From MAILER-DAEMON Fri Sep 17 12:52:09 1999 Received: from listserv.albany.edu (listserv.albany.edu [169.226.1.24]) by luna.oit.unc.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA27250 for ; Fri, 17 Sep 1999 12:52:05 -0400 (EDT) Received: from listserv.albany.edu (listserv.albany.edu [169.226.1.24]) by listserv.albany.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA11059 for ; Fri, 17 Sep 1999 12:52:02 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199909171652.MAA11059@listserv.albany.edu> Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 12:52:02 -0400 From: "L-Soft list server at University at Albany (1.8d)" Subject: File: "BEE-L LOG9903A" To: adamf@METALAB.UNC.EDU Content-Length: 150795 Lines: 3522 ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 18:33:29 PST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Katie Stepp Subject: Swiss Beekeepers Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain Hello All, I am a beekeeping student in Athens, GA and I will be spending my summer studying in Geneva, Switzerland. Do any of you happen to live in the Geneva area? I was hoping to meet up with a small operation beekeeper sometime during my stay to see how you run things compared with the way I have been taught here in the States. Email me please if you can help. Thanks. Katie Stepp Student University of Georgia kmstepp@hotmail.com ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 15:02:08 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Hugo Thone Organization: Alcatel Telecom Subject: papers MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello, A friend of mine is looking for the following papers : 1. "Strictly for the hobbyist : American foulbrood and its control" Author : Delaplane.-K.S. Am-bee-j. Hamilton,IL.:American Bee Journal. June 1998. v.138(6) p.431-433 2. "Laboratory and field studies on the effects of the antibiotic tylosin on honey bee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera:Apidae) development and prevention of American foulbrood disease. Author : Peng,-C.Y.S.;Mussen,-E;Fong,-A.;Cheng,-P;Wong,-G; Montague,-M.A. There must be a good soul on this list who is willing to help me. TIA Hugo (the half-a-bee) -- Hugo Thone (VE144) | email htho@se.bel.alcatel.be | do bee do bee do ALCATEL TELECOM | phone (32) 3 240 94 52 | (\ F.Wellesplein 1 | fax (32) 3 240 99 49 | {|||8- B-2018 Antwerp | | (/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 10:08:39 -0500 Reply-To: BobCan@TDPI.Com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Bob Subject: Inner Cover MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit As a new keeper I purchased a couple of hives "NEW" that the inner cover doesn't have one side deeper than the other. My question is, is it nesaccary to have one side of a inner deeper than the other? My a second question is, I have seen inner covers with notches on one end of the cover and also two notches one on each end. What is the purpose of those notches? The inner I recieved from the seller didn't have any notches... HOW are the bees suppose to exit out if there are no notches? Am I suppose put the notches there or what? ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 11:14:04 -0500 Reply-To: tvf@umich.edu Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Ted Fischer Organization: ACB Dept., Univ of Michigan Subject: Re: How are varroa attracted to bees and larvae? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Paul Nicholson wrote: > Is anyone investigating what stumuli varroa use to find bees, larvae and > drone larvae? > > Perhaps there is a chemical achilles heel, a chemical or chemicals that > tell them dinner is served. Several years ago, when varroa just began to be a problem in Michigan, I learned that drone larvae were particularly rich in linoleic acid (C17H29COOH) and linolenic acid (C17H31COOH). Dr. Roger Hoopingarner, then the beekeeping specialist at Michigan State University, and I did a small pilot study to see if we could attract and trap varroa with these substances, but without success. The several controls we utilized were indistinguishable statistically from the test substances, so the work went no farther. Ted Fischer Dexter, Michigan USA ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 23:15:01 +0000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Tom Speight Subject: Re: BEE-L Digest - 26 Feb 1999 to 27 Feb 1999 In-Reply-To: <920178154.2011942.0@uacsc2.albany.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 In message <920178154.2011942.0@uacsc2.albany.edu>, Automatic digest processor writes >I haven't tried this, but it seems like plastic laminate would be cheap, >easy to use by inexperienced people, and require no modification to the hive >unless additional features were desired. Any thoughts? I have them on some of my hives. They tend to buckle after a few weeks, so I fit them under screens and have modified the floor by putting slots at the side so that they slide in like drawers. -- Tom S ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 19:20:26 -0000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Peter Dalby Subject: Re: papers MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To obtain copies of papers try IBRA in Cardiff. They will search for and provide photo copies of articles for a fee. I have used their services a number of times over the years. IBRA members get a discount on charges and if you intend using their services regularly it may pay you to consider taking out membership. The mail address is ibra@cardiff.ac.uk Peter and Barbara Dalby, England E-mail: peter.pebadale@virgin.net barbara.dalby@virgin.net Web Site: http://freespace.virgin.net/peter.pebadale - ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 12:48:31 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: Formic, Lactic and Oxalic Acid for Fighting Varroa In-Reply-To: <23264341619642@systronix.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I've had a page dedicated to formic acid for varroa treatment and devices for applying it for some years now, but this discussion has inspired me to get back to work on it. For those of you who have bookmarked my index page at http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/ it is a simple click on the 'Varroa & Formic' link. I've added a few more links on the formic page and will likely update some of the existing info, including the Homesote method and the Popodi Device. If I use formic, Homesote would likely be my choice this year. But I'm sure we'll be getting some more great ideas here by that time and my mind may change. I must say I am really impresssed by the European contributions to this discussion and appreciate the great job some have made to put up pages dealing with varroa. I'll be adding more of them as I have a chance to sort them out, so if you go to the site today and like what you see, be sure to come back later. Allen ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 21:55:24 -0400 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: on trip in Chile Subject: Re: Brix Scale, honey moisture conversion MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit what about http:www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/corrrefrac.html suiker = sucker honing = honey ;-) greeting jan Lewis wrote: > > I am trying to find a Brix scale to honey moisture content conversion table > or formula. -- Chile op http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/Chili.html -- Rotterdam------ 51.55 N, 4.29 E-------------- San Javier------ 35.36 S, 71.44 W-------Chile- -- http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index3.html Jan Tempelman mailto:jtemp@xs4all.nl -- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 18:36:33 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Luis & Faby Subject: Big scale swarm catching MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Greetings to all from Mexico ! There are just tremendous numbers of swarms in this part of Mexico, since there are many beekeepers, many feral colonies and ALL africanized (the swarm more often). I believe this could be an easy way to improve our colony numbers, since we could handle an extra 200-300 colonies. So I am planning to set 200 swarm traps next month. I will buy cardboard boxes about the size of a normal hive box and platic boxes to cover them. I will then make a whole on the bottom of the box and hang this traps on the roads and near my apiaries to recatch my own bees. I have asked the manufacturer (PheroTech) for information on the swarm lures that are supposed to attract swarms by freeing a Queen feromone. Is this atractant worthy? I have also heard that lemon-grass (that's how it is called in spanish: Pasto de limsn) can be put inside the trap as an atractant. Are there any other natural attractans? Another question: Should the boxes be empty? Should I put a frame of foundation? Should I put old frames in the box? I will thank very much any information or comments on how I can do this correctly. (please forgive my english grammar) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luis Rommel Beutelspacher (\ Maya Honey S.A. de C.V. -{|||8- Ticul, Yucatan, Mixico. (/ Tel/Fax (997) 20715 rommel@mayahoney.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 18:35:04 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Luis & Faby Subject: Honey moisture, refractive index and refractometers MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I am trying to calibrate a few refractometers and I need some help in using the refractive index of honey to figure out the percentage of humidity that the refractometer must show at different temperatures. I tried using the refractive index table, but this seems of no use to me, since all numbers are fixed at 20:C. I remember that for each 7:C above the calibration temperature of the refractometer you should substract 1% humidity from whatever percentage the refractometer is showing. I will thank any help on calibrating refractometers. Note: I have some 20:C and some 25:C calibrated refractometers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luis Rommel Beutelspacher (\ Maya Honey S.A. de C.V. -{|||8- Ticul, Yucatan, Mixico. (/ Tel/Fax (997) 20715 rommel@mayahoney.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 23:19:21 -0800 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: GORD SPARGO Subject: NOVA SCOTIA BEEKEEPER Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I am looking for the opportunity to communicate with a NS beekeeper, specificly from Shelburne County. Please reply direct rather than tie up the list. Thanks GORD SPARGO 1382 HUTCHINSON RD RR2 COBBLE HILL, BC V0R 1L0 1-250-743-7421 gspargo@direct.ca ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 09:44:02 -0600 Reply-To: lkrengel@mc.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Larry Krengel Subject: Re: Inner Cover Comments: To: BobCan@TDPI.Com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Bob - If you are new to the beekeeping business, you will soon find out that there is disagreement on just about everything beekeepers do. Yet let me risk giving you my thoughts on your questions. The notches in the inner cover are not entrances. They are for ventilation. If you lay your outer cover on flat and have no notch, air can not rise through the hive. I often set my outer covers tipped toward the back of the hive so rain will not run off onto the landing board. This also provides plenty of ventilation space. I really need no notch, but it can't hurt for you to cut a notch. The traditional inner cover has a shallow and a deep side. Because hive bodies vary a little, I try to keep a 3/8 inch bee space above the frames. Which ever side works best goes down. I think that if you were to have equipment from only one, reliable source, you could always use the same side down. I have a hodge-podge of bodies and they vary. The biggest problem is likely if you leave too much space between the frames and the inner cover. In this case the bees will build brace comb and make opening the hive difficult. But if the space is too small, they will glue the top down again making it hard to open. Larry Krengel Bob wrote: > My question is, is it > nesaccary to have one side of a inner deeper than the other? My a second > question is, I have seen inner covers with notches on one end of the cover > and also two notches one on each end. What is the purpose of those notches? > The inner I recieved from the seller didn't have any notches... HOW are the > bees suppose to exit out if there are no notches? Am I suppose put the > notches there or what? ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 12:14:27 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Rimantas Zujus Subject: Re: Plastic Laminate for Varroa Floor? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-4" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Beefriends John K. Warsaw writes >Has anyone tried a sheet of high-pressure plastic laminate as a varroa >floor I used a plastic similiar to described one for other reason. Its opposite surfaces are brown and white. It seems to me that these layers change their geometry on account of the moisture with different value (expansion factors differ). Therefore it becomes a bit spherical. Sincerely Rimantas Zujus Kaunas LITHUANIA e-mail : zujus@isag.lei.lt ICQ# : 4201422 http://gytis.lei.lt/ 55 N, 24 E ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 17:59:27 +1300 Reply-To: happy.valley.honey@xtra.co.nz Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Dot Rawnsley Organization: Happy Valley Honey Subject: Re: Brix Scale, honey moisture conversion MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >.To John in Fiji Islands To measure the moisture content of honey you need a refractometer not a brix meter. (The first measures the amount of water and the second the amount of sugar) I suggest you speak to Gavin McKenzie who was beekeeping tutor at Telford Polytech in New Zealand and is now resident in Fiji His Phone number is (from N.Z.) 00679 694 947 Dot Rawnsley Happy Valley Honey New Zealand > > > > ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 07:23:58 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Varroa Collapse (from David Eyre) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT This message was originally submitted by info@BEEWORKS.COM to the BEE-L list at CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU. It has been edited to remove HTML formatting. ------------------ Original message (ID=6C5B98) (89 lines) -------------------- From: info@beeworks.com (David Eyre) To: Bee-L@cnsibm.albany.edu Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 22:27:54 -0500 Subject: Varroa Collapse Reply-to: info@beeworks.com > about 5 years ago), We are both trying to be prepared for when >the infestation reaches our respective areas. This being so we are > monitoring for the presence of varroa, and I would suggest that the >evidence is that there is about three years from first infestation to >collapse of colony. I regret to inform you, from personal experience this statement is incorrect. Varroa entered our area late last year, and from finding it to colony collapse was only a matter of weeks. Our hives were inspected for our Queen breeder certificate in May, nothing in any hive. We intensly manage our hives, lots of openings, brood and bee removal, grafting etc and saw nothing until mid Sept, then I spotted one Varroa in a mini mating hive. Within two weeks hives were collapsing with MASSIVE varroa infestations. When the smoke cleared and we had time to take stock we had lost 6 hives from one yard, all together in a line, others close by had Varroa but but only low infestations. Interestingly all the hives lost were angry ones, due for requeening and one with an old queen kept for her genetics. We believe that angry bees are robbers, and don't produce more honey, they rob other hives, and in this case brought back massive amounts of Varroa from failing hives. When Varroa first arrives in an area and you have angry bees, they will spread it faster from other hives previously infected and in a later stage of collapse. My advice, watch very, very carefully, and get rid of all angry hives. We thought we had a good lookout for Varroa, and still nearly missed it's arrival, another week and all that yard would have been winterized and lost to Varroa come spring. ***************************************** The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive, Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada.L3V 6H1. Phone (705)326 7171 Fax (705)325 3461 David Eyre, Owner e-mail http://www.beeworks.com This months special:-Furniture Polish Kit **************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 19:05:36 -0600 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: SWARMS MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello, as swarming season will start here in Kentucky in the next couple of month's i will have some extra swarms (just like every year) anyone interested in buying these please email me privately. gmc@hcis.net ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 08:26:22 EDT Reply-To: mnasr@evbhort.uoguelph.ca Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Medhat Nasr Organization: Environ. Biology & Horticulture Subject: Spring Meeting in Ontario, Canada Comments: To: vjcoppola@froggernet.com, Pat Westlake MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Hi B-Line beekeepers, It is time of the year. We have our spring meeting. Come and join us. Medhat Nasr SPRING COMMERCIAL MEETING CLOVERMEAD APIARIES TOUR, operated by Ann and Henry Hiemstra TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1999 - AYLMER, ONTARIO ADVANCE REGISTRATION $20.00 N.B. DEADLINE - POST MARKED MARCH 10TH AT THE DOOR $30.00 HOT LUNCH (must be paid in advance) $11.00 This is set up as a one man operation. The extracting equipment is not state of the art but their honey is sold almost exclusively through their store, a converted log cabin. For those of you who are thinking of how to get the most dollars for your honey, see how they do it. Pollination is a large part of their income. See how one man can move hives, either pallets or by hand. See the honey plant plantings and how it's done. Seeds will be available for sale. Tour starts at 9:00 am. Coffee will be ready. After the tour we will meet at Saxonia Hall at 11:00 am. From Clovermead Apiaries go south on Highway 73 to Aylmer, turn right at stop light onto Highway3. The Hall is just outside of town on left hand side. It is well marked as Saxonia Hall. Note: Carpool to Sparta after lunch for the ladies. Sparta was settled by the Pennsylvania Quakers in the 1800's and offers visitors an opportunity to step back into the past. Many of the buildings date from the time of settlement. There are some house crafts and antique stores as well as a tearoom. AGENDA 9:00 am Tour 10:30 am Registration - Saxonia Hall 11:00 am Small Hive Beetle David Westervelt, Bureau of Plant & Apiary Inspection, Florida State Department of Agriculture 11:45 am History of Clovermead Apiaries, Henry Hiemstra 12:00 pm Lunch 1:15 pm Update: Current Issues - Honey Analog, Adulteration and Regulations John McCool, Canadian Food Inspection Agency 1:45 pm Provincial Apiarist's Report from American Beekeeping Federation, CAPA & Canadian Honey Council and Apiary Inspectors of America Meetings - Doug McRory 2:30 pm Canadian Honey Council Report - David MacMillan, CHC Vice-President 2:45 pm OBA Update - David Vander Dussen, OBA President 3:00 pm Coffee Break 3:20 pm Colony Conditions 3:30 pm The Future of Beekeeping in Ontario in the Light of the New Developments, Medhat Nasr, Researcher, OBA 4:15 pm Apiary Inspection Program & Florida Beekeeping, David Westervelt EVERYONE WELCOME For registeration or more information, please contact: Pat Westlake Bayfield, Ontario, N0M 1G0 Phone: (519) 562-2622 Fax: (519) 565-5452 e-mail: ontbee@tcc.on.ca check our website: http://www.tcc.on.ca/~ontbee Medhat Nasr, Ph.D. Research Scientist, Ontario Beekeepers' Association Dept. Environmental Biology University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 Tel: (519) 824-4120 Fax:(519)837-0442 e-mail: mnasr@evbhort.uoguelph.ca ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 14:30:03 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Rimantas Zujus Subject: Re: Phacelia Tanacetifolia Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-4" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Rune Stenseth writes >Does anyone have any experience with Phacelia as a means of securing >nectar and pollen for the bees? Hi, Rune and All I looked in a book about "for honey" suitable plants saying that Phacelia Tanacetifolia Benth. is one of the best. When sowed begins to bloom after 4-6 weeks, yet after 1-2 weeks the blooming is plentiful and lasts for 2-3 weeks. A blossom gives 0,15-5 mg nectar with 29-57 % of sugar. There are (256-991) million blossoms in one hectare (2.57 acres) Honey yield in one hectare: (average for different zones and conditions) Research station MGU (Russia) - Honey, kg/ha In middle cultivated soil fertilized with superphosfate and potassium salt - 111 kg In cultivated soil fertilized with superphosfate and potassium salt - 654 kg In drought year - 79 kg Beekeeping Research Institute According to sow time: Honey, kg/ha 29 April - 234 kg beginning of May - 336 14 May - 237 29 May - 191 beginning of June - 80 13 June - 120 17 June - 128 According to Mr.Kopelnikovskij For various zones (of former USSR): Honey, kg/ha Middle belt - 150 Central black soil - 120-500 Kazakhstan - 100 Siberia - 200 ****** Far East - 145-255 (V.K.Pelmenev) Far East - 500-1500 ( other authors) ******* Experience in Cherkask region Area of 68 ha sowed with mixture of Phacelia and Lupine gave average 20 kg of honey (350 bee colonies) In some neighboring areas sowed only with Phacelia gave 12 kg/bee colony Some "inventors" sowed a mixture of Fhacelia, Oat and Vetch/or Pea. They got additional honey yield. Good luck Rimantas Zujus Kaunas LITHUANIA e-mail : zujus@isag.lei.lt ICQ# : 4201422 http://www.lei.lt 55 N, 24 E ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 08:32:36 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Randy C. Lynn" Subject: 5 gallon bucket as Skep? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Has anyone tried hiving honeybees in a plastic bucket? I have been thinking for several years about how to make beekeeping less equipment intense, so that people in developing countries might benefit from keeping bees. I was painting a stack of new supers last night and I thought that a 5 (US) gallon bucket was roughly the size of a bee hive. Could someone use European skep beekeeping techniques but substitute a plastic bucket for the Skep? Plastic buckets are cheap, plentiful, they resist rot and insect infestation. They are easy to disinfect and are easy to move. Of course US laws prevent keeping bees in non-movable hives, but for developing countries it might be worth considering. Thanks in advance for your comments. Randy Lynn Blossom Ridge Bee Farm Greensboro, NC, USA rclynn@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 08:34:16 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Bees in a bucket? Perhaps a top bar hive? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT I wonder if the 5 gallon bucket might lend itself to top bar hive beekeeping? Comments Jim? Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee! ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 08:58:16 -0500 Reply-To: tvf@umich.edu Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Ted Fischer Organization: ACB Dept., Univ of Michigan Subject: Re: 5 gallon bucket as Skep? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Randy C. Lynn wrote: > Has anyone tried hiving honeybees in a plastic bucket? > > Plastic buckets are cheap, plentiful, they resist rot and insect infestation. > They are easy to disinfect and are easy to move. The disadvantage, of course, is that like a skep you can't do anything with them once they're ensconsed in the bucket. A skep was open at the bottom to fumigate (and kill) the bees to get the honey. I would think that top bar hives rather than any skep-like arrangement would be the way to go. Ted Fischer Dexter, Michigan USA ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 13:48:30 -0000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Madeleine Pym Subject: Re: Big scale swarm catching MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The old books talk about making a 'bee bob'. Take something like an old sock, dark coloured, stuffed with anything you like (other old socks perhaps). Get it thoroughly impregnated with old wax from brood frames, then tie it up in a tree. You can also nail it to a piece of wood (the size of a hive roof) which can be easily removed. This can then be placed directly over a new hive, with one brood box of frames, and an empty to allow space for the swarm cluster. The idea is that the bees are attracted to it for two reasons. 1 They think it is the beginnings of the swarm cluster, because of its appearance. 2 They love the smell of old brood frames (wax, propolis, pollen, etc.) and that attracts them too. These methods are said to be especially effective if you know of sites that are often frequented by swarms. By the same principle a couple of old brood frames (not honey frames) are supposed to work best when left in a box or hive as bait. [ Having said which I have not personally tried these techniques, but plan to this year.] My father has tried out the lemon grass (lemon balm over here) but said it made no difference. Madeleine Pym, London, UK ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 14:00:09 -0000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Ken Hoare Subject: Colony collapse MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit David Eyre stated that angry bees are maybe just better robbers, couldn't agree more, and after their pillaging sessions return home with maybe more than a stomach full of honey, i.e. varroa mites. All possible, but more likely that his colonies have been invaded by local collapsing colonies, both feral and the -- look in the brood box every Leap Year beekeeper, missed it, will have to wait another four years -- managed one's. I think that's the experience of the UK and before that on the continent. If there are mites in the area for robbers to collect a few hundred, collapsing colonies will quickly import many, many thousands. Doesn't alter the fact that angry bees are no good to anyone, well at least not in a densely populated area such as the UK. Ken Hoare ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 08:42:34 EDT Reply-To: mnasr@evbhort.uoguelph.ca Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Medhat Nasr Organization: Environ. Biology & Horticulture Subject: Ontario Bee Breeders Meeting Comments: To: vjcoppola@froggernet.com, Pat Westlake MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Dear B-Line beekeepers EVERYONE WELCOME Medhat Nasr ONTARIO BEE BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION ANNUAL QUEEN BREEDING WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 1999 - HOLIDAY INN, GUELPH, ONTARIO ADVANCE REGISTRATION $40.00 N.B. DEADLINE POSTMARKED MARCH 10TH (includes buffet meal - must be paid in advance) REGISTRATION AT THE DOOR $30.00 (no meal) Dear Members and Interested Beekeepers: Another honey bee season is approaching. Very soon we are going to be back in the field to look after our honey bees and to breed and rear honey bee queens. Since our last meeting, several developments have emerged in the beekeeping industry in the USA. These developments are: 1) finding the small hive beetle in several states, and as it turned out, it is a serious pest, 2) developing Apistan resistant varroa mites in several states in the USA, and 3) approval of Bayer Bee Strip Coumaphos) under section 18 by the EPA in the USA to control Apistan resistant varroa mites and the small hive beetle. These developments are closer to home. Our focus in this meeting is to learn about these developments and their impacts on beekeeping practices and queen production. We are also going to address ways to improve the quality of produced queens. Queen breeders will share their ideas and experiences on queen production. Breeding for varroa resistance is going to be a challenge to take on. We need to plan ahead to avoid any surprises in our beekeeping industry. AGENDA 8:30 am Registration Pat Westlake 9:00 am Breeders Panel to discuss Queen Production Issues Doug McRory (Breeders Panel: B. Davies, D. Bryans, P. Laflamme, R. Nielson) 10:00 am Coffee Break 10:15 am Factors Affecting Queen Quality in USA Medhat Nasr 11:00 am Marketing Queens in Mexico and USA Paul Montoux 11:20 am New Evidence that Colonies Regulate Queen Quality Naturally Gard Otis 12:00 pm Lunch 1:15 pm Colony Management Practices to Reduce Varroa Mite Population Tibor Szabo 1:55 pm Carniolan Queen Selection and Production Neil Orr 2:30 pm New Developments in Beekeeping Doug McRory 3:00 pm Coffee Break 3:15 pm The Breeding Program: Where are we heading? Medhat Nasr 3:50 pm Business Meeting Tibor Szabo For registeration or more information, please contact: Pat Westlake Bayfield, Ontario, N0M 1G0 Phone: (519) 562-2622 Fax: (519) 565-5452 e-mail: ontbee@tcc.on.ca check our website: http://www.tcc.on.ca/~ontbee ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 09:01:20 EDT Reply-To: mnasr@evbhort.uoguelph.ca Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Medhat Nasr Organization: Environ. Biology & Horticulture Subject: Pollination Symposium Comments: To: vjcoppola@froggernet.com, Pat Westlake MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Dear B-Line beekeepers EVERYONE WELCOME Medhat Nasr CROPS AND HONEY BEE POLLINATION SYMPOSIUM THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1999 - HOLIDAY INN, GUELPH, ONTARIO Sponsored by: Ontario Beekeepers' Association - Ontario Honey Bee Pollination Association and Ontario Research Enhancement Program - Sustainable Pollination for Ontario Crops ADVANCE REGISTRATION $40.00 N.B. DEADLINE POST MARKED MARCH 10TH (includes lunch - must be paid in advance) REGISTRATION AT THE DOOR $30.00 (no meal) Crops of economic importance need to receive pollen to set fruits or produce seeds. Honey bees play an important role in pollinating several of these crops. In fact, the honey bee pollination increases not only the quantity but also the quality of produced fruits. In recent years, due to the decline in the availability of honey bees in feral colonies and through hobby beekeepers, and the general chronic shortage of wild native pollinators, crop production could be jeopardized. To enhance crop pollination, it is necessary to understand the pollination requirements of a crop and master managements of honey bees and other pollinators. Crop growers and beekeepers need to work together to use honey bees as efficiently as possible to secure sustainable pollination for Ontario's crops. It is also very important that the beekeepers and growers use various methods to improve the attractiveness of crops and find the best ways to increase the number of bee visits to flowers of the concerned crops. For education and transfer of advanced pollination technology, the Ontario Beekeepers' Association - Ontario Honey Bee Pollination Association and Ontario Research Enhancement Program - Sustainable Pollination for Ontario Crops are sponsoring a symposium: "Crops and Honey Bee Pollination Symposium" Crop growers, beekeepers and horticultural extension personals are invited to attend this symposium. Various topics will be covered as listed in the agenda. Guest speaker is Dr. Robbin Thorp, retired Professor, at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Thorp has numerous experiences in pollination ecology, honey bee foraging behaviour, and advanced management of honey bee colonies for efficient pollination of almond and other crops in California. Speakers are Professors Dr. Peter Kevan (University of Guelph), specialized in pollination ecology and bee foraging behaviour, Dr. Brian Husband (University of Guelph), specialized in genetics of plant populations, and Dr. Terence Laverty (University of Western, London) specialized in behavioural and pollination ecology, and foraging behaviour of honey bees and bumble bees. Dr. Medhat Nasr, Tech Transfer Specialist (Ontario Beekeepers' Association) specialized in development of IPM program for controlling parasitic mites in honey bees and honey bee genetics and breeding. Svenja Belaoussoff and Lora Morandin are graduate students with experience in pollination ecology. Doug McRory is Ontario Provincial Apiarist. David Vander Dussen, Tom Congdon, and Graham Roberts are commercial beekeepers with extensive experiences in pollination and beekeeping. AGENDA Program Chair: Graham Roberts 8:30 am Registration Pat Westlake 9:00 am Greetings from OMAFRA OMAFRA 9:10 am Basics of Crop Pollination Dr. Robbin Thorp 10:00 am Ontario Honey Bee Pollination Association's Report Tom Congdon 10:15 am Coffee Break 10:30 am Economics of Crop Pollination Doug McRory 10:50 am Apple Pollination with Emphasis on High Density Orchards and Pollen Movement Dr. Peter Kevan /Dr. Brian Husband 11:30 am Colony Preparation for Crop Pollination in Ontario David Vander Dussen 12:00 pm Lunch 1:15 pm Management of Honey Bee Colonies for Effective Crop Pollination Dr. Robbin Thorp 2:00 pm Current Managements for Disease and Mites in Honey Bee Colonies Dr. Medhat Nasr 2:30 pm Perspectives of Beekeepers and Growers for Summer Crop Pollination (cucumber, blue berries, squash and pumpkin) Dr. Peter Kevan/Svenja Belaoussoff 3:00 pm Coffee Break 3:15 pm Dandelion as a Competitor to Apple Trees for Visits Pollen Collecting Honeybees Dr. Terence Laverty / Henry Hiemstra 3:30 pm Pollination of Greenhouse Tomatoes in 0ntario Lora Morandin 3:45 pm Panel Discussion of Pollination Issues: Doug McRory Subjects: Beekeepers and growers working together: Moving hives in and out of orchards, colony locations, controlling pesticide kill of bees, contracts (pricing of bee pollination, seal of quality), new crop varieties, seed production.....etc Note: The Guelph Holiday Inn has given a special rate of $99 single subject to availability Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday nights, if you are attending the Ontario Beekeepers' Association's meetings. Call 1-800- HOLIDAY or direct at 1-519-836-0231. The Holiday Inn is located just off the Hanlon Expressway, Hwy. #6 North at the corners of Stone Road and Scottsdale Drive. N.B. For more information, or to register in advance, contact or send your cheque (please add 7% GST) to the Ontario Beekeepers' Association office. Your receipt, name tag and lunch ticket (if applicable) can be picked up at the registration desk. For registeration or more information, please contact: Pat Westlake Bayfield, Ontario, N0M 1G0 Phone: (519) 562-2622 Fax: (519) 565-5452 e-mail: ontbee@tcc.on.ca check our website: http://www.tcc.on.ca/~ontbee ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 09:40:59 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Richard Bonney Subject: Re: 5 gallon bucket as Skep? Comments: To: tvf@umich.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Two articles in (Gleanings in) Bee Culture, January 1986 and August 1988 were about keeping bees in five gallon buckets. These were not used in a skep like fashion but were cut in half the long way and each half laid on its side to serve as a hive. They were actually top bar hives. The thrust of the article was the use of such hives as teaching hives. As long term hives they are of limited size. Dick Bonney rebonney@javanet.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 08:44:31 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: Varroa Collapse In-Reply-To: <12285867607195@systronix.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > > about 5 years ago), We are both trying to be prepared for when > >the infestation reaches our respective areas. This being so we are > > monitoring for the presence of varroa, and I would suggest that the > >evidence is that there is about three years from first infestation to > >collapse of colony. > > I regret to inform you, from personal experience this statement is > incorrect. Varroa entered our area late last year, and from finding it to colony > collapse was only a matter of weeks. It almost seems to me -- and I have been struck by this a number of times - - that it almost sounds as if people are discussing entirely different phenomena. On one hand some people say that it just happens over time and that after a while it will kill colonies if nothing is done. Others say that 'wham' it hit us out of nowhere and colonies were dead before we realized it was here. Why is this? Even the collapse and abscond phenomenon that some describe does not seem to be universal. And mites riding in three abreast on the backs of robber bees... We too found our first varroa last year and it was pretty much a non-event as far as I can tell at this point. Sure, we had to spend a lot money and put in strips, and maybe we will find after winter that we lost hives to varroa, but so far it does not look at all that that way. So far it looks pretty much business as usual, qand that's what my friends who have had varroa for years report. In fact some of them are better beekeepers and get better crops for having varroa keep them on their toes. What is going on here? We montored for years with alcohol wash and spot checks with Apistan and a sticky board and called an emergency last August when we found three mites. What methods were the others using? I plan to move to an IPM approach this year and am somewhat worried that I might find myself in trouble if I miss one hive in a yard or one feral colony with heavy mites, because of these reports of heavy infestations coming in massively from nowhere with no warning. Frankly I tend to doubt that the people reporting this latter phenomenon were actually monitoring properly and were thus taken by surprise, but I hate to rely on that hunch for fear of becoming one of the victims. What am I missing here? Can I tolerate a llittle varroa, like my European friends seem to think, or do I have to pull out the heavy artillery and bomb them into submission, American style???? Allen ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 08:45:48 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jerry J Bromenshenk Subject: Re: 5 gallon bucket as Skep? In-Reply-To: <199903021526.IAA26565@selway.umt.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 09:40 AM 3/2/1999 -0500, you wrote: A beekeeper in MD, who had stopped keeping bees, decided to start again after we put some hives on his property. He spotted a swarm (probably ours) and grabbed a 5 gallon bucket. Drilled some holes near the bottom for an entrance. End of the season, the bucket was doing better than our nucs. However, it was all wild comb, and like a skep, the only way to remove the honey would have been to destroy or greatly set back the colony. With the high humidity and temperatures, I thought that moisture buildup would have been a problem. He kept the lid down tight. However, he did put it in the woods in shade. Certainly surprised me in how well the swarm did. Not so happy about it as a potential reservoir of mites, disease, etc. since it was virtually impossible to work or inspect. >rebonney@javanet.com > > ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 10:31:46 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: 5 gallon bucket as Skep? In-Reply-To: <16042771707535@systronix.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > Certainly surprised me in how well the swarm did. Not so happy about it as > a potential reservoir of mites, disease, etc. since it was virtually > impossible to work or inspect. Well, I know a beekeeper on Vancouver Island who is an old-time German skep beekeeper. he worked as a boy on a skep bee farm with 1000 hives in Germany. He now still has a few skeps and I'm frankly impressed. He has 'supers' on his skeps. They are rings that sit under the main skep and raise it up. To remove a 'super', he uses piano wire to cut at the joint. I mean to ask him if I can put the pictures I took of him and his skeps onto the net. If he says 'yes' then I will. They will then show up at my 'What's New' page someday. FWIW, the way those old 'cowshit' beekeepers operate is nothing short of amazing and it is sad to see the technology in disuse. (The cowshit derrrogatory term used by some modern German beekeepers to describe the old way is due to the practice of coating the skeps -- some of them a hundred years old and in perfect shape -- with cow droppings as a paint on the outside. I have very seriously considered using plastic pails for skeps and using them for pollination. They are light and easily transportable and easy to manage when you know how. Cheap too. More later. Maybe. Allen ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 10:48:16 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Edwards Organization: Hayden Bee Lab, USDA-ARS,Tucson, Arizona Subject: Re: Use of sperm by the queen MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit At last, a subject I worked on .... The spermatheca was earlier (before aboot 1970) thought to supply oxygen to the enclosed sperm by way of the profuse tracheal tubing surrounding it. H.K. Poole ( who I was privileged to work with as a technician in Tucson, Arizona between 1967 and 1973) showed through scanning electron microscopy that the spermatheca wall was too thick, dense, and uniform to allow this. Rather, the sperm are held in an almost quiescent state until needed, which you know can be up to 1-2 years. I did nearly 150 microsurgical operations on live queens and was always struck by the beauty of the patterns visible through the spermatheca wall, of circulating sperm. The cause of the patterns is still unknown, insofar as I know, but there was obviously much mixing going on. There have been studies by Taber and others on the "clumping" of certain groups of sperm, which leads to grouping of eggs from the same father drone, but I am not as familiar with them. - Hope this helps - there is still much work to be done in this field - Unfortunately, Poole was forced into a resignation to avoid a transfer back into the humid climate he had escaped from, and the research was not continued - a truly sad day for reproductive physiology research in the USDA. - John Edwards, Tucson > > Is it known how the queen stores the sperm from different drones?. > > Is the sperm held in the spermatheca such that the sperm from drone A is > used, and when completely used up is followed by the sperm from drone B etc. > If this be the case then we will get a batch of workers with like > characteristics, followed by another batch of workers with like > characteristics but possibly different from the earlier batch. > Tom Barrett > 49 South Park > Foxrock > Dublin 18 > Ireland > > Latitude 53 Degrees 16' North > Longitude 6 Degrees 9' West of Greenwich -- ----------------------------------------------------------- John F. Edwards Biological Lab. Technician "Feral Bee Tracker and AHB Identifier" Carl Hayden Bee Research Center 2000 E. Allen Road Tucson, Arizona 85719 Office: 520-670-6380, ext.110 Fax: 520-670-6493 Geog. location: 32.27495 N 110.9402 W Lab webpages: http://198.22.133.109/ http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/index.html http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/jephotos.htm ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 13:08:12 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Lloyd Spear Subject: Varroa tolerance MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Allen asked "What am I missing here? Can I tolerate a little varroa, like my European friends seem to think, or do I have to pull out the heavy artillery and bomb them into submission, American style????" I wish we could bomb them into submission! Seriously, Allen, I don't think responsible beekeepers are trying to do that, at least they are not being successful if they are. The latest I have heard, and seen, is that Varroa seems to be on a 2-3 year cycle. Populations real low some years, and absolutely, unbelievably, high in other years. I suspect, and I know others do also, that in cold climates where there is a reasonably extended period without brood, it is very very unusual for Varroa to do serious damage until at least 2 years after infestation. In the Northeast US, beekeepers saw little Varroa before 1995 and got careless about treating. Speaking only for myself, I don't recall anyone telling me that the ether rolls only knocked off 50% of the mites, and was not a very good test for infestation in any case, and I failed to treat properly in the fall of 1996. I, like some 90% of beekeepers in a five state area, lost 75% of my hives that winter. >From the winter of 1995/1996 until last year we had few mites, but I think most of us were much more careful about looking for them and treating when we found them. Most beekeepers I know have been only treating in the fall. We have been taught to look for mites in July and early August, and last year in mid-August I had one yard where the hives were incredibly strong, and every drone brood had more than one mite and several have 4-5! I got the supers off and treated, and those hives have gone through the winter just fine. In 1995/1996 we treated in September/October and by that time the hives were flying dead! We just didn't know it until the following spring. Unfortunately, we do have those to whom Allen refers. I hope they have not ruined sensible treatments for the rest of us. Lloyd Email LloydSpear@msn.com Owner, Ross Rounds(tm), the finest in comb honey production. http://www.rossrounds.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 11:55:18 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Edwards Organization: Hayden Bee Lab, USDA-ARS,Tucson, Arizona Subject: Re: Honey bees in the U.S. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Adrian Wenner wrote: > At 09:11 PM 99/02/19 -0800, Steven wrote: > >I am looking for information about the origin of bees in the americas, > > In May of 1993, Robbin Thorp and I published an article in BEE CULTURE > ("The honey bees of Santa Cruz Island." 121 (5):272-275). We gave some > background about honey bee introductions in that article. > > Apparently, the first United States honey bees arrived in the Virginia > Colony in 1622 (a bit of research confirmed by Eva Crane in her volume, > ARCHEOLOGY OF BEEKEEPING). By 1654 they had reached New England. Lee > Watkins documented the arrival of bees in California, the first in 1853. > Walter Sheppard published quite a complete account We (actually, Steve Buchmann) came up with about 1535 for the hbees landing in Monterrey, Mexico. I wish someone fluent in Spanish would undertake a search of the archives in Spain and Catholic church records in the Americas to sort this out. The Catholics have always been heavily into beeswax for candles, and records of many of the missions in Mexico, Arizona, N.Mexico, and California still exist, as well as shipping manifests in Spain. All that is needed is someone who speaks the language, and has an eye for beekeeping terms. - John, Tucson ----------------------------------------------------------- John F. Edwards Biological Lab. Technician "Feral Bee Tracker and AHB Identifier" Carl Hayden Bee Research Center 2000 E. Allen Road Tucson, Arizona 85719 Office: 520-670-6380, ext.110 Fax: 520-670-6493 Geog. location: 32.27495 N 110.9402 W Lab webpages: http://198.22.133.109/ http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/index.html http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/jephotos.htm ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 12:25:53 -0800 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Roy Subject: Re: Varroa Collapse Comments: To: allend@internode.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Allen Dick wrote: > > On one hand some people say that it just happens over time and that after > a while it will kill colonies if nothing is done. Others say that 'wham' > it hit us out of nowhere and colonies were dead before we realized it was > here. In fact some of them are better beekeepers and > get better crops for having varroa keep them on their toes. Hi Allen and All, The timing of treatment for Varroa is the real important issue.There are different methods used to keep the mite count down.You need to be on top of it before September or you will have weak bees for winter.The variance of hive behavior comes from more than the mite itself.The overall condition of the bees in regard to nutrition and stress have a part to play, in the speed that Varroa will take down a hive. When hives drop very fast, in the late fall , you can bet on an addition of a virus ,that has been vectored by the mite.I have watched that happen first hand.One should not think for a moment that a little varroa is ok.During a honey flow , with large populations of bees , everything looks fine, even with varroa. Then comes the late fall and those wonderful hives that produced 200 + pounds of honey for you start dropping to nothing. I have watched a 3 year cycle with varroa in my bees.We can break the cycle by better attention and swift action on our part.The beekeeper will control the amount of problems that the mite will cause him or her.Some of us learn the hard way , I did. I lost 100 out of 180 hives , 4 years ago.Now, I have to do more and watch my bees with a very open eye.Maybe Varroa is making us better beekeepers as you stated. Best Regards Roy Nettlebeck ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 15:53:17 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Robert Barnett Subject: Interesting finding in colony! Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hello All! Here in north-central Alabama the bees are in rapid buildup due to a warm winter and early spring, and in my opinion about 3 to 4 weeks ahead their normal status . A lot of pollen and a surprising amount of nector is coming in. Three of my six colonies run with a standard Langstroth, queen excluder (even in winter ---don't scold for this, for in this climate they seldom run short of food in the brood box and I watch them carefully, in the backyard), and a single shallow super. The other three carry two shallow supers. Normally, I super them for the flow the last few days of March, or the first few of February. This situation has been developing for 2+ weeks, at which time all colonies had a minimum of 7 frames of brood. I examined them all yesterday, rather expecting to find one or more of them approaching swarm mode. Opening what I believed to be the largest first, the inner cover had a cup full of bees on its UPPER surface, and the single super was FULL of bees, as discovered on pulling a couple of frames in the center. The surprise here was a swarm cell on the side of a central bottom bar, containing a generous quarter inch of royal jelly, and an estimated hatch plus18-20 hour larva perfectly placed. Remember, a queen excluder is in place. I am an experienced amateur beekeeper, graft and raise successfully most of my own queens. The size of this larva was exactly as I would pick as for grafting. The only problem was that it had a slight tan 'cast', that frankly suggested it might have been dead for 24 hours, and the amount of royal jelly appeared to me to be more than will have been placed under most grafted larva in the first 18-24 hours. I here make two points: 1. There were no eggs in other cells in this super although there were plenty of cells available in the super's center where brood would have been placed, if the queen had slipped up thru the excluder. This was not the case. Further, in the brood box were 8 and 1/2 frames of brood in all stages, including sheets of eggs, all stages of larvae, and capped brood - both worker and drone---.. and lastly, there was not a single queen cell in the entire brood box except a couple of very ancient ones with no eggs, nor larva. I've never heard of this occurence before, and can not exactly explain it to my satisfaction. Possible explanation might go this way; I for one believe even queenright colonies often have a few laying workers, one of which here put an egg in that queen cell found that developed to the point found, then 'aborted', if you will. My impression is that it has been reported that laying workers have a high incidance of reproductive failure and this accounts for much of the usual spotty pattern even in raising drones. Is it possible that the queen could have managed to get an egg up into this cell WITHOUT herself having gone thru the excluder? I have never bought the idea of a worker carrying an egg or larva from one place to another (hive to hive, or one part of the hive to another) Has anyone ever seen something like; this? How about a suggestion, or make a comment. This isn't earth shaking, but is rather interesting to me. Thanks in advance! Bob Barnett Birmingham, Ala (southeast USA) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 08:03:13 +0800 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Joel F. Magsaysay" Subject: varroa collapse MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Varroa is endemic to South East Asia. We have had it here in the Philippines forever. Our local honeybees: a. florea, a. cerana and a. dorsata seem to have evolved some sort of "grooming" behavior, which allows them to survive and thrive. In the late seventies, after reading Dr. Morse's book on keeping a. mellifera on the Philippines (in which he states that commercial apiculture had many things against it here) I started keeping Italian bees. Years of trial and error (I am NOT a scientist) have taught me to treat for varroasis 3 times: 1. Just before our honeyflow, which can last from 5 to 7 months (it comes in trickles and gushes). 2. Right after pulling off all the honey from all our colonies (sorry, Stefan, but the price difference of sugar and honey here is 1,000%!) 3. In the middle of our off season. We use: 1. Apistan. Sorry again, Stefan, I tried herbs, aromatic trees, mothballs & sulfur, vinegar, name it. I just need to "nuke" them sporadically. The style here is off-timing. Regularity breeds resistance. 2. Drone brood removal. This is especiaaly useful during our very long honeyflow. Also, we need over-abundant drones because a. mellifera is an introduced species here and we breed in 3 separated mating yards. 3. Formic acid (careful, I've burned off my fingerprints 2 or 3 times! This is a good tip for prospective criminals, though). You MUST have stainless steel wires and eyelets in your frames for this. It works. We are able to produce all the beehive products for our lucrative local market. We keep a lot of a. mellifera for this corner of the world. We got wiped out several times learning all of the foregoing. So, welcome to the club everybody! Joel F. Magsaysay ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 23:49:45 -0000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Madeleine Pym Subject: Re: Varroa Collapse MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Allen Dick said... " On one hand some people say that it just happens over time and that after a while it will kill colonies if nothing is done. Others say that 'wham' it hit us out of nowhere and colonies were dead before we realized it was here. Why is this?" For what it's worth this is my experience... I had the (near) sudden death experience last spring. This is what I believe happened. I treated as usual in the autumn with Bayverol, the bees (as far as I knew) went into the winter clean. Next spring they came crawling out during the first spell of good warm weather. Turned out my neighbour, 2 blocks away from me, lost his last colony sometime during that winter. He said they had still been there at the end of the summer but had disappeared by spring. This was the last of 3 colonies he had had and not treated or attended to for 5-6 years, since developing an allergy to bee venom. I assume these bees absconded to my hives, or my hives robbed them out, or both. The varroa had been building up somehow during the winter (despite assumptions that queens stop laying and therefore varroa production should stop too). It was a sorry sight, deformed and crawling bees, and it was the first time I had to treat both spring and summer. They revived rapidly after treatment though, but had I not picked up on this I would have lost them before the season had gone very far. Latest theories in UK are that we see are seeing a cyclical pattern here. 1) First of all there is a slow build up of varroa in feral and beekeeper's colonies, then the collapse begins. 2) Feral colonies and 'let alone' bees start to die out, get robbed, varroa and absconding bees move into the 'cared for' colonies. 3) Those colonies now come under severe stress and beekeepers need to be aware of signs of reinfestation (possibly even just after you took out those varroa strips). 4) Feral colonies and let alone bees are now gone. Beekeepers breathe sigh of relief. Infestation rates/numbers drop significantly. 5) Colonies set about swarming and filling up all those lovely empty trees and roofs, with there mothy wax and all. 6) We all go back to 'square one', first of all there is a slow build up of varroa in feral and beekeepers bees, then the collapse begins... Knowing where you are in the cycle (your area not just you) may well be a part of diagnosis too. Lastly, at the time you are observing the bees there are a few things to remember. In really heavily infested colonies you will see the varroa on the backs of the bees quite clearly during a routine inspection. But what you see doesn't necessarily tell you all of what is going on. If there is no, or little brood, the varroa will all be on the bees themselves. If there is lots of brood most of those same varroa will have got themselves in to the cells and will be out of sight. So seeing no signs is not necessarily a reassurance. When those young bees come out there will be a population explosion of both bees and varroa. The more varroa go in, the more come out, and the more badly affected the young bees will be when they emerge and you could be on the downward spiral. (Bit simplistic but I hope you get the drift) Its all relative as they say. Which reminds me of something I read yesterday by Chuang Tzu (an ancient Taoist): "Everything is useful from some position or other and there are some positions from which even the most useful thing is useless." Good luck to all in the forthcoming season. Madeleine Pym, London, UK ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 20:07:47 -0800 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Paul Nicholson Subject: "grooming" behavior [was Re: varroa collapse] In-Reply-To: <199903030219.SAA10648@alto1.altonet.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 8:03 +0800 3/3/99, Joel F. Magsaysay wrote: >Varroa is endemic to South East Asia. We have had it here in the Philippines >forever. Our local honeybees: a. florea, a. cerana and a. dorsata seem to >have evolved some sort of "grooming" behavior, which allows them to survive >and thrive. I'd be curious to know how successful beekeeping with the above species is compared to a. mellifera. Are they kept by Phillipino beekeepers and how do they compare? Paul ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 07:10:54 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Beekeeper's Reference new URL (from Jordan Schwartz) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT This message was originally submitted by jordan@HIVE-MIND.COM to the BEE-L list at CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU. It has been edited to remove HTML formatting. ------------------ Original message (ID=38D988) (80 lines) -------------------- Return-Path: From: "Jordan Schwartz" To: Subject: Beekeeper's Reference new URL Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 21:20:11 -0800 The Beekeeper's Reference site (previously Beekeeping Home Page) has moved to: http://hive-mind.com/bee/ (the old address was http://weber.u.washington.edu/~jlks/bee.html) If you maintain a page, please update your link. Also, if you would like your page added to my list, please drop me a line. Thanks, Jordan Schwartz jordan@hive-mind.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 04:04:32 PST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: dave general Subject: Re: grooming behavior Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain Hello Paul ang the List, Glad to see that there is some interest about our native bees here in the Philippines. I mentioned a few undesirable characteristics of A.cerana in a previous post. Basically, the Philippine strain tends to abscond at the drop of a hat, even with what a beekeeper may consider ideal conditions. I started keeping bees in 1982 using A. cerana. They're not as productive as A.mellifera. They're also more sensitive to offensive odors and smoke. What would be a light smoking of mellifera would already cause the cerana to run on the combs and pour out of the hive. A lot of research needs to be done with Philippine cerana strains, which seem to be different for different islands. A. dorsata, the giant honeybee, is an altogether different story. Since they build a single large comb under a high branch, they cannot be managed as with mellifera or cerana. The worker is as big as a mellifera queen, with a sting gland to match. They are very ornery, with a critical distance of about 20 meters for a low hive. They'll chase you half a kilometer if you get into this distance. A tethered water buffalo must either break its rope or die of stings, which has been known to occur, although we also have thumb-sized hornets that nest in the ground. I myself doff my hat to our brave honey-hunters who seek to steal honey from the dorsata. A single comb can hold as much as forty kilos of honey. The honey produced by these native species is higher in moisture, about 18-20%, probably because they tolerate such levels. Regards, Dave General Cagayan de Oro City Philippines 8.29N 124.39E ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 08:11:01 -0000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Glyn Davies Subject: Re: 5 gallon bucket as Skep? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear B-Liners Bees in plastic buckets? Never for me! Excess humidity, condensation in cold weather but above all in dry weather there will be static charges on the surface of the plastic whenever it is handled or walked over by bees. There was a renown beekeeper locally, always looking for cheap, usually bodged, systems to keep bees. Death and aggression came from his plastic buckets and his neighbours were unfriendly too. He harmed bees and the reputation of beekeepers. I haven't heard from him for some time. Perhaps he is keeping chickens in sheds of discarded asbestos; warm, waterproof and very cheap! Glyn Davies, Ashburton, Devon UK ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 11:11:36 GMT 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: Apidea Queen Mating nucs Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello All I should be grateful for any feed back I can get on Apidea nucs. I have just purchased one to learn how it works. I it seems to me that they are fairly climate sensitive. I am hoping to use them to rear a few queens this year. Sincerely Tom Barrett 49 South Park Foxrock Dublin 18 Ireland Hobbyist beekeeper 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: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 11:11:38 GMT 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: Big scale swarm catching Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello All Madeleine Pym raised some interesting approaches to this. I was wondering if anybody has any experience of using Swarm lures. I used them last year in old hives with some old combs, and did not get even one swarm. Maybe Swarm Lures could be used in addition to the procedures outlines by Madeleine?. Any comments please. Sincerely Tom Barrett 49 South Park Foxrock Dublin 18 Ireland Hobbyist beekeeper 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: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 07:28:08 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Controls in Varroa Experiments? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I've been wondering: How can controls be used successfully in varroa treatment experiments, if the varroa from untreated hives seem to get into nearby treated hives in the almost magical way that I keep hearing about? In this context, apparently 'nearby' means 'within miles'. Allen --- FAQs? There is no BEE-L FAQ - as such - but you can search for answers to most common questions by visiting http://www.beekeeping.co.nz/beel.htm or send email to LISTSERV@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU and say Search BEE-L KEYWORD(S) ('KEYWORD(S)' means a word or words unique to your question) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 18:50:31 +0100 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Dr. Reimund Schuberth" Subject: Re: Honey moisture, refractive index and refractometers MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable -----Urspr=FCngliche Nachricht----- Von: Luis & Faby An: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU Datum: Dienstag, 2. M=E4rz 1999 01:59 Betreff: Honey moisture, refractive index and refractometers calibrating refractometer can be done by usage of calibrating liquids whi= ch can be bought here in Germany from the shops which sell the refractometer= s. To my opinion this will be the best method for calibration. On the other hand you can use a good calibrated refractometer for compari= ng. Sincerely Reimund ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beekeeper in Germany (Bavaria) Queen Rearing of Carniolan Bees Insemination Station ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 50=B0 North, 11=B0 East ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 10:47:51 -0700 Reply-To: fltdeck1@ix.netcom.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Matthew Subject: Re: Big scale swarm catching MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Tom & All! I hope most of you are as excited as I am to get started on swarms - from hives other than our own that is! This year I purchased two of Mann-Lake's cheapy 'swarm' hives. They're made with paper mache' (sp?) and coated with something for protection from rain with a hole on one end. You're supposed to tie or nail these to a tree or anything in the vicinity where you'd expect to catch a swarm - providing swarms with an opportune hive. Anyone try these? I'll be using a bunch of feral comb (empty or with pollen) & placing pieces both inside (large) the boxes & outside(small) for full exposure to the sun....hoping the smell of melting wax will attract scouts. I'm estimating the smell of the wax is the reason many other empty feral hives get re-filled with bees year after year. Matthew Westall in Castle Rock, CO ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 10:39:40 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Edwards Organization: Hayden Bee Lab, USDA-ARS,Tucson, Arizona Subject: Re: Big scale swarm catching MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > I was wondering if > anybody has any experience of using Swarm lures. > Tom Barrett > 49 South Park > Foxrock > Dublin 18 > Ireland > Latitude 53 Degrees 16' North > Longitude 6 Degrees 9' West of Greenwich Well, since the guy in the next office (Justin Schmidt) developed the most common pheromone mix, I'd say we have been happy with them for 13 years. His particular combination is 100. microliters of 1:1:1 of geraniol, nerolic acid, and citral in a 250. microliter "Micro Test Tube" with attached caps from BioRad Laboratories, 2000 Alfred Nobel Drive, Hercules, CA 94547 (USA). Don't be surprised if you can't find nerolic acid, and it can be left out. We put 2 tubes in each black "construction paper" light shield, which is made from a 3X3 inch square of paper and stapled at each end. The crucial thing seems to be the plastic used in the tube, Polyethylene, which allows a SLOW release of the mix through the tube wall. We make up probably 300 lures a year, for the survey trapline and in developing new trap styles and for cooperators. This mix, used with the Schmidt Trap, a wood-based plant pot and lid (Western Pulp Products, Corvallis, OR (USA)) has been tested against all known trap systems, and really pulls in the swarms. Probably a used hive with used combs would be the only serious competitor. The "pinata" traps used in Mexico and Central America with a cardboard box and plastic bag are much less expensive, but have never been shown to be as effective. Of course any mention of a product does NOT mean the USDA-ARS endorses it, etc, etc. - - Hope this all helps - anybody with a telephone could set up their own trapping system with what I just told you. ;-) - John Edwards, Tucson -- ----------------------------------------------------------- John F. Edwards Biological Lab. Technician "Feral Bee Tracker and AHB Identifier" Carl Hayden Bee Research Center 2000 E. Allen Road Tucson, Arizona 85719 Office: 520-670-6380, ext.110 Fax: 520-670-6493 Geog. location: 32.27495 N 110.9402 W Lab webpages: http://198.22.133.109/ http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/index.html http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/jephotos.htm ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 22:01:19 +0000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Wolfgang_P=F6hlmann?= Subject: Re: Varroa collapse MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Hello, I mostly agree with Madeleine Pyms explanation of the "whom" and slow collape of varroa infested colonies. There are two ways in wich the number of mites in a colony increases. 1. by breeding mites. As long as a colony has brood the mites can enter the brood cells before capping and reproduce. The rate of increase of mites per brood cell depends on the season (infertileties) and on whether it was a worker cell or a drone cell (time of capping). It can be roughly estimated that the mite population doubles every month with brood in the hive. 2. by reinvasion. From collapsing hives in the neighbourhood. I also had problems with this 3 or 4 Years ago when a beekeeper less than 1 km apart from my colonies lost his 6 hives, that he all bought two year ago. He said that they brought a good honey crop , but they all died. He was not serious enough about monitoring and treating for varroa. Next year I had high number of mites. In an article of Imhof et al I found a diagram where they measured the reinvasion rate over one year. It is normaly relativ low but shows a peak in August. It can be as high as 300 mites per day. The autors state that this is caused by robbing and bees flying to a wrong hive. The most likely time for a collapse from varroa is late summer or autumn. Assume a colony has 500 mites in winter and starts breeding in march (my location). The bees increase their broodnest up to june to say 30000 brood cells. The mites have increased to 4000. This means that one of 8 cells is parasited, and the hatching bee will have a smaller lifespan. Frome june on the brood area gets steadily smaller until November, when we will find no brood in our colonies. Now assume that we have half the brood area in August, that means we have 15000 brood cells and 16000 mites. So roughly every broodcell contains a mite. Some cells are even parasized by more than one mite. If these bees do hatch they will have deformed wings or other defects. This colony is colapsing. The continued increase of the mite population and the reduced brood area of the bees in summer and fall make this time most dangerous for the colonies. And it are the strongest (most brood) colonies that die first! Every beekeeper that has his hives in a varroa area should monitor the population and treat accordingly. This is important. With Madelaine Pyms old chinese wisdom and the situation with my not serious enough neighouring bekeeper I was remindet to a word of one of my teachers: "Nobody is useless. At least he can serve as a bad example". Greetings Wolfgang Wolfgang Poehlmann Alte Schoeckinger Str.11 D-71282 Hemmingen ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 13:37:12 +0800 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Joel F. Magsaysay" Subject: a.florea, a. cerana, a. dorsata MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have received several private posts regarding our local bees and would like to share some information with BEE-L members. Apparently, even as they are "Asian" bees, they have patterns of behavior slightly different from their other Asian cousins. As far as we can tell: 1. I have found Apis florea in Palawan (which is southwest of Manila). This "discovery" (it was hitherto "undiscovered" by our local "experts") was reported to our local entomologists who are still scrounging around for funding to make an "official" discovery. It establishes feral nests in or around concentrated blooms in orchards during the flowering seasons. After orchard blooms (e.g., cashew, mango,citrus) it subsists on sporadic forest blooms through migration. 2. The successful culture of Apis cerana here is confined to localities with everblooming tree species such as the local "Pili" nut. They are prone to absconding and exhaust their energy on reproduction rather than production of honey. Dr. R.W.K. Punchihewa, a friend of mine who lives in Sri Lanka but might be teaching in Cornell, discovered that a. cerana foraged 400 meters from their nests. This being the case, it might be argued that their absconding might be controlled by feeding an/or continuous bloom within their foraging radius. In places where bloom is not continuous, they are unmanageable. We are currently trying to apply technology generously shared by Dr. Punchi, but have made little progress, we have not stopped trying though. No one knows for sure if our local a. cerana is "like" other a. cerana in Asia. Most cerana honey is hunted and is not a product of "culture". Average harvest is 300 to 500 grams of honey per year. 3. Apis dorsata has been savagely hunted for it's honey. Burning or smoking feral nests is the common practice. Introduction of more bee friendly techniques has gained little success because honey hunters get what they can when they can. We fear that, in some places, the local dorsata feral colonies have been hunted way past their natural capacity to regenerate. Average harvest is 12 to 17 kilograms of honey per year. A. dorsata also migrates following the local bloom patterns: from mangroves to cultivated orchards to deep in the rainforests. 4. We are starting to culture Trigona because it's nest is made of pure propolis. It also collects more pollen, relative to it's weight and size, than any other bee species we have studied or kept. We are also attempting to develop a "standard" hive for Trigona. 5. Meanwhile, our culture of a. mellifera provides our bread and butter, or should I say, rice and fish. Joel F. Magsaysay ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 16:17:57 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Musashi Subject: Re: Varroa collapse I know it's been mentioned before, but with all the current talk about Varroa, I haven't heard anyone talk much about inter-relationships between Varroa and bee viruses. As I was looking at Andy Nachbaur's web site, he has a link to a UK site where research on these relationships is presented. It is at http://www.res.bbsrc.ac.uk/entnem/research/chdpage1.htm The overview information I got from reading it is that inapparent viral infections can be activated by chemicals injected into the bees' blood when the mites feed on them and can result in a fatal infection within 5 days. The virus can also be transmitted between bees by the mites feeding on them. It appears that if your bees are a "carrier" of particular viruses that may not have any apparent affect on them, when you add Varroa it becomes a fatal mix. Of course, the higher the population of mites, the more rapidly the epidemic would spread. So it appears that you have a large combination of factors at work, including a fatal viral epidemic as well as weakened bees with a shorter life expectancy, so that at least in some cases, the demise of a hive can be quite dramatic and due to multiple cases, each exacerbating the others. I've heard bee viruses mentioned in conjuction with Varroa, but not recently. I thought this might be a good time to mention it again. I don't know any of this from first hand experience, just from what I've read and thought about. I have Varroa, I have lost hives, I'm still trying to figure it out through studying and experience, but my "visit" to the above Web site helped several things "fall into place" in my mind--like when to treat and why it's important to treat at those times. Layne Westover College Station, Texas ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 01:07:08 -0600 Reply-To: ktate@geocities.com Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Kathy Tate Subject: Pollen trap MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Does anyone know where I can find plans to build a pollen trap that fits on the front of a hive. I have one that goes between the bottom board and the hive body but it's really inconvenient if I want to move it to another hive. Thanks, Kathy Tate Stephenville, TX ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 17:52:57 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Al Needham Subject: Re: 5 gallon bucket as Skep? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Randy: >I have been thinking for several years about how to make beekeeping less >equipment intense, so that people in developing countries might benefit from >keeping bees. You are talking about Top Bar Hives, which are created from free junk and used in 'developing countries' and have been for years, if I am not mistaken. Everything you ever wanted to know about Top bar Hives is at: http://www.gsu.edu/~biojdsx/main.htm Marvelously created and illustrated by Jim Satterfield in the State of Georgia, USA Al Needham Scituate, MA.,USA Visit " The BeeHive " Learn About Honey Bees And Beekeeping http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 18:51:35 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Christopher Slade Subject: Re: Swarm attraction Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit The best swarm attractant is an old and smelly (disease free) brood comb - you don't need to spend money on artificial lures. Chris Slade ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 07:43:13 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: fw:gardstar for small hive beetle Comments: cc: tommozer@hotmail.com cross-posted from apis-l for enhanced information dissemination: Apis--Apicultural Information and Issues Florida Extension Beekeeping Newsletter Volume 17, Number 2, February 1999... GardStar. Labeled for Small Hive Beetle: I am in receipt of information that GardStar 40% EC, an emulsifiable concentrate containing 40% permethrin under EPA Reg. No. 39039-8, which has been registered in all 50 states for numerous pest control uses is now approved for for small hive beetle. It may be used any time of year as needed by sprinkler can application to the ground in front of bee hives and by low-pressure spray application to apiary grounds for pest cleanup prior to hive placement. The product is packaged in 4 fl. oz. bottles with a 15-ml self-dispensing chamber that is graduated in 2.5 ml increments for easy mixing. Permethrin is toxic to bees by contact and so care must be taken that colonies are not at risk during application. Again, as with all pesticides, the product must be used according to label instructions. ================================================================== Dr. Malcolm (Tom) Sanford, Extension Apiculturist, University of Florida Bldg. 970, P.O. Box 110620, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620 Ph. 352/392-1801 ext. 143 Fax 352/392-0190 E-mail: mts@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Publisher of the APIS newsletter: http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~mts/apishtm/apis.htm To electronically subscribe, send the following to listserv@lists.ufl.edu: subscribe Apis-L First Name Last Name ================================================================== ________________________________________________________________ Get secure free e-mail that you don't need Web access to use from Juno, the world's second largest online service. Download your free software at http://www.juno.com/getit.b.html. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 07:43:13 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: tomas mozer Subject: Re: Honey bees in the U.S. Comments: cc: tommozer@hotmail.com john, where did y'all find any documentation for the 1535 introduction? and who/what were the sources...my interest in this thread goes back now a couple of years (deja vu of adrian w. admonishing the rewriting of history), stemming from the same skepticism that afflicts us living along the santa fe/ old spanish mission trail (at the eastern terminus,st.augustine,fla.), and being somewhat fluent in spanish would love to someday study the origins of apis mellifera iberica in the americas (any grants available?)... so far, have traced this mention in the internet archives... from the "la apicultura en mexico"webpage[english translation]: http://www.netcall.com.mx/abejas/en/history.htm The History of the Beekeeping in Mexico: Journal Ciencia y Desarrollo (CONACYT) Num. 69 (julio, agosto 1986), Autor: J.M. Labougle, J.A.Zozaya. ...The introduction of the European bee in Mixico was not direct. The evidence indicates that the raised of the European bees known as A. mellifera, were introduced first in Florida towards the end of the XVII century when this Peninsula was a Spanish possession, for the puropose of finding some economic benefit, because the economic contribution of that place to the Empire was minimum or non-existent. The initial experiments with bees in Florida was unsuccessful; in the middle of the XVIII century on the Peninsula could only be found wild population of common bees. Nevertheless in 1764 colonies of A. mellifera from Florida were taken to Cuba. This activity was of great importance and it had a fast dispersion on the island. It is very likely that this was when the European bee A. mellifera was introduced to New Spain from Cuba, but there is not a well known document that could give the date of its incorporation. F.J. Clavijero in his document of the History of Mixico, writes about the presence of this bee in the country, and some indirect evidences suggest that this introduction took place by the end of the 1760's or at the beginning of the 1770's and only on the central region. ...In conclusion, it can be said that beekeeping activity in Mixico during the XVI,XVII and XVIII centuries, was concentrated in the meliponini beekeeping and it was after the XIX century that introduction and dispersion of of the common bee breed A. m. mellifera began to transform this activity, specially in the central region of the country. In fact modern beekeeping is based on the European bee, specially the breed of A. m. ligustica, and the beekeeping technology of mobil frames which was not initiated in Mixico until this century, was wide spread after the 1920's. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ________________________________________________________________ Get secure free e-mail that you don't need Web access to use from Juno, the world's second largest online service. Download your free software at http://www.juno.com/getit.b.html. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 13:50:46 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Warren Otto Subject: prairie fruit pollination MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am completing a fruit crop production course in the Prairie Horticulture Certificate (an excellent distance ed program BTW, for those living on the US and Canadain prairies) and am writing a paper on the pollination of prairie fruit crops. I have many web sites bookmarked and a number of research articles, but I thought that I ask the group for ideas on references. So as not to 'clog- up' the list, you can reply directly to me at w_otto@umanitoba.ca Thanx Warren Otto ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 13:01:01 -1000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "Thomas W. Culliney" Subject: Re: Honey bees in (what is now) the U.S. In-Reply-To: <99Mar2.091003hwt.49855(4)@elele.peacesat.hawaii.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Tue, 2 Mar 1999, John Edwards wrote: that Adrian Wenner wrote: > > > Apparently, the first United States honey bees arrived in the Virginia > > Colony in 1622 (a bit of research confirmed by Eva Crane in her volume, > > ARCHEOLOGY OF BEEKEEPING). By 1654 they had reached New England. Lee > > Watkins documented the arrival of bees in California, the first in 1853. > > Walter Sheppard published quite a complete account > > We (actually, Steve Buchmann) came up with about 1535 for the hbees landing in > Monterrey, Mexico... The first honey bees successfully introduced into Hawaii (3 hives from San Jose, California) arrived in Honolulu in October 1857. ************************************************************************* Tom Culliney Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry, 1428 South King St., Honolulu, HI 96814, U.S.A. E-mail: culliney@elele.peacesat.hawaii.edu Telephone: 808-973-9528 FAX: 808-973-9533 "To a rough approximation and setting aside vertebrate chauvinism, it can be said that essentially all organisms are insects."--R.M. May (1988) "Bugs are not going to inherit the earth. They own it now. So we might as well make peace with the landlord."--T. Eisner (1989) +nCvYylwv4 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 22:45:55 +0000 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: on trip in Chile Subject: Re: Pollen trap Comments: To: ktate@geocities.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit what about http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/ChiliPolVal.html unfortunaly in Dutch but pictures tells more than thousand words (hope so) greeting jan Kathy Tate wrote: > > Does anyone know where I can find plans to build a pollen trap that fits > on the front of a hive. -- Chile op http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/Chili.html -- Rotterdam------ 51.55 N, 4.29 E-------------- San Javier------ 35.36 S, 71.44 W-------Chile- -- http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index3.html Jan Tempelman mailto:jtemp@xs4all.nl -- ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 16:08:52 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Edwards Organization: Hayden Bee Lab, USDA-ARS,Tucson, Arizona Subject: Re: Pollen trap Comments: To: ktate@geocities.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Kathy Tate wrote: > Does anyone know where I can find plans to build a pollen trap that fits > on the front of a hive. > Kathy Tate > Stephenville, TX Yes - - Dr. Norbert Kauffeld developed a front-mounting trap during his work at Baton Rouge and Tucson. He is now retired, and can be reached at 1512 Brookhollow Dr. Baton Rouge, LA 70810-3522 I'm sure he would be glad to hear from people with an interest in his trap, but I'm reluctant to send out his phone number to the world. If you want a fast answer, I suppose you can call information. - John -- ----------------------------------------------------------- John F. Edwards Biological Lab. Technician "Feral Bee Tracker and AHB Identifier" Carl Hayden Bee Research Center 2000 E. Allen Road Tucson, Arizona 85719 Office: 520-670-6380, ext.110 Fax: 520-670-6493 Geog. location: 32.27495 N 110.9402 W Lab webpages: http://198.22.133.109/ http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/index.html http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/home/edwards/jephotos.htm ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 09:06:45 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: N.H./Vt Beekeeping Workshops (from Charles Andros) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT NH Beekeeping workshops (From Charles Frederic Andros) Charles Frederic Andros, former NH/VT Apiary Inspector, announces the following 4 beekeeping workshops for the upcoming beekeeping season. All workshops will be held at the Paul Harlow Farm on Route 5 in North Westminster, VT, 1/2 mile north of the I-91 Exit 5 ramp. Look for the "BEE" sign on the west side. Attendees should Bring a veil (if they have one), as they will be opening colonies. To register for any or all workshops: by email: lindena@sover.net or call 603-756-9056. * Saturday, April 17, workshop from 1-3 PM: Topic of discussion will be early spring management: locating apiaries, equipment, handling bees, feeding syrup and pollen supplements, mite treatments, making nuclei, reversing, and requeening. Rain date: April 18. * Saturday, May 15 workshop from 1-3 PM: Topics of discussion: finding queens, requeening and 2-queen colonies, pollen collection, swarm control, supering, and bee venom therapy. Rain date: May 16. * Saturday, July 24 workshop from 1-3 PM: "Tracheal and Varroa mites are notorious killers of bees in New England. American Foulbrood disease is on the increase as dead hives are being robbed. Beekeepers must take timely steps to control these pests to SAVE THE BEES! Topics of discussion will be taking off and extracting honey, wax processing, treatment of mites and foulbrood, and making propolis tincture. Rain date: July 25. * Saturday, October 2 workshop from 1-3 PM: Topics of discussion will include treatment of nosema and tracheal mites, winter preparations, winter protein and carbohydrate supplements, and making beeswax hand creams. Rain date: October 3. Thank you, Charles Andros Walpole, NH 03608-0165 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 09:53:10 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Apimondia anyone? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT There was a query posted last fall regarding Apimondia in Vancouver, specifically if any BEE-L members will be attending. I don't think many (if any) responded. Registration date for Apimondia is June 1. Although I have not yet registered, I plan to be there and would like to arrange a meet the faces behind BEE-L get together if folks are interested. If you're game, contact me personally and I'll see about setting up a mailing list so we can make plans in advance. Aaron Morris - thinking the only place to be 9/12-18 is Vancouver! ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 16:58:37 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Christopher Slade Subject: Re: Apidictor Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable Great news for those interested in the Woods Apidictor. I have before me = a letter from the distributors, Kimpton Brothers Ltd of London who write tha= t they have been inundated with orders and requests for information from all parts of the country. They go on to say that the machine is now virtually foolproof and it will = mean the nine day inspection will no longer cause beekeepers throughout the wor= ld to have to face additional labour charges or lose honey as a result of disturbing their bees and interrupting the Queen bee when she is busy layi= ng. The less good news that the letter contains notice of a price increase fro= m =A340 to =A350. The bad news is that the letter is dated 28th June 1965. Some people think that being a hoarder who never throws anything away is a fault but sometimes it can be a virtue. Chris Slade ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 20:43:06 -0800 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Paul Nicholson Subject: Re: a.florea, a. cerana, a. dorsata In-Reply-To: <199903032306.PAA07674@alto1.altonet.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 13:37 +0800 3/3/99, Joel F. Magsaysay wrote: [snip] >Apis florea [snip] subsists on sporadic forest >blooms through migration. [snip] >Apis cerana [snip] are prone >to absconding and exhaust their energy on reproduction rather than >production of honey. [snip] >A. dorsata also >migrates following the local bloom patterns: from mangroves to cultivated >orchards to deep in the rainforests. Thanks for your interesting information on the local Filipino honey bee species. In your previous post you had caught my attention with your statement, and this is from my memory so I may have it a bit wrong, to the effect that some of the local species resist varoa by their grooming habits. I can't help but wonder that they may resist varoa by their frequent absconding and migration. Have studies been made to ascertain that grooming is the mechanism, as opposed to leaving most of the mites behind with the unhatched larvae when the bees abscond or migrate? Respectfully, Paul ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 12:43:48 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Lori Quillen Subject: Information on Pollinators & Pesticides! Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hello Bee List! My name is Lori Quillen, and I am a SUNY graduate student that is interested in the effectiveness of pesticide label directions, and the people that do [or do not] enforce them. Should they be revised, enforced on a different level, or watch-dogged by a third party? I would really appreciate information/experiences that people in the beekeeping community have had with bee loss to negligent applicators. Do you live near large scale agriculture? Did they spray for mosquitoes or bud worms near your hives? Did major loss occur when renting pollination services? I searched five years of the Bee-L archives (whew!) and found some great information- but I'm sure there's more! It seems that in the last few years fewer & fewer papers are being published concerning bee loss to pesticides (it was a hot topic in the 70's). I am not convinced that it is no longer occurring. Ever since the scourge of the mites, almost nothing is written about bees & toxic chemical exposure. I really need anecdotal input from people that are most effected by this negligence. Also, any personal insight on native pollinator declines would be nice. Feel free to e-mail me direct. I have a multidisciplinary major in both in biological conservation & public policy. The audience for my finished product will be policy makers-- and I plan on publishing. Get your voice out there!!! I am totally willing to keep input anonymous, but it always helps to have real people behind gripes. Thanks for reading- and feel free to ship my e-mail address to anyone who might have any pertinent information. Lori Quillen 6 West Erie Street, APT 2 Albany NY 12208 cakefight9@aol.com OR lq7399@cnsvax.albany.edu Thanks!! ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 13:53:33 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: LESTER MARTENS Subject: Re: Information on Pollinators & Pesticides! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Lori, I am a director of the Saskacthewan Beekeepers Association and we are currently looking into the problem. Here in the Canadian prairies we have a bit of a problem when pollinating canola crops. Here all the applicators are registered but there is very little be taught about bees in their courses . We also see that most of the labels on the pesticide containers only give recommendations not firm guide lines. We hope to change these things. I would look forward to what you can find south of the border. -- SINCERELY, LESTER ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 16:36:42 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Martin Braunstein Subject: Re: Apimondia anyone? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Bee-Liners, I wish I could do it but I'll will not be able to attend the upcoming Apimondia Congress later this year. Sept. 12 to Sept. 18 is a bad date for us, Spring is chasing us. Thus it makes very difficult for Southern Hemisphere beekeepers to be present. Please imagine what would happen if Apimondia was held between March 12 to March 18 for you Northern Hemisphere beekeepers. How many of you would be willing to let your hives swarm, do not graft your future queens, etc.? Last Apimondia Congress was held in Belgium between Sept. 1 to Sept. 6, 1997. Off course that was a much better date. Therefore the Argentina delegation was one of the biggest ever. I hope next Apimondia meetings will be scheduled taking into account the respective busy seasons of both hemispheres. Otherwise, you and us will lose the chance to establish very productive "producer-level-contacts". I had proposed the Canadian organizers of this meeting to give a lecture regarding the impact of "high quality but low price Argentina honey exports" and to suggest a proactive approach to world trade so all beekeepers can have the chance of making more money with their honey. For some reason they refused to accept my proposal. You must also consider that along with Apimondia Congresses another "Congress" takes place...;-. Since 1983 the I.H.E.O (International Honey Exporters' Organization) has scheduled parallel meetings that gather the major honey exporting firms of Argentina, China, Canada, Australia, etc. These are the guys that dump the price of honey worldwide. This group that works as a CARTEL now has its headquarters in Argentina. Its secretary is Mr. Arno Meier, he is a German broker that owns and operates TIMES S.A. (one of the oldest honey exporting companies in Argentina). At the same time, the president of this group is Mr. Wayne Rumball of Canada. Every second year IHEO changes its headquarters. You can learn more about this group at one issue of the British bee magazine "Bee Biz" (July 1998). This low profile or ganization is so "low profile" that even if you read through the last 12 years issues of the American Bee Journal you shall not find any reference whatsoever to this esoteric and enigmatic group. Every month they publish a newsletter with "confidential trade information" covering all aspects of world honey trade. This exchange of information gives them a lot of power. This newsletter is faxed everywhere in the world. Thus it is not surprising how a few small organizations are able to reduce so dramatically the prices being paid to all producers. Paradoxically, according to Economics the kind of market that describes best the scenario where beekeepers and honey buyers interact, is not a market. It is an anomalous disrupted market know as OLIGOPSONY (= Purchasing power concentrated in a few hands and the sellers are dispersed without much communication among them). When you visit Apimondia, try to get invited to IHEO meeting. If you are invited (which I think will not happen) don't forget to say hello to Mr. Meier, Mr. Tuchel (Mexico) and Mr. Sapiano (United Kingdom) and Mr. Rumball (Canada). Please ask them why if China's honey crop in 1998 was disastrous (70% down) why the price of honey is so low. At the same time, when you will be trying to learn how to fight varroa, how to get more production at the different presentations, all IHEO members will be laughing at having great fun at your expense. If Apimondia is only a scientific and "apidologist" meeting I don't think it is worthwhile to waste your time going there. It may also serve the true and most important interest of beekeepers: to make a decent living by making the most money out of your honey. Cordially yours, Martin Braunstein Queen Breeder & Exporter Criador de Reinas y Exportador Malka Cabania Apicola e-mail: malka@webnet.com.ar Phone (54+11)4446-8350 Fax (54+2322)487564 ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 16:08:12 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: "P.K.Spencer" Subject: Vandalism MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I found a device several months ago that works very well for me. It operates on a DC power supply using infrared technology. It will detect any moving target expelling infrared (body heat) up to 30 meters. Triggering area lighting and an 80 to 110 db sounder. Mr. Bear found it extremely irritating and has not returned. The engineering group at Southern Security@southsec.com has the BeeSafe sensor. Drop them an e-mail. pkspenc@newwave.net ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 13:56:08 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Jerry J Bromenshenk Subject: Re: Information on Pollinators & Pesticides! In-Reply-To: <199903061749.KAA11470@selway.umt.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 12:43 PM 3/6/1999 EST, you wrote: Lori: First, my personal opinion is that many of the tests used to address pesticide hazards to bees for label registration are inadequate. People like L. Atkins and C. Johansen understood bees, understood the limitations of their tests, included replication, and worked for University's that mandated publication of results. More recently, much of the work done for label registration has been privatized. Those results are almost impossible to obtain unless you go through the Freedom of Information Act Route, and then you need to know the exact formulation - which is unlikely. Secondly, beekeepers used to be able to get some reimbursement for pesticide losses. That government program no longer exits. Thirdly, the beekeepers themselves used to make themselves heard in D.C. When I first started in the beekeeping arena, EPA and others paid attention to beekeeper needs. Now, in the U.S., the emphasis for protection of non-target species tends to be on birds (the kinds that hunters go after), not on bees. Why, because the regulatory agencies pay attention to issues should as chemical transfer to humans (eating ducks). They will pay attention to beekeeper interests, but only if the beekeepers remind them that agricultural chemicals are still a problem. I know from personal experience that if a beekeeper or group of beekeepers protest strongly, you will get attention from the regulatory agencies. If you don't continue to remind them of the importance of bees as pollinators and as producers of honey, wax, and other products, they will assume that the current label's are adequate. I can also verify that beekeeper input is heard. Because we do testing on bees in the context of chemical stressors, whenever a group of beekeepers makes a loud enough noise, I usually get a call (and I assume that my counterparts get calls) asking if the problem is real. And I always respond that pesticides, particularly certain formations, continue to impact beekeepers. Finally, I suspect that you are partially right about the mites. It is the hot issue at the moment. We have seen the "crisis" of the moment overshadow the continuing problems before. However, the beekeeper perspective probably varies depending on the type of beekeeper involved and the geographic area. From our work on the east coast, where small beekeepers abound, and where mites have only recently been "acknowledged", the mite problem commands attention. For our large commercial beekeepers in the Northwest, the mites hit many years ago, and the surviving beekeepers have been able to obtain some level of control through appropriate management practices. However, they continue to sustain losses from pesticide applications in orchards, truck gardens, and field crops (as they have for decades). These are harder to manage, because the beekeeper has little or no control over who sprays, what they use, or when. Cheers Jerry ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 13:36:23 -0700 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: BEE-L Passes 1000 Mark for First Time MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > ** Total number of "concealed" subscribers: 15 > *Total number of users subscribed to the list: 993 (non-concealed only) > * Total number of local node users on the list: 3 (non-concealed only) Yea! For many years BEE-L stayed around 700 at best. Since moderation began, the number has crept ever upward. Here's to 10,000 next year:) Allen ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 20:50:40 -0600 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Martin Braunstein Subject: Honey prices down, why? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Bee-Liners, The U.S. consumes approximately 350 million pounds of honey per year. The U.S. produces approximately 190 million pounds. That gives you a 160 million pound deficit. China can ship approximately 45 million pounds according to your agreement. This leaves 145 million pounds of honey that you need from other sources (like Argentina). As you may be aware Argentina has shipped over 94 million pounds during 1997 to the U.S. O.K, where do we go from hear? We have learned in recent years that our markets can handle $1 per pound to the producer. We must figure out how Argentineans can make more money on their honey and not depress prices in the U.S. Depressed prices in the U.S. will depress prices in Argentina and viceversa. Are we in agreement? I am almost certain where our problem lies. Our honey exporters (I.H.E.O) are telling us that we must sell our honey cheaper so that it may be sold in the U.S. I believe that your importers (NHPDA) are making all the money and driving prices down with their greed. Since the exporter/importer has such a large profit margin, he can continue to offer our honey from Argentina at lower and lower prices. Even to the point that Argentina honey has replaced U.S. honey. U.S. producers must sell their honey so they will match Argentina prices. The market continues to drop and beekeepers suffer. What can we do? I think that I have the answer. Argentina producers can demand more for their honey. Why not 85 cents per pound. Add freight, duties, and commissions and the prices will be around $1 in the U.S. We can all be happy with $0.85-$1.00 per pound for honey. If large US beekeepers decide to get together and import Argentina honey, we may avoid our traditional exporters and your honey buyers (NHPDA) will lose power because they will not find any honey. In other words, large Argentine beekeepers get more money for their honey because they sell directly to US honey producers. This way neither Burleson nor Gamber nor anyone will be able to put more pressure on you because the market will be "honeyless". One more thought. China will be back in the market soon. They will sell their maximum. We would rather sell 45 million pounds at $0.70 to $0.85 than to sell 77 million pounds at $0.30 Cordially yours, Martin Braunstein Queen Breeder & Exporter Criador de Reinas y Exportador Malka Cabania Apicola e-mail: malka@webnet.com.ar Phone (54+11)4446-8350 Fax (54+2322)487564 ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 09:49:38 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Al Needham Subject: Shades Of This Years Outlook ? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Article from Texas: Bee Shortage Decried - (College Station) -- Nothing's buzzing in the state's beehives .. and that worries the Texas A-and-M Extension Service. The legislature is being asked for an emergency appropriation of one-point-four-MILLION dollars to replenish a drop in the state's hineybee population. Officials say about 90-percent of the state's wild honey bees left to pollinate crops. Any comment from our Texan beekeepers on this ? Al Needham ............................................................................ ........ Scituate, MA.,USA Visit " The BeeHive " Learn About Honey Bees And Beekeeping http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 21:51:31 -0000 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Burgess Subject: Welsh Beekeeping Convention MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I would like to extend an invitation to all beekeepers to attend this convention, to be held on Saturday, March 27, at the Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, Powys, Wales. The guest lecturers are: Prof Robert Pickard of the British Nutrition Foundation (formerly of Cardiff University), speaking on "Being a Bee", and Dr. T Hefin Jones of the Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College, speaking on "Using Parasitoid Wasps in Biological Control". Many traders will be present offering beekeeping equipment at bargain prices, and there will be demonstrations throughout the day. For more information contact Tom Rowlands on 01248 712652 (UK), or E-mail me, John Burgess, Editor Gwenynwyr Cymru/The Welsh Beekeeper pencaemawr@bigfoot.com We look forward to seeing you. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 14:34:55 PST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Thomas Reeves Subject: Re: Apimondia anyone? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain Dear Bee-Liners, I wish I could do it but I'll will not be able to attend the upcoming Apimondia Congress later this year. Sept. 12 to Sept. 18 is a bad date for us, Spring is chasing us. Thus it makes very difficult for Southern Hemisphere beekeepers to be present. Please imagine what would happen if Apimondia was held between March 12 to March 18 for you Northern Hemisphere beekeepers. How many of you would be willing to let your hives swarm, do not graft your future queens, etc.? Last Apimondia Congress was held in Belgium between Sept. 1 to Sept. 6, 1997. Off course that was a much better date. Therefore the Argentina delegation was one of the biggest ever. I hope next Apimondia meetings will be scheduled taking into account the respective busy seasons of both hemispheres. Otherwise, you and us will lose the chance to establish very productive "producer-level-contacts". I had proposed the Canadian organizers of this meeting to give a lecture regarding the impact of "high quality but low price Argentina honey exports" and to suggest a proactive approach to world trade so all beekeepers can have the chance of making more money with their honey. For some reason they refused to accept my proposal. You must also consider that along with Apimondia Congresses another "Congress" takes place...;-. Since 1983 the I.H.E.O (International Honey Exporters' Organization) has scheduled parallel meetings that gather the major honey exporting firms of Argentina, China, Canada, Australia, etc. These are the guys that dump the price of honey worldwide. This group that works as a CARTEL now has its headquarters in Argentina. Its secretary is Mr. Arno Meier, he is a German broker that owns and operates TIMES S.A. (one of the oldest honey exporting companies in Argentina). At the same time, the president of this group is Mr. Wayne Rumball of Canada. Every second year IHEO changes its headquarters. You can learn more about this group at one issue of the British bee magazine "Bee Biz" (July 1998). This low profile or ganization is so "low profile" that even if you read through the last 12 years issues of the American Bee Journal you shall not find any reference whatsoever to this esoteric and enigmatic group. Every month they publish a newsletter with "confidential trade information" covering all aspects of world honey trade. This exchange of information gives them a lot of power. This newsletter is faxed everywhere in the world. Thus it is not surprising how a few small organizations are able to reduce so dramatically the prices being paid to all producers. Paradoxically, according to Economics the kind of market that describes best the scenario where beekeepers and honey buyers interact, is not a market. It is an anomalous disrupted market know as OLIGOPSONY (= Purchasing power concentrated in a few hands and the sellers are dispersed without much communication among them). When you visit Apimondia, try to get invited to IHEO meeting. If you are invited (which I think will not happen) don't forget to say hello to Mr. Meier, Mr. Tuchel (Mexico) and Mr. Sapiano (United Kingdom) and Mr. Rumball (Canada). Please ask them why if China's honey crop in 1998 was disastrous (70% down) why the price of honey is so low. At the same time, when you will be trying to learn how to fight varroa, how to get more production at the different presentations, all IHEO members will be laughing at having great fun at your expense. If Apimondia is only a scientific and "apidologist" meeting I don't think it is worthwhile to waste your time going there. It may also serve the true and most important interest of beekeepers: to make a decent living by making the most money out of your honey. Cordially yours, Martin Braunstein Queen Breeder & Exporter Criador de Reinas y Exportador Malka Cabania Apicola e-mail: malka@webnet.com.ar Phone (54+11)4446-8350 Fax (54+2322)487564 ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 19:07:20 -0600 Reply-To: boby@lakecountry.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Bob Young Subject: Feeding in tbh MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am going to build a top bar hive for this season; I was wondering if anyone with experience could give advice as how to feed bees in tb hives. I use wood box feeders on my Langstroths and was thinking about adapting one to use on the tbh. If I do this could I just pull out one bar on the end of the hive to give them access to the feeder which would be over that part of the hive? I suppose I will cut thin grooves on the sides of the bars so I can insert Apistan strips. Any help appreciated. Bob Young Lindale,TX ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 22:32:11 EST Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: David Green Subject: Re: Shades Of This Years Outlook ? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit In a message dated 3/6/99 6:40:08 PM Eastern Standard Time, alwine@XENSEI.COM writes: > Bee Shortage Decried - (College Station) -- Nothing's buzzing in the state's > beehives .. and that worries the Texas A-and-M Extension Service. The > legislature is being asked for an emergency appropriation of > one-point-four-MILLION dollars to replenish a drop in the state's hineybee > population. Officials say about 90-percent of the state's wild honey bees > left to pollinate crops. > > Any comment from our Texan beekeepers on this ? I guess I'm not a Texas beekeeper, but, on a trip across Texas, I stopped at four rural western county extension offices, asking for information on beekeeping in Texas. The only thing any of them could find was a publication on how to kill carpenter bees, which are valuable pollinators in themselves. So I can't give very high marks to their extension beekeeping section. Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html The Pollination Home Page: http://www.pollinator.com Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles) http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 00:30:38 -0700 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: T'N'T Apiaries Subject: Re: Apimondia anyone? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >Sept. 12 to Sept. 18 is a bad date for us, Spring is chasing us. I don't think a perfect time exists for Apimondia. Many of us in Canada are worried that we won't have things wound down enough to attend, but any later would likely have eliminated much of the opportunity for tours and really cut into the southern season. The Belgium dates were out of the question for most operations here, as we usually haven't come up for air by that time. The middle of March sounds great up here as there is usually a couple of feet of snow left to go. Our friends in the Southern US however are already hard at it. See what I mean. >For some reason they refused to accept my proposal. I hope that one of the organizers has taken time to address you directly, but I don't think your topic fit into the theme of the Conference. I know they had quite a number of individuals wishing to speak and unfortunately you must set some kind of criteria. I am not saying your topic is not worthy of discussion, but delegates are already forced into making a number of choices as what sessions they can attend. >Please ask them why if China's honey crop in 1998 was >disastrous >(70% down) why the price of honey is so low. Already asked Mr. Rumball's firm and other buyers that question. The answer we get: Argentinian beekeepers had a bumper crop and are giving it away again. When the Argentine product came on stream, prices which had already been sliding in anticipation, dropped another $.05 US almost overnight. You're right that eventually we have to match it, but how do your exporters get so much cheap honey in the first place? The majority of your producers must be happy with the prices they recieve or they would organize and bypass the exporters/importers. Waiting for Spring David Tharle Ardmore, AB ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 12:18:14 -0500 Reply-To: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: John Wilkerson Subject: Feeding in tbh MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Bob Wrote: feed bees in tb hives. I keep a couple of TBH in my back yard and find that an entrance feeder works very well. The enterance to my hives are on one end of the box and I have a movable partition that allows me to change hive volume depending on the number of frames I am trying to work. It would be very easy to modify the movable partition to allow access to an internal feeder that could hold more than one quart jar. If my feeder jar runs dry I simple replace it. The ease of working in my back yard. I have never used L hives so can't directly comment on the feeder you want to modify. But be sure you have good closure on the top bars or the bees will fill the space with proplis or start to make their comb at 90 degree angles. You have to keep the edges of the top bars scraped clean or the bee space starts to widen and they began to double build the comb. There is no need to grove the top bars for Aspistan stips. Being you will be placing the stips in the brood section of the hive, the comb will already be built and you should not have difficulty with stray comb. You will have extra proplis to remove but that is the nature of a TBH. Note: The angle on the sides of my hives is 15 degrees. john ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 20:58:04 -0600 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: pollen substitute MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, i was wondering if anyone is/has mixed pollen substitute with their sugar water? if so what ratio? also i have been putting a pail feeder in a tree several hundred feet from my hives does anybody think that this will encourage robbing from my other hives?? i am at work during the day and can't tell if any hives are getting robbed? ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 17:47:16 -0800 Reply-To: JamesCBach Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: JamesCBach Subject: 5 gallon bucket as skep MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Here are some thoughts for your consideration. Five gallon buckets have been used as baited hives to catch swarms and I've seen the bees quite fill a bucket with comb in four weeks. The comb was of course built on many different angles, and attached to the bucket in many places just as one might expect. However maybe, 1. A 5 gallon bucket, with wire and wood handle, could be made into a top bar hive by: a. cutting an bee entrance hole in the bottom of the bucket, or in the side of the bucket just above the bottom, and perpendicular to the frames, b. cutting top ventilation holes under the double rim at the top of the bucket c. hot gluing, or pop riveting frame rests into the inside of the bucket at the proper location down from the top lip, d. top bars would be as long as permitted by the diameter of the bucket, e. top bar ends would be curved to fit the radius of the bucket, and rest on the frame rest, f. the lid edge could be cut at each notch to make lid removal easy, and access to the frames, g. the frame top bars could be notched on the sides to allow treatment with Apistan, h. if the frame top bars are placed low enough and the spacing between sides of the top bars and the bucket were wide enough, perhaps menthol packets could be used at the top of a single story bucket, i. or perhaps another bucket could be cut so that its top with lid could fit down over the top of the bottom bucket (with lid removed), to act like a spacer rim so that the menthol packet could be placed on the top bars of the bottom bucket and allow for air movement around the packet. 2. Frame top bars could be cut to receive a starter strip of foundation, 3. A lady here who spent two years in the Peace Corps in Nepal had what I'd call an excellent idea. The beekeepers there were using top bars in trapezoid shaped mud hives, like the Kenyan top bar hive. She suggested the idea that a "T" be cut in from each end, and in the center, of the top bar. The "T" would be cut with their top cross bars toward the end of the top bar like: I----- -----I. A strip of bamboo is cut the width of the top bar less a bee space (the width equals the length of the long part of the "T"), and long enough to form a bottom bar extending from one end of the top bar down to the bottom of the top bar hive (or five gallon bucket) and up through the "T" in the other end of the top bar. The bamboo strip had a square notch cut into both edges close to each end. The wood between the notches would be the width of the top of the "T." The length of the notches would be the thickness of the top bar. The bottom bar strip was then inserted up into the long part of the "T" then twisted to hang into the top of the "T" in one end of the top bar, then twisted to insert the other end into the "T" in the other end of the top bar in the same manner. The bottom bar would hang into the top of the "T" in each end of the top bar and would hang down as far as the depth of the hive, or bucket. The bees would build comb from the starter strip and complete the comb attaching it to the bamboo bottom bar. She said this trick made the top bar frame much easier to handle without breaking combs off with inappropriate handling. 4. Perhaps a second bucket could be added to the top of the first by removing most of the center of its bottom, and most of the center of a lid. Place the open center lid on the bottom bucket. Place the solid lid and the second bucket, with the center of its bottom removed, into the lid of the bottom bucket. Of course, bee space would need to be provided between the top bars of the first bucket so that bees could get up into the top bucket (super bucket). In wet climates, some attention might be needed to the way the top bucket "nests" into the rim of the lid on the bottom bucket. Capillary action may cause rain running down the side of the top bucket to get into the bottom bucket. Of course, I don't know whether these ideas would work well. This is just a brain storm. But in developing countries where bee colonies are smaller than in the US, it might be worth trying. Or some brave soul may wish to "experiment" just to see how bees would respond to such an arrangement. James C. Bach jbach@agr.wa.gov jcbach@yvn.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 19:01:17 -0600 Reply-To: boby@lakecountry.net Sender: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology From: Bob Young Subject: Re: Feeding in tbh Comments: cc: Teri Walker-Meadow MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: John Wilkerson > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Feeding in tbh > Date: Sunday, March 07, 1999 11:18 AM > John: Thanks for the info on feeding in tbh and concerning the Apistan placement. I noticed you said your side angles were 15 degrees. Do you have any problems with side comb attachment? I was going to do 60 degrees (as in a Kenya hive) with 20 inch long top bars.30 bars 1 3/8 in. wide. I was going to put the entrance in the middle of one side. This looked to be close to the dimensions of one hive I saw on the web, this particular hive even had a glass window on one side that could be covered when not inspecting. I might try that too! Any comments would be appreciated, I've got to get the sawdust flying soon, the package bees are coming April 1! thanks, Bob