.htm My Bee Cams are Amazing and almost work every time, I hope someday to have more then the software as I have some turtle eggs that would be a hoot to watch hatching. But not sure if I will have it together in the 30 days they take to hatch. >Bee sure and see the Dead Drone at >"University of Montana Bee Cam" The Drone is not dead, it just seemed that way or he was revived with a heavy dose of web page Viagra called Java. What a drag some of this web page stuff is, I just answered a viewer who said it took 1/2 hour to load my index page or cover page. About all I could say is that there are few web pages I have ever seen that I would have waited more the a few minutes for them to load and I was sorry my own loads so slow. My own knowledge of the art of it all is not progressed to the point that I can have duel pages so that what I now offer is in a graphic format and not text format. I started out to late in this effort and missed the text format of the early web days as I opted to do the dial up BBS thing and have ANSI graphics. Not to say I won't move back towards more text as I learn as I have seen some very good use of text on the web. Right now its HTML and Java and all should know that MickeySoft does not do the cutting edge Java stuff with IE v.4 (98) and if a user or viewer wants to see the full Java experience they must use Netscape, v.4 preferred. >"University of Montana Bee Cam" http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees >As soon as he linked to the correct address, he saw moving bees. True. >Had us scratching our heads about that Dead Drone. Thought it might be Andy. I was scratching myself yesterday and today when it all started to return server errors. I guess there is a lot of advantage of having several servers, not sure what it is but its nice when it works. >Ever since we got our observation hive on-line, we have been working >towards a better video server. Our video cam now has a dual 333 MHz >processor unit firing the camera. You can see a cam image at 15 second >intervals (for those of you with slow connections) or a "video" of bees >moving into and out of the hive at 1 second intervals. It really was looking good, I could see a difference. Have not tried the video's yet. ttul, Andy- Los Banos, California ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 13:31:26 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: African small hive beetle find in Florida(USA) Comments: To: apis-l@lists.ufl.edu Aethina tumida, the african small hive beetle, has apparently been detected recently in honey bee colonies in florida for the first time...the brown-to-black adult is about 0.5cm long, while the white larva grows to about 1.0cm in length...they feed on pollen and honey, causing damage to comb (both in use and storage) similar to wax moths. surveys are currently under way to determine the extent and range of infestation, with initial reports coming from the ft.pierce area...any information from those having experience with this pest would be welcome. on another front, florida beekeepers may have a new, albeit unwanted and perhaps undesirable, potential crop from another first find: 06/04/98 - New Aphid Pest in Florida A new aphid pest, the Asian elm aphid (Tinocalis ulmiparrifoliae), was discovered in central Florida, near Tavarres, Florida. According to Susan Halbert, entomologist with the Division of Plant Industry, this is a new United States record for this pest. First symptoms of its presence will be heavy honeydew on elm trees. The University of Florida Pest Alert WWW site is at: http://extlab1.entnem.ufl.edu/PestAlert/ _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 13:07:38 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Midnitebee Subject: additional articles Comments: To: "L-Soft list server at University at Albany (1.8c)" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Greetings! George Imirie's latest articles: http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ 1)Getting most nectar capped 2)four methods of removing honey 3)extracting procedures and tricks 4)cleaning extracted frames 5)storing drawn comb until next year These articles are LONG and quite extensive!!..adjust your fonts/browsers..get a cup of java/tea/soda pop..enjoy and learn! Thanks,George/Ann!!..for I was blind and NOW I CAN SEE!! Herb Holly-B Apiary P.O.Box 26 Wells,Maine 04090-0026 http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 11:39:28 -0700 Reply-To: jcbach@yvn.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James C Bach Subject: Kelthane Spray MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Richard Barnes asks questions about the use of this miticide for bee mites. Richard: Which mites are identified on the label? The reason the label says that the spray won't hurt bees is because it is not usually sprayed during bloom periods. The language means that if bees come into contact with the miticide on the sprayed surface it won't hurt them (noticeably). This does not mean that if the bees are sprayed with the product it is equally harmless. If Honey Bee Tracheal and Varroa mites are not indicated on the label, the product is not labeled for these mites even if it is stated that bees will not be harmed. It would be nice to find a product that could be used on nucs, or on colonies not producing honey. But some bee breeders do produce honey. We must remember that the wax in these hives will be put into the industry wax supply at some point in time. There is no guarantee that the beekeeper will remember which equipment had been treated with a special product and keep it separate from other sources. Generally speaking everything put into a commercial operation becomes part of the homogenious mix of frames, comb, supers, apiaries, truck loads, warehouse, honey tanks, and wax blocks. James C. Bach Yakima WA jbach@agr.wa.gov jcbach@yvn.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 13:14:36 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jerry J Bromenshenk Subject: Fixed Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Ok, we got the video cam back on line. However, it is cold and wet in Missoula today, so not much to see. http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees. As a novelty, we placed 4 MIDI sounds files on our page under the Jump List of the Kids Corner. The midi files are musical renditions of the flights of bees from our hives - the world's first bee produced music. Cheers Jerry J. Bromenshenk jjbmail@selway.umt.edu http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 16:16:56 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Greg J Zujus Subject: Glued Super I need a little advise. I just acquired 2 hives which have not been tended in about 5 years. The first is a large hive in 2 deep boxes with a full deep over an excluder and" chuck full of bees". The second is a hive that swarmed from the larger hive into an empty hive in the same yard. Today I cleaned up what I could and added a medium super of foundation on the smaller hive and a deep super of foundation above the excluder on the large hive. I tried to pull a frame from the full honey super on the large hive but I can't get it out, the more I tugged the more I felt the frame "coming apart". Does anyone know of a way to get these frames out and extract the honey ? Alsoas stated the equipment is quite old and I do not believe that I will be able to pull any of the frames in the brood chambers for inspections for they will fall apart. Both hives are very healthy and probably quite mite resistant as they have never been treated for mites. Any advice here ? _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 22:54:04 GMT+0200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Garth Organization: Rhodes University South Africa Subject: Genetically modified organisms/bogeyreproters Hi All I just recieved Dr Stanfords copy of this months Apis newsletter and was quite interested to read the article about genetically modified organisms and honey. It was I geuss taken from one of those 'alarmist' type articles. There is mention of the possibility that people may be allergic to GMO's. Basically if a thing contains protein it is perfectly possible to be allergic to it. It is also perfectly possible to become desensitized to that allergy. DNA codes largely for protein structures. If for instance one takes a bit of DNA from some funny south american tree and slaps it into a tomato to confer resistance to a fungus, there is no reason why this will damage a person. We eat hundreds of similar substances and have bacteria and yeasts producing similar things in out stomach in kilogram quantities over our lives. Likewise if a bee collects some pollen from a transgenic (plant which contains DNA from another source other than it's own kind and parents) plant and comes back to the hive and digests it, that transgenic DNA will be digested just like any other chunk of DNA and used to make new bees. IT is a bit like stealing the plans for a bomb, printing it out and cutting out all the letters. If you then use those letters to write a love letter one is no longer transmitting the knowledge about how to build the same type of bomb. I would be interested to hear what others in the list feel about this one - it could in theory be an interesting debate?? Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis Eastern Cape Prov. South Africa Time = Honey After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P the I. may not stand for important. (rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 04:14:31 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Al Needham Subject: Re: Glued Super On Sun, 7 Jun 1998 16:16:56 -0400 Greg J Zujus writes: >I need a little advise. ........ Does anyone know of a >way to get these frames out and extract the honey ? If you remove the full box from the hive and pry away as much propolis, top and bottom of each frame, then try turning the box on its side (after its removal from the hive) and try tapping the first frame that you wish to loosen. Start at one ond and work your way towards the other end. This technique has worked for me when the top of the frame started to give way as you described it. Hopefully the above explanation is written in an easy to understand manner. Al, ...................................................................... <"Mailto: awneedham@juno.com" > Scituate,Massachusetts,USA The Beehive-Educational Honey Bee Site Visit The Beehive Book Shoppe http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine Al _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 16:07:20 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Mark Gosswiller Subject: queen excluder MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain I haven't used a queen excluder in the past but have decided to try one on 3 of my 5 hives this year. Is it my imagination or does a queen excluder slow down the process of the bees filling up the supers above it? It seems there is more honey in the brood boxes and less in the supers. Has anyone else had this type of experience. The two hives without the excluders seem to be filling the supers up faster. They are all at the same location. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 17:49:03 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Meretsky, Vicky J." Subject: bee dot summary MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable To the Bee-Listers: Regarding beedots, I received the following information. Would someone = who subscribes to BEE-L and BOMBUS-L see if it's worth copying to BOMBUS, = and if so, do so? I'm not a subscriber there. Many thanks to all. Vicky Meretsky Assistant Professor School of Public and Environmental Affairs Indiana University ________________________________ We are the North American agents for E.H.Thorne of the UK. We have=20 (beedots) in our catalogue and ship them to customers in the US. If you would care to discuss this further, then please e-mail us=20 direct.=20 Regards Dave... ******************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Dr, Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, L3V 6H1 Phone/fax 705-326-7171 David Eyre, Owner. http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks e-mail ******************************************** From another source, regarding Bee Works: The price for a queen marking kit (=3D500 tags) is $43.15 including = shipping to the US. For quickest results, e-mail him the PO number and he will send the tags right away. ______________________________ We have sold these for many years not only to beekeepers, but to people researching shellfish and many other invertebrates. Judicious location = or alignment can give many more number permutations than the 500 in the = kit. Discs are also available without numbers; although slightly more = awkward to apply, the regularity of the outlne really stands out in the hive, more = than the irregular outline of a drop of paint, particularly with yellow, = when there is a lot of yellow pollen around. For one kit, air-mailed to you, the cost is =A321.82 (pounds sterling) = plus =A31.57 carriage, but quantities may get discount. Early next year, Bioquip Products of Gardena, CA will become our = American stockists of these and possibly other items. Matthew J Allan Manager, Thornes of Windsor, UK MattAllan@AOL.COM _____________________________ the address of GRAZE, Germany is Chr. Graze Endersbach Staffelstr. 5 D-71384 Weinstadt phone number from US: 0 11 49- 71 51-96 92 30 or telefax number from US: 0 11 49- 71 51-96 92 33 ______________________________ There is a polish company that makes the same at a slightly better = price (about half). "Pete Illgner" will be able to give you=20 the address of a German student who was here two months ago who got=20 some of them. His Name was Peter Neuman - just send a message to Pete=20 Illgner asking him for Peter N's address. They used them to mark a lot of bees. They are of comparible quality=20 to the german ones, although occasionally the numbers are printed=20 skew, but one can still read them. _________________________________- ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 20:13:22 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "John R. Valentine" Subject: Re: queen excluder Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Yes, the bees don't like to go through the queen excluder unless they have no other place to put the honey. John CT ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 18:49:48 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "(Thomas) (Cornick)" Subject: Re: Glued Super Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Usually there is a brick sitting on top of my hives and if you set the super on top of the brick it pushes the frames up from the bottom using the weight of the super. Tom in CT ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 16:27:51 -0700 Reply-To: jcbach@yvn.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: James C Bach Subject: Glued super MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Greg asks about how to get a frame out of a super where the frames are all glued in. Here are some ideas. Scrape as much propolis and wax as you can from the ends of the the top bars where they rest on the rabbit. Then take a long knife (machete) and run down next to the super sides to cut loose the bridge comb that may be built there. Remove the super from the hive and turn it up on one end. Slide the knife up the ends of the super, under the frame ears, and cut the bridge comb between the end bars and the ends of the super. Remove the wax from the frame bottom bars. Set the super upright on two pieces of 2x4 cut 14.5 inches long. This will allow the super to be pushed down because the frames will be held up by the 2x4s. A sharp hive tool can then be run between the frame end bars to see if the frames can be separated, starting with the outside frames. If not, a long knife will neet to be run down between the combs to cut the bridge comb. Remove the frames one at a time, scrape the frame, remove unwanted bridge comb and replace the frames into another super, or the old one if it has been thoroughly cleaned and is reusable. Another way to handle your situation is to lift the full honey super and put a brood nest super (or two westerns) under it, remove the excluder and put honey supers on top of the full deep. Let the queen move up into the new brood nest(s) supers. When she does and has 4-5 combs of brood, add another brood nest super(s) below the full honey super. Also if she is in the new brood nest super, turn the bottom brood nest super upside down. She will not lay in the downward sloping cells. In 14 days remove the bottom super and dispose of it as appropriate. The bees are probably not mite tolerant. They have probably been in a rather isolated area where bees from other hives have not yet drifted. We hear of occasional reports of bee colonies in buildings here, but usually there haven't been other colonies in the area, or the building is in an area surrounded by forest. Colonies is these situations apparently do not receive drifting bees from other colonies foraging in the area, especially now that most feral colonies are dead. When the colony is removed from the building and put into a separate hive in an apiary it will die within two years if left untreated for mites. Of course the only way to know if a colony is tolerant of mites is to not treat it with any chemical and see if it survives. Good luck Greg. James C. Bach Yakima WA jbach@agr.wa.gov jcbach@yvn.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 20:22:28 PDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Ernest Gregoire Subject: Re: Bee Strains MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=us-ascii Hello Gang, Regarding New World Carniolans; Exactly what is the difference between them and plain ole Carniolans? Is there any difference at all? If a New world Carniolan hive swarms, does it beget a new, New World Carniolan queen and subsequent colony? Are N.W.C. bees hybrids? Inquiring minds want to know. de AA1IK, Time the accursed enemy of man, cursed by youth for going to slow Ernie Gregoire and by the old for going to fast. R.R. 1, Box 221, South Rd. Canaan, NH. 03741 Fly fisher & tier, Promise Keeper. E-mail address: gregoire@endor.com packet address: AA1IK@WA1WOK.FN43FE.NH.USA.NA ------------------------------------- 06/07/98 20:27:51 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 22:06:30 -0400 Reply-To: beekeepr@bellsouth.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Frank Humphrey Subject: Re: queen excluder In-Reply-To: <7FC9CC3C83DFD111AA6200005A4249A003AC5B@bo00sxp4.bc.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Is it my imagination or does a queen excluder slow > down the process of the bees filling up the supers above it? It > seems there > is more honey in the brood boxes and less in the supers. Has > anyone else had > this type of experience. The two hives without the excluders seem to be > filling the supers up faster. They are all at the same location. > I keep hearing this same complaint. Here in Tennessee USA, I use single brood boxes make 3-4 supers of honey almost every year. I do this by using a queen excluder so that I have a hive full of honey instead of bees. Yes bees are reluctant to cross the excluder but if drawn comb is used they cross with little or no hesitation. If you give them foundation, leave out the excluder until they have started drawing several combs. I don't know about double brood boxes but I regularly find 9 and 10 frames of brood in the brood chamber with all the honey stored above in the supers. I had a young colony that was becoming honey bound last week. I put on a super of drawn combs over an excluder. When I checked them yesterday, they had most of the honey moved into the super to make room for brood rearing. As you can see, I absolutely believe in excluders for single brood setups. Our season is short and I want them to make honey and not babies from April to July 1st. That is my season so I make the most of it Frank Humphrey beekeepr@bellsouth.net ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 21:11:19 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "W. G. Miller" Subject: Re: Glued Super Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Problem: Getting frames out of a super/box after they have been well glued into place by the bees. First, remove the super/box in question from the rest of the hive. Prying and twisting generally work well here. If you still can't get a frame out, I would first try to get out another frame in the super. Once you get out the first frame, the rest can be twisted into the open space and easily removed. Make sure the frame you are working on isn't an obvious "fattie" where the bees have dran the comb so deep as to make the frame interlock with the adjacent frames. Stil no luck? Turn the box over and give the bottom of the frame a few hammer hits by the sidebars. And before you put everything back together again, clean off all the propolis and burr comb from all the frames in the box, and the box itself. Your hive tool makes a good scraper for this job. Also, put in "shear nails" from the sidebars of each frame to the top bars. Do this on both sides of each frame. This will help prevent pulling apart frames. W. G. Miller Gaithersburg, MD