========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 08:33:10 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Rod Billett Subject: Hive Beetles Moving North. Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hey all. There was a article in our local paper this morning stating that three hives in Charleston County, SC had been found infested with the (as andy would say) Afro-Beetle! Lets see now. Discovered in Florida in April. found in SC in July. They should have infected the entire US by this time next year! David Green - Do you have any more information about this. I know your located closer to there than I. We have controls for Varoa and Traecheal mites, but nothing for the Afro Beetles and Bees. What is the economic impact to beekeeping going to be when the Beetles and African bees get a foothold into the comercial bee areas of the Southeast (Al, GA, FL). Rod Billett Lexington, SC ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 08:42:52 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: Re: ALLERGY to BEE STINGS Comments: To: bparker@mmm.com strongly suggest you get/keep an anakit or epipen (both noradrenaline) on hand, just in case...available only by prescription in the usa, don't know about the uk? _____________________________________________________________________ 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: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 09:00:58 -0300 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Ram=F3n_Arbona?= Subject: Informatioin request on Neem flowers (Azadirachta indica) on honey MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Bee-L subscribers: Does any one in this list knows where to get information on the web about the influence of Neem flowers (Azadirachta indica) on honey production and quality? Currently, in the Dominican Republic there is a public discussion about this. Any help or comments will be appreciated. Thanks! Ramon Arbona Information Officer Center for the Development of Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry, Inc. (CEDAF) PO Box 567-2 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic fda@codetel.net.do ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 10:27:21 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Musashi Subject: Western Wyoming Honey Conditions I was on vacation the past couple of weeks and felt that my observations might be of interests to others, so I decided to share them with the list subscribers. Just after July 4, I traveled to the Wasatch Front in Utah and then to Star Valley in Western Wyoming on the Idaho border. The sweet clover (yellow legume) was in full bloom in Utah on the lower mountainsides and mountain valleys, and there was a greenish yellow caste in many locations. It looked to me like it would be great bee forage. When we returned home 2 weeks later (at the end of last week) the bloom in Utah was all gone. In Star Valley, Wyoming, I visited with a beekeeper who told me that it had been cold and raining there constantly up to about two weeks previous, and he had had to purchase a lot of syrup to feed his bees to keep them from starving. Because of the weather, his bees had completely missed the Spring nectar flow and had just barely survived. He hadn't even put on his supers yet. There is still a chance for them to make something from the Summer nectar flow, but right now the situation is pretty "iffy". I've never seen Star Valley greener at this time of year than during this trip. The season is usually more advanced and drier by now--it must be the El Nino related rains. The usually dry river beds were full of water (Salt River). I thought it might be interesting for people to hear these observations and compare them to their own local conditions. Best wishes for a successful year. Layne Westover College Station, Texas ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 13:35:29 -0300 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Doug Yanega Subject: spread of Megachile sculpturalis in EUS Comments: To: entomo-l@listserv.uoguelph.ca Comments: cc: BOMBUS-L@mercury.cc.uottawa.ca, polpal-l@listserv.uoguelph.ca Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi, all. I recently got a query by e-mail from Stephen Bullington in western Pennsylvania about a "giant megachilid" he'd seen three of (on his milkweeds), which had made him curious. It sounded like an exotic species to me, so I suggested he send one to Jerry Rozen at the AMNH. Turns out that they are Megachile sculpturalis, an Asian species first encountered in the US in North Carolina back in 1994 (Mangum & Brooks, J. Kansas Ent. Soc. 70:140-142). That they should have arrived already in western PA is definitely interesting, and I'm posting this in the hopes that spreading the word will alert bee people and other entomologists to keep their eyes peeled, and maybe we can gather some information about the spread (and impact) of this introduced bee. We have precious little data on introduced bees ("beneficial" insects, to most people) as to their effects on native pollinator species - and knowing where M. sculpturalis *is* might help. It might also be worth checking in some museum collections to see if there aren't any other specimens that can help trace the history of the introduction. The species is quite large, over 20 mm long, with "a deep honey-colored velvety "fur" on the thorax, and an abdomen that is black dorsally on the second and succeeding tergites (there is some honey-colored "fur" on the sides of the first segment)." The mandibles are also relatively long and slender, and the head large. There should be a sketch of the head on Stephen's web page at http://www.key-net.net/users/swb/bee.htm for anyone who has some and wants to compare. Peace, Doug Yanega Depto. de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas, Univ. Fed. de Minas Gerais, Cx.P. 486, 30.161-970 Belo Horizonte, MG BRAZIL phone: 031-449-2579, fax: 031-441-5481 (from U.S., prefix 011-55) http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/ "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 19:23:01 -0400 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: David Eyre Organization: The Bee Works Subject: Re: FORCED SUPERCEDURE MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Date sent: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 22:14:16 -0400 Send reply to: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Partin Subject: FORCED SUPERCEDURE To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > I know when you requeen by forced supercedure there has to be a honey > flow on, I would like to know if you can do it by heavy feeding when > there is no flow on. Would like to help, but unsure about "forced supercedure". Please explain, do you refer to requeening? ******************************************** The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive, Unit 2, Orillia, ON, Canada. Phone- 705-326 7171. Fax 705 325 3461. North American agents. E.H.Thorne(UK)Ltd. Ventilated Hives and Equipment David Eyre... Owner http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 17:16:54 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Randall Subject: Whats this Picture About? Hi Everyone, I got a quick question I found this picture. I'm not sure about whats happening here. Can anyone tell me what's going on. Thanks in advance. Randall http://www.netcall.com.mx/abejas/Foto2/abeja5.jpg ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 19:22:51 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: beeman Organization: Honey Ridge Apiaries Subject: Afro-Beetle! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, can anybody tell me about this hive beetle?? does anyone have pics of it/them?? I live in KY and so far haven't seen anything abnormal in or around my hives?? ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 22:42:24 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Ron Taylor Subject: Re: Hive Beetles Moving North. Just to let you know that an insect similiar to to small hive hive beetle has been seen in lowcountry hives since the fall of last year. McClellanville, Summervile, and Hampton County. The ones located in Hollywood SC has been confirmed by Fred Singleton because they were sent to a lab. Original estimate was that they were just another hive. Three morre confirmation were disclosed today. Appears to be big problems now. From our literature there is not controls for them. the beetles inter the hive, lays eggs in the honey comb section, uncaps the honey, the ferments because it is expose to air, the larve develops to i/2" long and moves from the hive into the ground near the hive. They hatch and the new beetles attack the hives. This is what we learned at the South Carolina beekeepers meeting at Clemson. We need to keep track of which areas become infested so the problem can be assessed. Thanks Ron Taylor, President South Carolina Beekeepers, Cottageville, SC On Wed, 22 Jul 1998 08:33:10 -0400 Rod Billett writes: >Hey all. There was a article in our local paper this morning stating >that >three hives in Charleston County, SC had been found infested with the >(as >andy would say) Afro-Beetle! > > Lets see now. Discovered in Florida in April. found in SC in July. >They should have infected the entire US by this time next year! > > David Green - Do you have any more information about this. I know >your >located closer to there than I. > >We have controls for Varoa and Traecheal mites, but nothing for the >Afro >Beetles and Bees. What is the economic impact to beekeeping going to >be >when the Beetles and African bees get a foothold into the comercial >bee >areas of the Southeast (Al, GA, FL). > >Rod Billett >Lexington, SC > _____________________________________________________________________ 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: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 19:57:19 -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: Whats this Picture About? In-Reply-To: <199807230033.RAA01420@mx1.thegrid.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 05:16 PM 7/22/98 -0400, you wrote: Randall asked: >I got a quick question I found this picture. I'm not sure about whats happening here. >http://www.netcall.com.mx/abejas/Foto2/abeja5.jpg Looks like Drone brood, pupa, that grows between the top bars of one super and the bottom bars of another. When the beekeeper lifts the supers apart the drone brood is exposed and the worker bees clean it up by sucking up the, yum, yum, good juices, and the grave yard detail comes in and removes the dead pup's kicking then out the entrance, or flying off with them to drop them in front of the hive if they are still heavy. Some nice pictures of beekeeping in Mexico: http://www.netcall.com.mx/abejas/ Not sure if these are in the pages but they are nice! If you get lucky you can see them all here: http://www.netcall.com.mx/abejas/Foto2/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 20:52:42 -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: Leaf cutter bees and rose leaves In-Reply-To: <199807202203.PAA21030@mx1.thegrid.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 03:05 PM 7/20/98 +1200, you wrote: >Lately a leaf cutter bee has been making its nests in various small >pipes that I have around the house. Several times I attempted, with out >success, to follow the bee to find out what kind of leaves that it has >been using. However, I believe I found the answer. While pruning some of >the trees in my compound I noted that the leaves of one of the rose >bushes were missing pieces of appropriate shape. Hi John, One of the nasty little secrets that is seldom heard is that the "leaf cutter" bee is a pest insect as it damages many home garden plants in finding leaves for its nest. Roses are indeed a favorite, but in town they will just about use anything that they can cut. If you make up some leaf cutter boards or buy them you will, it sounds like, have not problem starting your own leaf cutter village. For really pretty nest material plant some old fashioned hollyhocks and you will have multi colored next plugs. Yes the little buggers not only cut your garden plant leaves but also will plug up just about any size hole including wasp nests if they are short of nesting sights. I have collected them by the pounds from between old hives stacked outside, they will make their nests between hives or supers in storage or the visor of your old truck if the windows are open. BTW, they can sting or bite and you can feel it, but they are no way as effective at it as our honey bees but in some rare cases a human reaction could be had such as swelling. I don't know that from first hand observation but I remember an old friend who was early in investigating the value of these and other small bees who always used to say none of them would sting until a group photo surfaced showing him and a small group of fellow entomologists with knots all over their heads from messing with some stingless bees at the wrong time. Anyway I have been stung many times by my own leaf cutter bees and it did nothing for me or too me other then make me wonder what their problem was. Mostly when they were nesting inside a hot room (100+F) and I entered, blocking their flight and exit. When ever these bees get any promotion in the papers I can count on at least one call from some gardener wanting to get rid of them because of the damage them do. I always respond that I would be happy to do that but they are protected by law, if the US President Groper can lie why not me, anyway that has worked for years around here and if you ask around you will be told that these leaf cutter bees are protected by law.. >question would be what kind of pollen does it collect?. Just about anything but I am sure they have preferences but I am also as sure that when they can't find their preferences they are not that particular. Look on its belly and see what color it is. But for a fact you should be able to surf the net and find out everything you ever wanted to know about these bees as they have been well studied for at least twenty years or more. ttul, the OLd Drone http://beenet.com (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: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 21:29:15 -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: Afro-Beetle! In-Reply-To: <199807230039.RAA03497@mx1.thegrid.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 07:22 PM 7/22/98 -0700, you wrote: >Hi all, can anybody tell me about this hive beetle?? does anyone have >pics of it/them?? I live in KY and so far haven't seen anything abnormal >in or around my hives?? New picture of the real thing here in the US at: http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~mts/apishtm/apis98/aethina/aethina1.htm Please bee sure and read the text as this is one pest that may or may not get a real hold in the US. The real test will come next season to see if it can survive. This season people will be looking for it and it will be found. No one knows how or when this pest entered the US, it could have been here for years and not noticed by beekeepers because it is not disimular to other nasty pests we have had all along. For the latested hands on poop see: http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~mts/apishtm/apis98/apjul98.htm#1 ttul, Andy- ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 22:57:15 -0400 Reply-To: vcoppola@froggernet.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Vince Coppola Subject: Re: Whats this Picture About? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Looks like drone brood between supers is exposed. This happens when you crack supers apart. The drone in the lower right has not formed completely, the eyes are pigmented but the rest has not. The wings have not formed yet either. Randall wrote: > > Hi Everyone, > > I got a quick question I found this picture. I'm not sure about whats > happening here. Can anyone tell me what's going on. Thanks in advance. > Randall > > http://www.netcall.com.mx/abejas/Foto2/abeja5.jpg ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 07:47:52 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Kim Flottum, Editor Bee Culture" Subject: Re: Afro-Beetle! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="---- =_NextPart_000_01BDB60F.288C7420" ------ =_NextPart_000_01BDB60F.288C7420 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable There has already been much published about this new hive pest. The = Speedy Bee's latest issue is full of information, and the August issue = of Bee Culture has a long article on discovery, biology (at least as = much as is known) and I imagine The American Bee Journal will have = information also. Photos are included in the first two for sure. Check = the journals for lots of information, written by observers, scientists = and regulatory people who have been there, seen the damage and captured = some of these insects. Beekeepers, too, are interviewed with first hand = observations. Kim Flottum Editor, Bee Culture Magazine 1-800-289-7668 x3214 http://www.airoot.com/beeculture/index.htm ---------- From: beeman[SMTP:gmc@VCI.NET] Sent: Thursday, July 23, 1998 7:33 AM To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU Subject: Afro-Beetle! Hi all, can anybody tell me about this hive beetle?? does anyone have pics of it/them?? 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And I'd like to hear some of your opinions. Should you or shouldn't you requeen every year. I know this is bound to fan a few flames. My objective, I'd like to know why everyone feels it is so necessary to or not to requeen. Thanks to all that answer. PS: Also wanted to let everyone know that I will be starting to have regular scheduled open chats on Tuesday nights at 8:00pm --? EST. Everyone is welcome to join. Hope to see many of you there. Kind Regards, Sherry Medders beekeeping.guide@miningco.com http://beekeeping.miningco.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 15:01:34 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: Requeening Issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/23/98 2:18:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time, beekeeping.guide@MININGCO.COM writes: > My objective, I'd like to know why everyone > feels it is so necessary to or not to requeen. Thanks to all that answer. > Queens run out of sperm Queens get old and worn out Replacement by supercedure is a crapshoot 1/2 of my requeening this year was from purchased queens the other half from swarm cell queens. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 22:15:06 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: Fork Tailed Drongas and Bees Hi All Today I made my twice weekly pilgimage to my favourite apiary site where I have about twenty hives (depending on how many have been turned on their sides by baboons/wild pigs/cows/humans etc). The are is in an interesting region in that the total yearly rainfal is about 240ml (10 inches), so it is dry. Through this region runs a river which has been boosted with a large interbasin water transfer schem from a river about 600km (400mi) inland, so it flows year round but should not. The farmers grow alfalfa/lucerne, sunflowers and a bit of canola/rape. These flower here from about september till late march/april depending on the year. After that the aloes (succulents like the agave) kick in and give a formidable honey flow. These are composed of three species groups with one flowering in april, one from then till end of june, and then next from august. There is also the karree (Rhus lancea), named by the Khoisan as the honey tree (karee) which flowers from the rivers over this period. So I should be producing lots of honey. But, today when I visited the apiary I found that I had a pod of 26 fork tailed drongas (irritating agile birds that feed almost solely on bees at this time of year) nailing every single bee that left a hive. I shot 3 of them, and now then ramain carefully at a distance of 200m from any human - it is impossible to kill any more. The birds originate from a government programme to cut down eucalyptus trees to conserve water. As a result, their traditional realms in eucalyptus plantations hawking bees during the winter flows has been destroyed and they have migrated inland to the aloes and are decimating an otherwise excelent bee keeping region. What I would be interested to know is if anybody on the group has devised a way of getting rid of surpluss, or had any experience with intelligent apiniverous birds? I used to view them as a blessing as they shut hives down normally at about 4.00pm when it gets cold and one would lose more bees to chill if they risked going out, but now with this overpopulation of them they are keeping the hives quiet the whole day. Any advice or ideas would be appreciated Thanks Garth Who is thinking that that last chance at getting a honey flow in this year is slowly vanishing. 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, 24 Jul 1998 00:14:17 +0300 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: Whats this Picture About? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit try http://www.netcall.com.mx/abejas/Foto2 nice photos -- ------------------------------------------------- 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: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 11:46:57 +1200 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Barry Donovan Subject: Re: Afro-Beetle! -Reply Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Andy those pictures of the Afro beetle are such horrible sights. I assume the authorities are searching for and destroying all attacked beehives, but here is an awful possibility - it seems to me that the life cycle of the beetle is such that it could probably attack and breed in bumble bees nests. Sorry. Barry J. Donovan. DonovanB@Crop.cri.nz Canterbury Agriculture and Science Centre, Lincoln, New Zealand. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 16:53:50 -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: Fork Tailed Drongas and Bees In-Reply-To: <199807232147.OAA14648@mx1.thegrid.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:15 PM 7/23/98 +0000, you wrote: >But, today when I visited the apiary I found that I had a pod of 26 >fork tailed drongas (irritating agile birds that feed almost solely >on bees at this time of year) nailing every single bee that left a >hive. I shot 3 of them, and now then ramain carefully at a distance >of 200m from any human - it is impossible to kill any more. Hi Garth, Use a scarecrow and/or a propane cannon. Here they are rented from the farm propane dealer and are quite common in fruit and nut orchards. Also used to protect young plants from birds. >What I would be interested to know is if anybody on the group has >devised a way of getting rid of surpluss, or had any experience with >intelligent apiniverous birds? I used to view them as a blessing as >they shut hives down normally at about 4.00pm when it gets cold and >one would lose more bees to chill if they risked going out, but now >with this overpopulation of them they are keeping the hives quiet the >whole day. Here in California we don't have bird and bee problems like yours but our farmers have many bird problems that can be controlled with trapping, aviacides, sounds, and even kites depending on the problem birds and if they are protected by our government. We protect most of them and permits are required to use chemical aviacides and to shoot some of them. One of my neighbors who rears fish on a grand scale shot more then his permit allowed of protected water birds that were putting him out of business and because of a employee problem, should have shot him too, the government did that for him, bankruptured him, and also is payed for his room and board for 3+ years so be sure and check with you bird cops unless your jails are better then ours which now charge you 50$ a day from your room and board if they have a chance of collecting it which is seldom. I have one water bird (protected) that comes into my fish pounds in my back yard and cleans out ALL of the small gold fish. I can tell when its around because the fish are all at the bottom hiding and it takes weeks to get them up after the bird has left for the north fat from eating on them during the fall and winter. Many almond growers this area have constructed owl nesting sites because the big birds do a job on keeping the little ones out of the orchards and also do a job on the rodents. Some use wooden look alike of owls, crows, and hawks. Don't think these work that well but I have even seen hawk kites flying around fields to keep the birds out. Trapping works for some on smaller birds, but requires a cold hearted worker to stomp them little birds and this is usually done away from the eyes of the public and bird cops. Another system that works for crows, and magpies is recorded calls that attract them so you can shoot at them, or keeps them away. This is a cheep deal if you can find the right calls as all you need is a old tape deck with big amps and a car battery on a clock and a street sweeper shot gun if you can find one. Chemicals work good for some birds and this here is just about regulated underground by our green laws and requires the right bate or an aeroplane to get above them. If you have bigger birds and can get them coated with super soap they will not be able to fly and can be killed or allowed to die slowly as I would love to see my own fish eating bird do for all the fish consumed. The super soap almost requires catching the birds in their night quarters and spraying them. ttul, the OLd Drone http://beenet.com/bnews.htm ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 22:07:51 -0400 Reply-To: lacelle@sympatico.ca Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Paul Lacelle Subject: Wintering of nucs MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Does anybody have any experience with wintering nucs indoors?I want to split one my hives up into 4,four frame nucs and bring them indoors when fall arrives.Thanx. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 21:21:23 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Ken Lawrence Subject: looking for teacher MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Looking for somebody in the Gravois Mills MO. area to learn about bees. Any body out that way that can help a 55 year old man starting bees. I will pass on your name and phone number if you can help Thanks Ken Ken Lawrence 7991 SW 214th ST Trimble MO. 64492 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 23:32:40 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: George W Imirie Subject: Re: looking for teacher Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I suggest buying Dr. Diana Sammantaro's new book, The Beekeepers Handbook, from the A. I. Root Co, Medina, Ohio or e-mail: beeculture@airoot.com. for $29.95. It is one of the best beginners books ever written; and with the mites, viruses, and "killer bees" that have "come on the scene" in the last 14 years, most books are out of date unless written recently, and many beekeepers have not kept up with the changes necessary to "keep" bees in 1998. Also, check internet http://www. cyberTours.com/~midnitebee/ Good Luck George Imirie ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 19:38:22 -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 - 22 Jul 1998 to 23 Jul 1998 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Requeening- The reasons for requeening include the fact that queens get old and fail. Most will do 2 years, and some more. However, some will fail after a year (some before that). The estimate is that a 30% increase in production, in a multihive operation, can be had by requeening every year. Also, by using well bred stock one can be assured of gentle, productive and disease resistant stock (breeding for more than 3 traits at a time gets a little difficult to keep track of). Others have expressed the attitude that it is difficult for them to kill an animal that has been so good to them, and that the 30% differential can be made up just as well by running 30% more hives. Breeders also face the problem of running enough allelles (genetic lines) so that the gene pool does not shrink to the point where consumption of the larvae by adult bees becomes unacceptably high. In this case something may be said for allowing free breeding. However, it is still possible that the gene pool in a given area could stagnate. I guess that whether or not you choose to requeen depends upon how you see your relationship with the Earth and bees. If you are entirely bottom line driven or into being mater of the hives, then requeening is the way to go. If you are into stewardship as philosophy, and see the work as a partnetship, then the choice might be not to requeen. I still think it is possible to be a very good partner and steward and requeen... Aloha, mike moriarty ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 23:31:31 -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: Afro-Beetle! -Reply In-Reply-To: <199807240220.TAA03572@mx1.thegrid.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 11:46 AM 7/24/98 +1200, you wrote: >Andy those pictures of the Afro beetle are such horrible sights. Hi Barry, Yes the pictures are nasty, but they are NO different and in fact they are identical except for the beetle's themselves to the pictures that could have been taken of the damage the Grater Wax Worms have been doing to weak and dead beehives that are not properly stored from California to Florida and points East for at least my lifetime. This same damage to weak and dead hives by wax worms includes both hived bees and feral colonies in the woods and rocks. It is a fact we did not want Afro-beetles but we have them today, also a fact. I am not trying in any way to minimize this so called new bee pest. I do expect that it will take several seasons of looking to assess how wide spread they are as I suspect they may have been here for years without notice by the beekeepers or bee regulators because the damage is not that much different then the wax worms and other pests that will take over a dead hive including the dramatic effects of honey running out the entrance and the fermentation which is not unusual if dead or weak hives are not protected in much of the West and Southern US. I would expect that these beetles will not live long in the North and North East the same as the grater wax worms don't but of course the number of hives wintered in the North has changed dramatically with the most of our bees on wheels today, but the supers in many operations do stay in the North which will tend to protect them because of the short bee season and long cool winters but not stop the spread of this pest from coast to coast as I believe it is, but if not the job will soon bee done. >I assume the authorities are searching for and destroying all attacked beehives, Well, this is not going to happen, (I hope), other then the initial search and identification as it would require the quarantine in place of all hives in any area the beetles are found and would be very destructive to the bee industry which is on wheels and is fuel driven and must have access to pasture by free and unregulated movement not to mention the pollination services bees provide to agriculture which would suffer unbelievable losses if bees were not available by a simple phone call to a beekeeper or his pollination pimp, sometimes a thousand miles for the fields or orchards needing the bees. And sometimes the day after they should have been in place to do a good job of pollination. >but here is an awful possibility - it seems to me that the life cycle of the beetle is such that it could >probably attack and breed in bumble bees nests. Well I missed the basis for that thought on other species of bees other then honeybee combs but anything is possible but would I think it would require some genetic bridging that others have not reported or I have not read to this time but for sure these beetles are pollen feeders as the wax worms and many other lesser hive pasts also are and most other species do not store enough pollen to keep very many Afro-beetles well fed and happy in their work. Some say they are also honey feeders, I don't know that as a fact but they for sure do the same damage as wax worms and will damage unprotected honey combs as well as any honey in the combs and the honey will run out of the combs also the same as with extreme wax worm damage, and yes I have seen this not only in weak hives but also in normal healthy hives in boxes made of plastic that the bees could not keep cool which favored the wax worms to the point they would eat the hives alive a most disgusting site to see. As for the future beekeepers can expect that others will be looking at their bees for these pests which is an insult to an industry like ours that has the expertise to do this job for ourselves and a waste of tax payers money including our own times two because we still have the responsibility of inspecting our own hives matters not how many times they are given a GI inspection. I am also sure some states as always will go off half cocked and may even pass new regulations on this bee pest. This to is about as dumb as a fence post as by this time all should know from past experiences you can not regulate bee pests or bee health and that bee health is the responsibility of the bee keeper and not that of the state. After all this pest was probhibited by US Law from entering the country but made it in spite of all laws and regulations. As to the reported number of generations the Afro-Beetle can rear in a season I would think that in the west and south we will see even more generations but I also believe that zone of damage may be close to that of the Grater Wax Worms and the control would be the same. If you do not protect your bee equipment in these areas, especially combs with pollen, they will be 100% destroyed in one season with no help from the Afro-beetles. It will be an interesting fall and winter and I am sure all will hear the cry that the "sky is falling" again and again, coast to coast, which is really the normal feeding cry of the bee regulators that require a new bee pest every two or three years to justify their bloated budgets which as before could again in time exceed that of the industry they want to regulate if left uncontroled. I am sure the National Honey Advertising Board will release a plan to kill these pest by throwing money at them and announce how much more important it is for all to vote to double the assessment on honey which in reality will only increase the pile and grade of the floor covering in their office's. I got to add this thought that is of special interest to me and that is the battle for the top of the food chain that the AFRO-Beetle is now waging with the Grater Wax Moth Worms. At this date the only thing that can top the wax moths is a good heavy population of mice but naturally in most bee barns that is not allowed to happen but in the woods or in abandoned equipment the mice is the winner. What will happen when the wax worms meet the Afro-beetle worms is going to be very important to the winner and as yet no one has reported on this. There is also a small no see em wasp that can do a job on wax worms and can feed up to big numbers if allowed that would be in this battle. Please don't send me any Afro-beetles I can wait to do my own observations with my own beetles and worms when they arrive by their own shanks mare. Just the opinion of one OLd Drone http://beenet.com (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: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 07:44:09 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: Afro-Beetle! -Reply Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/24/98 6:48:49 AM Eastern Daylight Time, andy.nachbaur@CALWEST.NET writes: > I can wait > to do my own observations with my own beetles and worms when they arrive by > their own shanks mare. > Not to worry somebody from Florida will probably truck them right too you. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 08:15:48 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Partin Subject: Re: Afro-Beetle! -Reply Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit MIME-Version: 1.0 (WebTV) Most of the bees that are in Fla. are not from Fla. they just come here with their many problems stay here a little while and take them and their problems to you and sometimes leave their problems with us. Fla beekeepers have a lot more to put up with than most beekeepers in the U.S. To a degree most of the problems that we are accused of were sent to us from other states or countries and spread by beekeepers from other states. We did not invent these problems. I'm very sorrry that we have a great place to keep bees and a lot of bees from nearly all over the U.S. come here this is not our doing. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 11:05:45 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Lloyd Spear Subject: Wintering nucs Paul wonders about wintering nucs; specifically wintering them indoors. Paul a great deal has been written in American Bee Journal and Gleanings about wintering nucs indoors in Canada. The Canadians put a lot of effort into this when imports of packages from the US were banned. Unfortunately I can t provide references but if you called either I am certain they would give you the references for their magazine. As I recall the principal difficulties are keeping the bees cold enough, i.e. dissipating the heat generated by the nucs. Why not winter them outdoors? My method is to split a standard Langsforth into two with a piece of 3/8 plywood down the center. The bottom is a piece of = pressed board, fastened with nails. Into each side goes both four frames and a feeder or five frames; depending on whether some frames full of honey are available for other hives. Entrance holes are provided on opposite sides and are up near the top. A piece of burlap, grain sack, or oil cloth goes across the top of the frames so the bees can t get from one side to the other. It is best to buy queens so you don t have to wait too long before she starts laying. Splits made now or in August should be chock full ( blocked out ) with honey by late October. Then they are put on top of a strong hive for the winter. The heat from the strong hive will, of course, rise and provide some warmth to the two nucs. The pressed board bottom will absorb water moisture from the hive below, but I still make certain there is a crack or hole for excessive moisture to escape. We get nights of 20 below on a regular basis, and the nucs survive just fine. Because the queens will start laying in January or February, these will produce very strong hives capable of producing a full crop in 1999. Good luck! Lloyd LloydSpear@email.msn.com Owner, Ross Rounds the finest in comb honey production. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 15:16:07 -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: Requeening Issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Sherry: My idea is not requeening, but let that make it the own bees. Each adult beehive should have two boxes intended for brood chamber . An important task of the beekeeper is to eliminate the blockade of honey in the broodchamber. That is to say, that to the beginning of spring, each beehive must have two boxes integrated by brood or foundation. The honeycombs with honey or with very few suckling should be put on the suppers to the extremes. Not to forget abundant ventilation. The bees won't swarm. If the queen isn't good, bees will substitute her. May be bees will pardon the life of a regular queen?? I don't the exact answer. In any case I have the following vantages of the natural bee requeening: a.)The new queen is perfectly adapted to the ecosystem, just like his mother. b.)Here in Uruguay, our bees are resistant to some diseases, in some degree also varroa. The new queen will be at least so strong like her mother. c.)Usually bees know a lot of things newbeekeeper (like me) are just learning. Regards CARLOS APARICIO PLAYA SANTA ANA URUGUAY At 10:24 AM 23/07/1998 -0400, Sherry Medders wrote: >Hi Everyone, > >The requeening issue is an on going debate. And I'd like to hear some of >your opinions. Should you or shouldn't you requeen every year. I know this >is bound to fan a few flames. My objective, I'd like to know why everyone >feels it is so necessary to or not to requeen. Thanks to all that answer. > ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 11:55:53 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Greg Zujus Subject: Uncappers Hi all, I am looking at purchasing my first uncapping knife and need some advice from some of you experienced beekeepers. From what I can see I can choose between a standard 10" electric knife (Pierces Thermostat Knife), a 10" electric knife which is adjustable or the electric uncapping plane. I am leaning towards the Electric hand plane, any pros or cons out there ? ____________________________________________ GJZ@MSN.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 15:53:48 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: William G Lord Subject: Codex Alimentarius MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I am looking for a copy of the honey standard of the Codex Alimentarius. It cannot be pulled down from the FAO website. Does anyone have any electronic versions they can transmit? Thanks, BillLord -- William G Lord Area Specialized Agent, Environmental Education E-Mail : wglord@franklin Internet: wglord@franklin.ces.ncsu.edu Phone : 919-496-3344 Fax : 919-496-0222 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 15:56:16 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: William G Lord Subject: Iran/Turkmenistan beekeeping MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Does anyone have any current information on the status of beekeeping in Northern Iran or Turkmenistan? I am particularly curious about the mite/disease situation, but any information would be welcomed. Bill Lord -- William G Lord Area Specialized Agent, Environmental Education E-Mail : wglord@franklin Internet: wglord@franklin.ces.ncsu.edu Phone : 919-496-3344 Fax : 919-496-0222 ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 01:21:29 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Teresa Garcma Subject: Afro-Beetle! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, I am sorry, but I have ben missing a lot of mail (because I have been traveling and too busy I erased many without reading...very sorry). What is the scientific name of those "Afro-beetles"? Tere ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 09:11:37 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: Requeening Issue Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 7/24/98 7:54:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time, caparici@CHASQUE.APC.ORG writes: > c.)Usually bees know a lot of things newbeekeeper (like me) are just > learning. This says it all I find 2 kinds of beekeepers those who fight the bees and those who give the bees what they want. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 09:25:15 -0700 Reply-To: robert@objectdata.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Robert MacKimmie Subject: Re: Requeening Issue Content-Type: text/plain Mime-Version: 1.0 (NeXT Mail 4.2mach v148) caparici@CHASQUE.APC.ORG said: > c.) Usually bees know a lot of things newbeekeeper (like me) are just > learning. To which Thomas Cornick said: ... 2 kinds of beekeepers those who fight the bees and those who give the bees what they want. I can appreciate these comments so much being a first year beekeeper, but along with those remarks would like to add that I have learned so much in the last week or so by being diligent and taking the extra time to visit and inspect my hives thoroughly on a host of days. Briefly, I picked up 4 nuc hives several weeks ago -- in the first ten days, two hives completely lacked any newly laid eggs. I suspected that the queens were lost in the bee transfer and ordered two new queens. As soon as the queens were released, they ended up being killed by the queens that were in the last throws of supercedure. LESSON for the newbie beekeeper: I should have inspected each frame completely for queen cells and I would have figured it out. My two other hives were packages several months back. One queen quit laying and I was able to install a new queen by killing the old one. They had balled the old queen, which I asked about on this noble list and received several helpful opinions about. I saved my new queen by locating the one queen cell getting ready to pop, along with any cups. My other package queen suddenly disappeared and I have about 8 queen cells ready to pop in that hive. Why the presumably recent queens were replaced has been answered by this list in the past week or so --- it just happens (much of the time). If I hadn't had my new queens marked, I wouldn't know that they weren't the same queens. A HUMBLE POINT: for the newbie beekeepers in the audience, the fact that I had worked with a commercial beekeeper for several weeks provided the initial knowledge and courage to jump in and work the hives to the point of understanding what was going on. By returning several times in a week of hive mystery, I was able to comprehend and then work the situation, so that IN COOPERATION WITH THE BEES, I now can guide and assist them in what they do. But certainly, like a queen bee, I have found out that the workers, ruling together as a colony, are the boss. By not being timid about inspecting each hive completely many times, I have gained a tremendous education and will be much more successful about helping them to survive and not getting in their way otherwise. Bees are the coolest. robert@objectdata.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 07:27:56 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Andy Nachbaur Subject: Name of Afro-Beetle! (Aethina tumida) In-Reply-To: <199807251400.HAA07742@mx1.thegrid.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 01:21 AM 7/25/98 -0600, you wrote: >I am sorry, but I have ben missing a lot of mail (because I have been >traveling and too busy I erased many without reading...very sorry). What >is the scientific name of those "Afro-beetles"? Aethina tumida Pictures at: http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~mts/apishtm/apis98/aethina/aethina1.htm The story is at: http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~mts/apishtm/apis98/apjul98.htm#1 ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 15:36:22 -0400 Reply-To: mpalmer@together.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Michael Palmer Organization: French Hill Apiaries Subject: To requeen or not MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I don't requeen every colony every year. Why requeen a colony with an apparently good queen. Young queens are better, true, but... not every queen you buy or raise is good. So, I requeen colonies tha need it. How does one know? Pull a frame of brood. Beautiful...comb is full and capped. Good queen, right? Maybe not! You should be looking at uncapped brood. Every cell should have a larvae. Oldest larvae should be in the center, with progressively younger larvae to the outside. Larvae age shouldn't be random. Say 30% of the queens eggs are duds, or the queen fails to lay in 30% of the cells on the first time around. She'll go back over the comb in a few days, and lay in the empty cells. Again - 30% skips. Goes over it again, etc. Eventually the comb is mostly capped brood. Before it begins to hatch, it looks pretty good. So, look at the larvae. Compare it to a really good one. You'll see what I mean immediately ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 17:32:05 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Bill Truesdell Subject: Generations of beekeepers MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit We held our Annual Picnic for the Maine State Beekeepers. Fred Hale was one of the attendees, He recently had to give up beekeeping and is now in an assisted living home, but still gets out. He is 107. He has been keeping bees for more than 90 years. When he was 105, he was seen on his roof sweeping off the snow. A while later he was in front of his house shoveling the sidewalk. When asked how he got off the roof, he said - jumped! Got a picture of him with two other active beekeepers, Harold Swan and Stan Brown. The total length of time the three have been keeping bees is more than 210 years. That is a wealth of experience. No great thoughts here. It was just good to see them. Bill Truesdell Bath, ME ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 19:56:59 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Midnitebee Subject: wealth of knowledge MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Greetings, Just read Bill's comments about the two beekeepers in Maine with their combined years of experience..hmmm.. Combine all beekeepers years of "knowledge"..what would the total bee?..how many years of "failure" and success,before "they" got it right? Just curious..is it the years you are a beekeeper or is it the years of success that makes you THE beekeeper?.. Herb Holly-B Apiary P.O.Box 26 Wells,Maine 04090-0026 http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 20:11:06 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Richard E Leber Subject: Re: Uncappers Hi Greg, You're looking at purchasing your first uncapping knife and need some advice ..... What ever your final choice, bee sure that the operating temperature is adjustable! A few extra bucks ... yes but, worth the investment in your end product. The idea is to warm the wax to make it easier to uncap not to meltdown the comb and scorch the honey. Your 'honey house' temperature and humidity along with the moisture content of the honey and the age of the comb will be factors in adjusting the thermostat. I keep a damp cloth at hand during uncapping to cool the blade when necessary and to remove the honey if is caramelizes on the blade. Personal preference, I choose the standard 10" electric with the adjustable control. The length allows the blade to be guided by the top and bottom bars which produces a smooth even cut in one pass on each side. I you space the frames at 8 or 9 in your honey supers there will be little need or no need for a cappings scratcher (better used as a cappings pick). Rick Leber Beekeeping and Honey Production Since 1987 Mobile, 'Sweet Home Alabama' _____________________________________________________________________ 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: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 21:46:26 -0400 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: David Eyre Organization: The Bee Works Subject: Egg laying. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I take great delight in dispelling 'old wives tales' where possible, if it adds to my knowledge, and I'm about to do another one. My old mentor taught, and for years I believed it, 'Queens will not pass over honey to lay eggs'. Not true. A three box (deeps) brood hive to which was added a full box of drone foundation (deep) to draw for next years queen rearing. Bottom box, brood in upper frame area, second box all brood, third box brood in lower half of frames, sealed honey above. We checked that hive today to see how they were doing, basically the hive configuration hadn't changed, but we found brood and eggs in 3 of the drone foundation frames. Interesting? I think so. Anyone care to comment? ******************************************** The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive, Unit 2, Orillia, ON, Canada. Phone- 705-326 7171. Fax 705 325 3461. North American agents. E.H.Thorne(UK)Ltd. Ventilated Hives and Equipment David Eyre... Owner http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 21:46:23 -0400 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: David Eyre Organization: The Bee Works Subject: Re: Requeening Issue MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/enriched; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Date sent: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 09:25:15 -0700 Send reply to: robert@objectdata.com From: Robert MacKimmie < Subject: Re: Requeening Issue To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU 7F00,0000,7F00 > Briefly, I picked up 4 nuc hives several weeks ago -- in the first ten days, > two hives completely lacked any newly laid eggs. I suspected that the queens > were lost in the bee transfer and ordered two new queens. As soon as the > queens were released, they ended up being killed by the queens that were in > the last throws of supercedure. LESSON for the newbie beekeeper: I should > have inspected each frame completely for queen cells and I would have figured > it out. A litany of disaster. It would appear the author did eveything correctly, apart from one point. He should find a better bee supplier! Those queens were obviously 'Duds' from the very begining. Supercedure in the first few weeks? I would be demanding my money back. ******************************************** The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive, Unit 2, Orillia, ON, Canada. Phone- 705-326 7171. Fax 705 325 3461. North American agents. E.H.Thorne(UK)Ltd. Ventilated Hives and Equipment David Eyre... Owner http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 13:07:32 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Computer Software Solutions Ltd Subject: Irish Beekeeping Course Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello All Well once again we have come to the end of a week's long beekeeping course held at The Fransiscan College, Gormanston, Co. Meath, in the Irish Republic. This year, the course once again, came up to the high standards which we have now come to expect. We had about 250 attendees from Ireland (North and South), England, Scotland, Wales, USA, Belgium and other countries. Naturally, varroa was high on the agenda, the pest having recently made its appearance in our country. No effort was spared during the course to educate the beekeepers in the methods of detecting and teating varroa, and any air of complacency which anybody may have had about the disease has now hopefully been eliminated. The sale of varroa floors was very brisk - I got a good design from Karl Showler (of B & K Books fame), and will have floors made up for all of my hives in the next couple of weeks. We were fortunate in having people from abroad who have vast experience in the disease, and who made their knowledge freely available to us at lectures, during informal chats, and indeed over a pint or two of Guinness!. The guest lecturer this year was Paul Jackson from Texas, USA who showed expertise both in his knowledge of his subject, and in delivering his lectures. Someone said that maybe there is a Texan version of the Blarney Stone!. There was, as one would expect, a high level of humour and camraderie during the course. I could not forget to mention the following two answers which were given in the Preliminary Examination Paper: Q: How would you know that your hive was being robbed? A: If I saw it being driven down the road on the back of a truck. Q: What is Run Honey? A: The name of a horse in the Grand National. Sincerely Tom Barrett 49 South Park Foxrock Dublin 18 Ireland e mail cssl@iol.ie Tel + 353 1 289 5269 Fax + 353 1 289 9940 Latitude 53 Degrees 16' North Longitude 6 Degrees 9' West of Greenwich ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 10:35:18 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Lloyd Spear Subject: Queen replacement Michael Palmer shared with us his view that queens should not be replaced unless and until they are failing. More important, he describes how to determine if a queen is failing! I will expand slightly on Michael s comments and describe what I feel is an important exception to Michael s view of not replacing queens unless they are failing. As Michael describes, spotty brood is a classic example of a queen that needs replacement. My understanding is that true spotty brood either means that the queen is low on sperm or that the workers are destroying eggs because they can sense that the larvae would be inbred. However, this spring I visited a queen breeder and was taught that there is an instance where spotty brood might not mean that the queen is failing. At the time of my visit, there was a tremendous black locust flow. In fact, I was told it was the best in 9 years (since the breeder had been at this site). The hives with breeder queens had two full depth supers on and they were filled and capped with black locust honey that had to be extracted. More than one brood nest appeared spotty with several cells full of nectar interspersed with brood. The breeder explained that this meant that the bees were filling cells with nectar before the queen could lay in them. She said that as soon as additional honey storage cells were available the bees would remove the nectar from these cells and make them available for the next round of brood rearing. She advised that if one sees what appears as spotty brood but the cells without brood are filled with nectar the queen is probably not failing, and one should wait until there is ample storage space for surplus before blaming the queen. However, as Michael points out, if larvae are interspersed with empty cells the queen should probably be replaced at the first opportunity. I believe the exception to the rule of not replacing a queen until she is failing is when one is raising comb honey. Several studies have demonstrated that queens who have previously been through an entire seasonal cycle are much more likely to swarm than either new queens or those that were replaced the previous fall (through supercedure or a replacement program). All commercial beekeepers that I am familiar with rely on new queens to raise their comb honey. While hobbyists and sideliners can invest the time necessary to prevent or substantially reduce swarming with older queens, commercial beekeepers raising comb honey cannot afford to invest the necessary time. Hobbyists and sideliners who wish to raise comb honey and who want to minimize swarming should seriously consider regularly replacing their queens. Lloyd LloydSpear@email.msn.com Owner, Ross Rounds the finest in comb honey production. ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 16:09:46 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: George W Imirie Subject: Re: Queen replacement Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I hope that all readers will take note of Lloyd Spear's post, particular the last para-graph concerning comb honey producer's standard procedure of using only a young queen. However, the same can be said for ALL types of colony's irrespective of whether the program is for comb, extracted honey, or pollination. The biological makeup of the queenbee dictates that a young queen is able to produce more eggs per day and much more queen pheromone than a queen 12 months old. The queen pheromone is the "glue" that bonds all these 40-50,000 progeny together as a singular functioning unit rather than splitting by swarming. I think that it very important in the light of the beekeeper's problems of the last 10 years that he takes the time to read about the scientific findings of apian researchers of the function and importance of the queen's pheromones. George Imirie - 65 years of Maryland beekeeping ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 15:52:53 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Teresa Garcma Subject: beekeeping in Texas A&M? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello All, Tom Barrett mentioned a lecturer from Texas. Do any of you know if Texas A&M U. carry graduate studies about honey bees? Tere ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 19:41:31 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Lynn Subject: Swarm From: KENNETH A TREMBATH >We had a swarm of honey bees move into our chimney,the person who >owns them offered no help.It is steel with a wood 12"x12" caseing. >I tried to smoke them out with a mole bomb, no luck.Any ideas? >Thanks Ken Can anyone help this kind fellow out. Thanks ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 22:00:28 -0600 Reply-To: fltdeck1@ix.netcom.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Matthew Subject: New Queen intro or wait on new hive? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all - Someone called me last week about a bunch of bees running in & out of a whiskey barrel in their back-yard. I picked up the hive, barrel & all - though I could hear the comb fall to the bottom on the first tilt of the barrel. Today, I split apart the barrel & emptied all bees into a new hive, though I'm uncertain the queen wasn't killed in the previous move. There was some 10-15" of comb laying on the bottom of the barrel. I found several hundred dead bees both on the comb & immediately outside their old entrance. All the other hives I've pulled - the bees gathered around the queen several inches thick once I started taking apart their comb. This time, they were about 1/2" thick on the entire inside of the barrel - in a fairly uniform dispersion. Weaver Apiaries sent me a Buckfast queen which I was hoping to use on this hive, though it may be hopeless to try to find the old queen IF she exists - at least until they setup housekeeping & I can find their new brood frames, which could be another week or more wasted. Should I just add the new queen now, knowing at least ONE queen will reside? I'm not sure how long this new queen will last in her box - feeding drips of honey & water to her now & then -- & I'd like to make sure this hive doesn't start out queenless this late in the season. Or is it best to wait & see (this was a large hive, so the old queen was definately doing her job). Any suggestions are appreciated. Matthew Westall - in Colorado ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 22:15:47 -0600 Reply-To: fltdeck1@ix.netcom.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Matthew Subject: Re: Swarm MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit How long have they been there? Likely they've set up brood rearing & they'll be almost impossible to move without killing them, unless you can reach them (i.e. dismantle the portion of the casing/chimney - or by a bee-vacuum if you can reach there with an extension). Last month I had a double-basketball size swarm take off on me after hiving without a queen-excluder (dooooh) and they took up residence in a nearby old tree-hive. After emptying a 1/2pint of Bee-Go into the bottom of their hive & vacuuming them with my bee-vacuum out of the upper exit. This made them mad & that's all.....They would NOT exit the hive - even though the smell was enough to almost knock me off the ladder. One possiblity: If you can reach the hive, you might be able to get someone with a bee-vacuum (i.e. low pressure & catches the bees in a box) to suck up most of the bees. If they can reach the queen, they'll succeed. Lynn wrote: > From: KENNETH A TREMBATH > > >We had a swarm of honey bees move into our chimney,the person who > >owns them offered no help.It is steel with a wood 12"x12" caseing. > >I tried to smoke them out with a mole bomb, no luck.Any ideas? > >Thanks Ken > > Can anyone help this kind fellow out. Thanks ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 07:39:55 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: Uncappers Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I have both and find that the electric plane is awkard to use. It's only used now if I have a helper and he get it. Norm ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 13:01:06 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: Afro Beetle and Wax moth Hi all In reply to Andy's questiong about which will win between the two, my bets are on both. Both will not infect a hive unless something is badly wrong with it. If this factor causes the bees to abscond, there will be little brood and pollen left and the wax moth will win. If the hive is killed by pesticides, or has it's population dramatically reduced so it cannot defend itself against beetles, the beetles will hamer the hive before the moths even find it. The beetles have the upper hand in that they are always on the inside waiting for a chance, the moths never are on the inside unless something is baddle wrong. As an aside: try throwing a moth (dead one from under a light) at the entrance and watch how long it takes for the bees to rip it to pieces. Throw a beetle at the entrance and you will see they cannot do anything. (one does not have to use a hive beetles, use a strawberry beetle - about the same size) I can assure you that with our bees they will have shredded the moth in about half a minute. With the beetles they will spend maybe three or four standing around it, and then eventually nudge it away. If it is a hive beetle it can outrun a bee. 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: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 08:44:46 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: Uncappers Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Worst tool I ever tried was a Hackler Punch this gadget rools over the comb punching holes in the caps It clogs and jambs frequently I now uncap 30 hives worth with cappings forks. I avoid heat or I would have a hot knife otherwise. Tom in CT ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 13:25:28 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Roger Flanders Subject: Clover recommendations/sources MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'm located in extreme southeast Nebraska, USA, and have the enviable problem of what to do this fall or next spring with 4 tillable acres on an upland bluff, now planted in soybeans. Following the advice of several people, we planted a mix of white and yellow sweet clover, and oats, on three adjacent acres earlier this year. The goal was fast germination to hold down weeds with the oats, then an extended bloom in 1999 from the two varieties of sweet clover. One month after planting, a local expert with hundreds of hives told me the yellow sweet clover was "worthless" for bees in our area because he said it blooms too early. He recommended future plantings of white sweet clover, or white "Dutch" lawn clover, or an old-fashioned "Horse Clover" that supposedly grows up to eight feet! (1) Does anyone have any other suggestions for maximum nectar production, and (2), if yes to #1, can you recommend a source of seed? (I'd also appreciate information/advice/seed sources on this "Horse Clover" since I can't find it listed in any reference books.) Thank you. Rog Flanders ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 16:09:03 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Alan Sharratt Subject: Traecheal Mite Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hello. Could anybody advise me on the prevention/treatment of the Traecheal Mite, I am new to Beekeeping and my location is in the North west of England. Kind regards. Alan. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 18:14:06 -0400 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Diane Boller Subject: Re: Traecheal Mite MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit See http://www.acesag.auburn.edu/department/ipm/trachealmites.htm Alan Sharratt wrote: > Hello. > Could anybody advise me on the prevention/treatment of the Traecheal Mite, > I am new to Beekeeping and my location is in the North west of England. > Kind regards. > Alan. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 18:51:36 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Ralph W. Harrison" Subject: Boston, MASS Beekeepers Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit A beekeeper friend from England will be visiting Boston Mass. and he would like to visit a beekeeping supply dealer. Does anyone know of a dealer in the greater Boston area. Thanks, Ralph Western CT Beekeepers Association ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 19:06:36 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jon C Peacock Subject: Pronounce 'Megachile sculpturalis' Greeting all, This old man would be pleased to learn how to pronounce megachile (megachilid ?) sclupturalis. Am I to understand it is a bee as in Bumble(hummer) (bombus) bee? As I understand Doug Yanega in Brazil, it is a bee, I think. What does it do to a colony of honey bees. Why should we be looking over our shoulders for this Asian species. ABC & XYZ has information on the Megachile rotundata, seems it is a leaf cutter. A benign creature as far as our honey bees are concerned. A solitary bee, the M. rotundata will pasture on legume species. Prefers Alfalfa it says here. Regards Jon C. Peacock jayseapcok@juno.com _____________________________________________________________________ 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: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 15:34:33 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: Queenless whiskey barrel bees Comments: To: fltdeck1@ix.netcom.com Hi Mathew You describe how you removed the bees from the barrel and found a few combs had fallen, raising the risk that you killed the queen. You also mentioned that the remaining bees were spread all over the inside of the hive. In bee removals it is not uncommon for the bees to kill their queen in a state of agitation, so even if the comb was not repsonsible, what you describe sounds to me like a queenless swarm. When a queen is not in a swarm it becomes very runny. If you divide the clump into two and shake them into two boxes, both boxes will have feebly scenting bees. What is happening here is they assume that the queen is flying around and are pumping out a homing pheremone to call her in. This can go on for hours and the bees mill around aimlessly. If a queen is present they easily calm down and soon no bees are seen milling around. This is true even for very hot weather - the swarm just becomes less dense hanging in a loose lump. So my adivice would be to introduce the new queen seeing as you have her. 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: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 10:39:39 -0600 Reply-To: fltdeck1@ix.netcom.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Matthew Subject: follow-up on 'queenless hive' MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Garth & all, Just a quick thanks for your replies on my queenless hive. I had the inclination to think they were in need of a queen, though entirely not sure since they gave me mixed signals (didn't group together in clumps and quite agitated) though, they did quiet down pretty quickly. They were moved into their new hive toward the end of the evening & I was pretty efficient in shaking those bees into their new home.. Yesterday I popped the top of the hive & found them clustered together in a swarm-like group (I left plenty of room between frames in one of the supers) and found they had eaten 1/2 gallon of sugar-water (in a day!), so I'll assume they might have found their queen again. Since I still am not 100% sure (following advice from Tom Elliot-Beekeeper) I shook some of their bees off into a NUC which I had grabbed two frames of eggs from other hives, and gave them the new queen. This might buy me a week or so to see if the newly-hived bees show they have a working queen or not. If she shows, or I see brood on new comb, then I'll keep the NUC for an observation hive. Otherwise, I'll combine them. Greatly appreciate your advice, as you've let me know I'm likely on the right track! Regards, Matthew Westall - Castle Rock,Colorado - USA ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 10:15:33 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Silvan, Leslie E" Subject: Seattle Bees? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain I have been lurking on the group for about a month, trying to learn all I can. I would like to get started having and then keeping bees. I live Covington, Washington (south-east of Seattle). Does anybody know of any classes close I could take? How do I get started? > Les E. Silvan "Rocket Scientist" > BOEING | You don't need to be Rocket Scientist, > | > Commercial Space Company | If you have me around to do the Job. > | > Sea Launch Systems Engineering & Integration leslie.e.silvan@boeing.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 16:10:02 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "(Thomas) (Cornick)" Subject: Foulbrood Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit this is the text of a letter recieved today. Dear Beekeeper Please be advised that there is a widespread foulbrood problem in Connecticut. Our state bee inspector Mr. Ira Kettle , Is working diligently to determine the extaent of the infection. We are also using aggressive measures to quarantine apiaries and to control infections (i.e., burning infected colonies), but the situation may worsen. We want you to be aware of the problem and to take preventive measures. We have confirmed foulbrood infections in the following towns: Cheshire, Colchester,Durham, Lebanon, Middlefield, Middletown, Norwalk, Old Lyme, and Portland. Frames from numerous infected colonies were collected in Scotland and may have originated in Brooklyn, Canterbury, Lisbon, Norwich, Preston, Sprague, and Windham. Several of these recent infections have been linked to colonies owned by Mr. Brock Richardson of Preston, Connecticut. If you have questions, please call Carol Lemmon 203-974-9474 or me 203-974-8466 Thank you and then it is signed by the state entomologist Loius A. Magnarelli Tom in CT thinking maybe time to shut em all down and apply dust and apistan ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 19:14:20 EDT Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Christopher Slade Subject: Re: BEE-L Digest - 26 Jul 1998 to 27 Jul 1998 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Alan Sharratt asks about tracheal mite, its recognition and control in NW UK. This is largely a pest of the past at least as far as southern England is concerned. Where it does flare up it is usually in colonies with imported queens. Alan will be lucky (or unlucky!) if he find it. We have difficulty in finding affected hives for beginners to practice recognition through dissection. UK publications do not refer to it as tracheal mite but as Acarine. There is no legal chemical treatment in the UK at the moment. If it is found and if it is a real problem rather than just a curiosity I would suggest requeening with a queen obtained from a successful local beekeeper whose bees don't have Acarine. Dr. Bailey suggests persuasively that the mite multiplies more rapidly and becomes a nuisance when an area is over-stocked with bees. My (fallible) memory tells me that an average local density greater than 1 hive per square kilometre, if that square kilometre has a reasonable amount of forage, is over stocking. Perhaps it is more of a problem in America because for economic reasons professional beekeepers keep a large number of hives in a small area. Chris Slade