From LISTSERV@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU Mon Jun 30 09:23:29 1997 Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 09:14:51 -0400 From: "L-Soft list server at University at Albany (1.8c)" To: Adam Finkelstein Subject: File: "BEE-L LOG9705A" ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 22:21:21 -0600 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Begging and Bullying In-Reply-To: <19970430.134043.3422.2.awneedham@juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > Many of you are not going to like what I have to say... No, and I'll bet tomorrow we'll have another twenty or so subscribers on Best of Bee, since such abusive posts are not repeated there, nor are emotional appeals for money -- unless for information purposes and they are also accompanied by more balanced comments. I hate to see begging on this list - whether for one's self or for others. I also value free speech and therefore have let it ride thus far - until I hear abuse being heaped upon people who came here to hear about bees, not appeals for cash. I think it is anyone's personal business to choose his or her own charities and I imagine we all have our priorities. IMO A Bee list is no place for bullying people for money. There is no shortage of good causes to be found. When I turn on my TV, I hear about the people of North Dakota and Minnesota and Manitoba who are losing everything they own. Worldwide there are many people who need help desperately just to live another day. Closer to home, a neighbour of ours lost 6,000 chickens to flooding, and I personally just lost about 40 hives of bees to floods (No, don't send money). I appreciate the people who decided that they wanted to send money to Gary, I also appreciate those who didn't. We all contribute in our own way to the causes that we can, and I don't think anyone has the right to judge. Let's get back to the bees. Allen ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 22:25:31 -0600 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Repost: Best of Bee MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT How to get on Best of bee: Send email to LISTSERV@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU saying SET BEE-L NOMAIL, and at the same time send email to HoneyBee@systronix.net, saying JOIN BESTOFBEE you@whatever.com (where 'you@whatever.com' is your the email address to which you want the list to be sent). Subscribing to Best of Bee will bring you only selected and edited posts from BEE-L. This is a reduction of 10 to 90% in mail flow (about 90% in recent days). This option is best suited to experienced or professional beekeepers who wish to avoid very basic discussions and chatter, but still track what is happening on BEE-L. There are currently 208 subscribers to Best of Bee. For more information, send email to bees@systronix.net, saying SEND BESTBEE in the subject line. You will receive a text file in return. For those who want to know more about the selection and editorial policies of Best of Bee, send email to bees@systronix.net, saying SEND CRITERIA in the subject line. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 00:25:19 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Gary Ford Contributions >So do your math! That totals 6 people who gave a total of $75.00. Subtract that from $235.00 and you get $160.00. Assuming that the balance of contributions were no more than $5.00....that would mean $160 divided by $5.00 equals 32 other folks who contributed out of over 700 of you.> CORRECTION: I just heard from someone who I was certain donated $5.00.....ONLY THING IS HE DONATED $25.00. So you can reduce the 32 contributors to 28 out of 700 plus. This List is meaner than I thought ! That's an approximate 4 % of you who do not consider a fellow Beekeeper to be worth a couple of one pound jars of honey and/or want to keep sucking up great advice from the List at no cost to yourself ! Perhaps, Dave Green would be so kind as to post that address ( or Gary's), in case my tirade just happens to jostle your conscience... Al, Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 08:15:22 +0200 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ljubisa Stanisavljevic Subject: Osmia Bees for Pollination Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii" Hi all interests for Osmia bees as alternative pollinators, I am a Ph.D. student in the laboratory of Prof. Krunic's where, among other things I work on biology, management and utilization of Osmia cornuta and O. rufa in pollination of various plants (apple, almond, pear, apricot ...). This laboratory has devel Our investigation present that enough about 50-100 females O. cornuta or O. rufa per ha in our orchards, for full pollination. We have very good results of pollination in strawberry and raspberry in greenhouses. Research this year will be focused on po I would be very grateful to get your papers dealing with management and utilization of other bees as pollinators. Exchange desired! Best wishes, ffff,0000,0000Ljubisa Z. Stanisavljevic 0000,0000,ffffInstitute of Zoology Faculty of Biology University of Belgrade ffff,0000,ffffStudentski trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, YUGOSLAVIA Fax: ++381 11 638 500 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 23:21:41 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul Cronshaw, D.C." Subject: Re: Bee Removal In-Reply-To: <199704290423.VAA23354@beach.silcom.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" TEd Wout wrote: <> I too would love to take on this project. I have 3 bee removal jobs in progress: 2 in the same oak tree and one in a wall entering thru an old pipe vent. All using the using cone/bait technique. So plug up the entrances U have you thought of the Spray insulation stuff??) and leave one for the cone method. 6-8 weeks for this capture method. Paul Cronshaw, D.C. Cyberchiro and Hobby Beekeeper Santa Barbara, CA USA ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 06:32:45 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Paul Basehore Subject: Re: Gary Ford Contributions Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Al, I am sorry to hear of anyones misfortune especially with bees. Being a subscriber of BEE-L for less than 10 days I didnt know of this disaster. Even so I would be more than willing to donate to a beekeeper of ill fortune. Please let me know where I can send it to. I've always felt the need to help someone who has fallen on the slippery road of life because there may come a time when each of us might need a hand up not a hand out. Thank You At 09:52 PM 4/30/97 EDT, you wrote: >Many of you are not going to like what I have to say and I >really don't care what you think, but the more I think about >it, the stronger my feelings about what a >cheap mean >bunch< many of you are. A few over 700 List Members >at the time of this event! > >I am recalling the story of Gary Ford and his $20,000 loss. A >young man trying to start out in commercial beekeeping who >had his hives destroyed by some idiots driving a four wheel >drive and who then tossed diesel fuel over what was left. > >Let me just state some facts to justify my opinion! > >Dave Green reported a little while back that the >cash contributions amounted to $235.00.(See Below). >I gave $5.00. I recently met a fellow beekeeper in my >travels who donated $50.00. I know of about four other >members of this List who gave $5.00. > >So do your math! That totals 6 people who gave a total >of $75.00. Subtract that from $235.00 and you get $160.00. > >Assuming that the balance of contributions were no more >than $5.00....that would mean $160 divided by $5.00 equals >32 other folks who contributed out of over 700 of you. A >cheap bunch in my opinion! I hope that I am never >drowning and some of you are standing on the shore. I >might just as well swallow sea water and get it over with >before I wasted my breath hollering for help from many >of you! > >Even if each of you contributed $5.00 I wouldn't consider >some $3500 a money making scheme when you consider >Gary is out $20,000 ! > >Some of my $5.00 was spent by Gary's wife to send me a >personal note of thanks! > >Think about it !!!! You are enjoying some WORLD CLASS >FREE ADVICE on this List and you can't even contribute >the equal of a couple of jars of honey to try and help out >a fellow beekeeper.... a young man with a family trying his >best to make it ! > >Do you get that I am damn Peed Off. YOU ARE CORRECT! >I hope that those of you who didn't contribute never experience >the disaster that hit Gary. So much for your feelings for your >fellow man or woman beekeeper! > >One member of this List (who shall remain anonymous) thinks >that most of you are "Grumpy Old Men". He is being kind! > >I have said my peace and I can take the heat if you have the guts >to throw it my way! > >---------------- Qoute of Dave Green's Message >Below----------------------------------- > > Gary and I want to thank each of you who helped to encourage Gary by >your >generous gifts. About 235 dollars was received and some bees and brood >were >also given, so he has gotten close to $400 in aid. > > All your snail mail notes and copies of the e-mail comments were also >turned over to him. He will be in contact with many of you, as soon as >he >can, though some gave anonymously, so he cannot. > > Gary was much encouraged by your evidence that there are a lot of >caring >people in the world yet. He is back in New York right now, preparing an >old >truck which he will bring to get the bees he still has. I am glad he's >not >going to try to truck bees in the old school bus. There is no way to get >adequate ventilation. > > I looked at some of his nucs yesterday, and they are doing very well. > He >hopes to split again, and I think he'll be using the contributions for >queens. He should have enough brood to make some more hives up. >Frankly, I >am surprised (pleasantly) to see how well these nucs are drawing >foundation. > He could even have a little honey to harvest before he leaves South >Carolina. > > I had delayed this note, in hopes that I would have some good news on >the >police investigation, but I have been unable to get any information, so >that >item will have to wait. > > Thank you again, good folks! > >Dave Green >-------------------------End Of Quoted >Message------------------------------------------------------ > >By the way....Terry Ford said in her note of thanks to me that they are >using the >money to buy nucs. > >Al, > >Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com >Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program >Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: >http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ > ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 07:56:02 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Augustus C. Skamarycz" Subject: Re: Aggressive Hive Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 11:38 PM 4/30/97 EDT, you wrote: >Howdy All! > >I have 4 hives, and have been trying to work them recently without the >aid of a smoker. I usually do this only on sunny days, in mid afternoon >(1-3 PM). Three of the hives usually do well with this method. If I >work slowly, only the occasional bee will rush to my glove and check me >out and rarely will I get stung. ONE hive, however, when opened, >IMMEDIATELY reacts by sending 20-30 bees out and stinging like crazy! >When my hand *slowly* approaches the top of the box to lift out a frame, >the bees just jump up to my hand and immediately begin stinging and >quickly move to my chest and arms where I am stung through my coveralls. >Is this behavior to be blamed on the queen? She is a new queen, placed >in that hive last fall. They overwintered well, and are raising lots of >new brood. Will requeening this fall solve the problem? > >Curiously, > >Steve Creasy- (\ >Maryville, Tennessee USA {|||8- >Proverbs 24:13, 25:16 (/ >screasy@juno.com > >Steve, The three most uesful bee equipment are the smoker, the vail, and the hive tool. The gloves are just a security blanket and contain the odors of past stings. If any piece of equipment is not used it should be the gloves. You always should have the smoker going, if you don't want to use it its up to you, however if needed you have it available. Give a few puffs at the entrance and a few under the top cover and wait a few moments. Then you can inspect for what you want. Remember every time you go into the bees it takes them 48 hours to get back to the harmony of the before you inspected. Gus Skamarycz ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 07:59:34 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John Wolford Subject: Requeening MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Could anyone give me some insight on how to introduce a new queen to a colony? I am a second year bee keeper. Do I have to find the old queen and destroy her before the introduction? John M. Wolford jmwolford@kih.net ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 07:14:30 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Frog Pond Farm Organization: Frog Pond Farm Subject: Re: Gary Ford Contributions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > I have said my peace and I can take the heat if you have the guts > to throw it my way! How DARE you presume to decide where other people should spend the money they've available for charitable causes! Not knowing what each of us has in the way of available finances, and not knowing what we are doing with that money, makes your tirade not only presumptuous but ignorant. I personally know of one member on this list who regularly gives in excess of 20% of her income to the various charitable organizations with which she is involved. But I suppose that failing to secure your approval of those causes makes her "cheap and mean." Sandy @ Frog Pond Farm who will be switching to Best of Bee ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 08:33:17 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John Wolford Subject: Re: Gary Ford Contributions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Folks, its time to move on. ---------- > From: Frog Pond Farm > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Gary Ford Contributions > Date: Thursday, May 01, 1997 8:14 AM > > > I have said my peace and I can take the heat if you have the guts > > to throw it my way! > > How DARE you presume to decide where other people should spend the > money they've available for charitable causes! > > Not knowing what each of us has in the way of available finances, and > not knowing what we are doing with that money, makes your tirade not > only presumptuous but ignorant. > > I personally know of one member on this list who regularly gives in > excess of 20% of her income to the various charitable organizations > with which she is involved. But I suppose that failing to secure your > approval of those causes makes her "cheap and mean." > > Sandy @ Frog Pond Farm > who will be switching to Best of Bee ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 12:42:37 UT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Garry Libby Subject: Re: Gary Ford Contributions You've done one good thing Al,You've sent all the cheapskates to Best of Bee-L Garry Libby Boston,USA ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 07:54:14 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eric Abell Subject: Re: BEES-cleaning old plastic foundation Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 11:56 PM 28/04/97 -0600, you wrote: >I "inherited" lots of used bee equipment. The old frames I have burned. >But mixed in amongst them were a few plastic foundations/frames. Can I >clean this up sufficiently to use them? How? > This sounds like a nice 'inheeritance'. I am wondering why you burned the frames. Sure you can clean up the plastic stuff. It is likely you could have used the wooden stuff as well but it would help is you could describe them. Good luck with this venture. Eric > > >Judy, A Displaced Texan in PA >IRON ACRES: Where the water is red & the grass is green! > > Eric Abell Gibbons, Alberta Canada T0A 1N0 Ph/fax (403) 998 3143 eabell@compusmart.ab.ca ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 22:31:30 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Mike High Subject: Re: Gary Ford Contributions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Gee, I'm REAL sorry that some of us (most of us?) didn't contribute. Sure, I feel sorry for Gary, but lets differentiate here, he was trying to set up a COMMERCIAL operation. A good many of us are hobbyists. If Gary had lost his back-yard pass-time, I think the money recieved would have more than been enough to set him back up. But since he was starting a business, I'm REAL SORRY that we didn't get him all fixed up. I guess he never heard of insurance, huh? Most people have. Also let me say I dont usually get asked to help rebuild business when the are destroyed. I happen to enjoy the hell out of my local hardware store & I am good friends with its owner. But if someone burnt the place down, I'd hardly expect him to go about asking donations from his friends to rebuild. You might well be "peed off" but most of us are working pretty hard to keep food on the tables & a roof over our heads. I can't speak for ALL, but I just dont have anything to give. As far as the world class advice, last time I looked, it was FREE, if anyone wishes to charge for it, I'm afraid they're on the wrong list. I just re-subscribed to this list last month, hoping some of the rediculous, non- beekeeping topics were gone. Silly me. I guess I'll just re-un-subscribe. To all I've talked with ITELLEGENTLY on here, I'll miss you. To those who insist on using this list as a crying towel, to hell with you..... Mike ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 07:13:42 +0100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Sid Pullinger Subject: Bees and Water Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Help wanted. Calling all experts. . Has anyone successfully tackled the problem of bees ignoring the water supply in the apiary and going instead to a neighbour's pond? Although I keep a supply in the apiary all the year round (bees here collect water as early as January) many of my bees prefer my pond some forty yards away. Luckily I have no near neighbours to worry about. An acquaintance has just come to me with this problem. His neighbour is at present sympathetic but is worried about his children getting stung and is expecting the beekeeper to work a miracle and stop all the bees from visiting the pond. The bees have a supply well laid out and warmed by the sun in the apiary. Is there any way in which the apiary supply can be made very attractive or, alternatively, the pond supply made unattractive (there are no fish to worry about)? It is a situation which arises every year but I have never been faced with it and do not know the answer. If I can get a number of replies, helpful or otherwise, I can at least print them out for passing to the neighbour to show that we have taken the matter seriously and consulted beekeepers from all over the world. Sid P. _________________________________________________________________ Sid Pullinger Email : sidpul@Interalpha.co.uk or 36, Grange Rd Sidpul@compuserve.com Alresford Hants SO24 9HF England ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 10:10:32 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: RICHARD E BONNEY Subject: Tbe birds and the bees MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Has anyone had any experience with honey bees harrassing birds in and around bird nesting boxes? I have had a situation described to me where this is happening. The nesting boxes are placed to encourage bluebirds and tree swallows in the cranberry bogs. The problem arises when the bees are brought in for pollination. The bees were seen to be harrassing the birds. Then later the nestlings were found dead in the boxes. At least some of the dead nestlings had small red lesions on them. Unfortunately, the person reporting this to me is neither a beekeeper or an ornithologist. I hope to get to the bogs this year while the pollinators are in and see for myself. I have heard from one beekeeper who says he has heard casually that bees do harrass bluebirds. Anyone else know anything. Regards Dick Bonney rebon@ent.umass.edu ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 10:32:01 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: Gary Ford Contributions On Wed, 30 Apr 1997 22:31:30 -0400 Mike High writes: >To those who insist on using this list as a crying towel, to hell >with you..... > Mike So be it..to those who wish to give me " hell " or who want Gary Ford's home address, please address your message to me privately! As one member recently said..."Let's return to Bees". Al, Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 10:30:39 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tim Damon Subject: Hive Paint/Stain MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Please excuse me as I believe that this was topic of recent discussion. However I do not recall the details of that discussion. Today I was able to purchase a quantify of mistinted Thompson's House & Deck Stain/Waterproofer at a very good price ($1.00 per gal.). Any thoughts about using this on new equipment. It is oil base. Thanks, Tim Damon Ann Arbor, MI - USA ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 07:56:10 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: adony melathopoulos Subject: Re: Requeening Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 07:59 AM 5/1/97 -0400, you wrote: >Could anyone give me some insight on how to introduce a new queen to a >colony? I am a second year bee keeper. > >Do I have to find the old queen and destroy her before the introduction? John, here is an article I wrote on the subject for my bee club. Please keep in mind I am not more than a hobby beekeeper, and I may be missing some facts. This should be able to get you going though. The queen in a honey bee colony to a large extent determines how a colony performs. Without a queen the workforce in a colony will dwindle in number, loose cohesion, and unless a replacement queen appears, ultimately perish. In addition, the genetic make-up of queens by in large determines many worker characters, including aggressiveness, honey production, and disease resistance. Consequently, knowing when and how to replace a queen can significantly improve a colony's performance. There are 3 main reasons why a beekeeper might want to requeen a colony : 1) replace an old and failing queen, 2) provide a queen to a queenless colony, and 3) improve some characteristic of a colony by introducing a particular breed of queen. 1) Replacing a failing queen Queens do not last forever. How old is too old for a queen? Although queens may ultimately live a long time, signs of age begin to show following their first year of heading a colony. Characteristics of aged queens include reduced acceptance by workers, severe damage to body parts especially feet, and depletion of sperm stores (queens mate only once in life and when sperm stores are depleted there is no opportunities to replenish the supply). Minnesota honey bee researchers report that colonies headed by queens older than 16 months of age supersede their queens more frequently than colonies headed by younger queens. The timing of queen deterioration, however, is likely influenced by external conditions. Colonies that experience long and/or intense foraging seasons and furious demands on egg production (e.g. colonies used in producing packaged bees) will experience rapid queen deterioration. Requeening every two years has long been the general recommendation for the average hive, although at Simon Fraser University the policy is to requeen yearly. Beekeepers should always be on the lookout for a deteriorated queen when ever they inspect their hive. Colonies headed by a poor queen will have spotty sealed brood patterns which may be entirely composed of developing drones (queens that have run out of sperm produce only drones). Before introducing a new queen the old resident queen must be found and destroyed. Finding the resident queen can be a difficult chore, but the task can be made easier if the queen was marked with a dab of bright paint on the top of her thorax when she was originally introduced. Once the old queen has been removed a new queen should be given back to the colony. To introduce a new queen to a colony the new queen must be placed in a queen cage which prevents the resident bees from pummeling her before they have got a chance to get aquatinted. Queens are released from a hole in the queen cage blocked initially with a candy made of confectionery sugar and water (mixed to a thick gooey consistency). By the time the bees chew away the candy barrier both the new queen and resident workers are happy to see one another and acceptance of the new queen is almost certain. 2) Providing a queen to a queenless colony Typically colonies lack a queen either because the workers rid themselves of the resident queen (a process known as supersedure which occurs because the queen has deteriorated) or an accident has occurred. There are three basic cues that beekeepers can look for to determine if a colony is queenless or not : a) Colonies in which a queen is missing for more than 4 days will have no queen-laid eggs. Lack of eggs in a colony would be a totally reliable cue for detecting queenloss if it were not for three things : 1) really awful queens may not lay very many eggs, 2) queens in queen-right colonies shut-down egg production during the winter, and 3) even some queenless colonies contain a few eggs, but these eggs have been laid by workers whose ovaries have expanded in the absence the queen. A poor queen that does not lay many eggs can only be detected by finding her (see below). Worker-laid eggs, fortunately, can be distinguished from queen-laid eggs by virtue of the nature of how they are laid. Cells containing worker laid eggs invariably contain more than one egg, and eggs do not appear at the very bottom of the cell, but instead appear on the walls. b) The presence of replacement queen cells suggests a colony may be queenless. The problem with using this criteria for determining if a colony is queenright is that queen cells also appear in queen-right colonies prior to swarming. Consequently the presence of queen cells cannot be used as the sole criteria for determining if a queen has been lost. c) Colonies suspected of being queenless should always be thoroughly inspected for the presence of a queen to ensure the queen is not present. Colonies that have lost their queen should be requeened the same way as if a queen was failing, and should not be requeened by allowing queens to emerge from replacement cells. Queens emerging from replacement cells are invariably of poor quality as workers have reared them under emergency conditions. Before requeening a queenless colony, replacement queen cells should be destroyed. 3) Improving colony characteristics Queen breeders have developed numerous lines of bees that result in colonies that are easier to manage and are more productive than their wild sisters. Beekeepers who find that their bees succumb easily to disease, are too aggressive to work comfortably with, or do not produce as much honey as the neighbors bees, may consider requeening with queens of good pedigree. Typically the best queen lines are those developed locally, and beekeepers interested in improving their colony's genetics should visit a local queen breeder's operation to find out what they have to offer. It is important to remember however, even a good queen cannot solve every problem associated with poor beekeeping practices. In many cases substantial improvements in colony performance can be achieved using non-selected queen lines simply by improving existing management systems. *********************************** ** Adony P. Melathopoulos ********* *** Center for Pest Management **** **** Simon Fraser University ****** ***** Burnaby, British Columbia *** ****** Canada, V5A-1S6 ************ *********************************** Tel : (604) 291-4163 Fax : (604) 291-3496 e-mail : melathop@sfu.ca "The pursuit of agriculture promotes the strength of the mind as well as the body" - Rev. John L. Blake, 1853 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 08:04:12 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: adony melathopoulos Subject: Re: Bees and Water Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sid : At 07:13 AM 5/1/97 +0100, you wrote: >Is there any way in which the apiary supply can be made very attractive or, >alternatively, the pond supply made unattractive (there are no fish to worry >about)? I think I am correct in saying bees prefer kind of murky over clean water. Maybe your source of water is too clean. Also, water foragers add a pheromone to water sources they would like to recruit to (I think it is Nasanov). If someone has worked out the doseages and if this was environmentally safe to do (both of which I do not know) you could maybe mix a little pheromone in with your water. Oh, and one last thing. The watering hole you provide them should have good opportunities for landing. Bees don't like to drown, so there needs to be plenty of edges so that they can gas up on water without getting wet. Finally, keep your bees in a cool shaded place. The less heat stress they experience the less motivation there will be for them to visit your neighbours pond. Cheers Adony *********************************** ** Adony P. Melathopoulos ********* *** Center for Pest Management **** **** Simon Fraser University ****** ***** Burnaby, British Columbia *** ****** Canada, V5A-1S6 ************ *********************************** Tel : (604) 291-4163 Fax : (604) 291-3496 e-mail : melathop@sfu.ca "The pursuit of agriculture promotes the strength of the mind as well as the body" - Rev. John L. Blake, 1853 ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 06:16:32 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: PondSite Subject: Re: Gary Ford Contributions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Im sorry to hear that 27 other people were all that had an extra fiver. I got a nice handwritten card from Gary, that made me feel good. This from a man thats down, but not out. WALT from S.C. 6 hives, 3 years, still having fun. ---------- > From: Albert W Needham > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Gary Ford Contributions > Date: Thursday, May 01, 1997 12:25 AM > > >So do your math! That totals 6 people who gave a total > of $75.00. Subtract that from $235.00 and you get $160.00. > > Assuming that the balance of contributions were no more > than $5.00....that would mean $160 divided by $5.00 equals > 32 other folks who contributed out of over 700 of you.> > > CORRECTION: I just heard from someone who I was certain > donated $5.00.....ONLY THING IS HE DONATED $25.00. > > So you can reduce the 32 contributors to 28 out of 700 plus. > This List is meaner than I thought ! That's an approximate > 4 % of you who do not consider a fellow Beekeeper to be > worth a couple of one pound jars of honey and/or want to > keep sucking up great advice from the List at no cost to > yourself ! > > Perhaps, Dave Green would be so kind as to post that > address ( or Gary's), in case my tirade just happens to > jostle your conscience... > > Al, > > Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com > Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program > Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: > http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 08:04:50 PDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Dennis Subject: Re: Aggressive Hive In-Reply-To: <19970430.233142.6727.5.screasy@juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; X-MAPIextension=".TXT" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Re-queening may get you a friendlier colony, however, you may find that = the colony as-is outproduces the others you have. Some of the old-timers= here say that the more aggresive bees usually produce more and defend = themselves from mice, skunks, hornets, birds, etc.much better. That seem= s to include beekeepers to though! They just have a more 'go get um' att= itude! Depending on what you are after in your beekeeping pursuits and = the local conditions, you may want to just use that smoker a bit more. Dennis Morefield Sideline Beekeeper, Oregon, USA denmar@mind.net ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 11:21:47 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: bartlett Subject: Re: Begging and Bullying Comments: To: allend@internode.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit There are all kinds of people who do different things for different reasons. My personal reason was that I am new to the internet and have been warned several times about schemes to get money. So I chose not to send money. Billy bee ---------- > From: Allen Dick > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Begging and Bullying > Date: 1 mai 1997 00:21 > > > Many of you are not going to like what I have to say... > > No, and I'll bet tomorrow we'll have another twenty or so subscribers on > Best of Bee, since such abusive posts are not repeated there, nor are > emotional appeals for money -- unless for information purposes > and they are also accompanied by more balanced comments. > > I hate to see begging on this list - whether for one's self or for others. > I also value free speech and therefore have let it ride thus far - until I > hear abuse being heaped upon people who came here to hear about bees, not > appeals for cash. I think it is anyone's personal business to choose his > or her own charities and I imagine we all have our priorities. IMO A Bee > list is no place for bullying people for money. > > There is no shortage of good causes to be found. When I turn on my TV, > I hear about the people of North Dakota and Minnesota and Manitoba who are > losing everything they own. Worldwide there are many people > who need help desperately just to live another day. Closer to home, a > neighbour of ours lost 6,000 chickens to flooding, and I personally > just lost about 40 hives of bees to floods (No, don't send money). > > I appreciate the people who decided that they wanted to send money to > Gary, I also appreciate those who didn't. We all contribute in our own > way to the causes that we can, and I don't think anyone has the right to > judge. > > Let's get back to the bees. > > Allen ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 15:54:03 GMT Reply-To: Tim_Sterrett@westtown.edu Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tim Sterrett Organization: Westtown School Subject: Re: Tbe birds and the bees Dick Bonney writes: Has anyone had any experience with honey bees harrassing birds in and around bird nesting boxes? Unfortunately, the person reporting this to me is neither a beekeeper or an ornithologist. I hope to get to the bogs this year while the pollinators are in and see for myself. ***************** As a beekeeper/birdwatcher, I have not seen any evidence of this behavior. Many of us are probably thinking of alternative explanations for the observations that were reported to Dick Bonney, but I hope someone can check this out. Tim Tim Sterrett Westtown, (Southeastern) Pennsylvania, USA tim_sterrett@westtown.edu ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 06:24:10 -1000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Walter Patton Subject: Re: Gary Ford Contributions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit For what it is worth I also got a nice thank you card from Garyu and wife and it made me feel good and I have the card on my desk and I plan to send more money to these strangers who seem to have a lot of class. Walter Walter & Elisabeth Patton hihoney@ilhawaii.net 808-964-5401 Hale Lamalani { House of Heavenly Light } {Hawaii Std. Time} Bed & Breakfast www.alohamall.com/hamakua/lamalani.htm Hawaiian Honey House { Beekeepers & Honey Packers } 100 % HAWAII HONEY www.alohamall.com/hamakua/hihoney.htm 27-703 A. Ka`ie`ie Rd., Papa`ikou, Hawaii 96781 " ALOHA ALL " " The Beehive, the Fountain of Youth and Health " ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 09:56:14 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Kerry Clark of AGF 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299" Subject: Re: Bees and water MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT It often puzzles (or embarasses) beekeepers that their bees seem to prefer tainted water supplies (neighbour's chlorinated hot tub, seepage from compost heaps, or worse) to the pure supply provided (sometimes only after the habit of using the other source has been established). I'm speculating, but maybe the pure supply is just harder for a scent-oriented bee to locate ("inolfactible" (?) like invisible), and those water foragers with a distinct scent would gain more recruits than others with a scentless water supply. (even with, or in spite of, recruiting dances, wouldn't you agree Adrian?) If this is so, it suggests that scenting the (human) preferred source might help redirect the water recruits away from the nuisance site. It won't happen quickly if the nuisance source is a big and constant one (like a swimming pool) but a smaller one (hot tub) could be made unavailable (tarp) for a couple of hot days, and the bees might re-orient to the new, distinctly-scented source. I'd expect a few drops of fragrant flavouring (anise, lemon, vanilla) would do the trick for 40 liters or 10 gallons of otherwise clean water. It should work even better if the scenting is done before the bees become oriented to the "problem" source. Water dispensed by the droplet down a sloping board, into a tray of pea gravel (nice dry platform for a bee) has been very attractive to bees. I'd like to hear if it works or not. Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (250) 784-2231 fax (250) 784-2299 INTERNET kclark@galaxy.gov.bc.ca ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 13:39:30 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: bartlett Subject: Re: Bees and water Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit My bees would always go down to the duck pen for their water. I tried to explain to them about it but they wouldn't listen! ; - ) billy bee ---------- > From: Kerry Clark of AGF 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299 > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Bees and water > Date: 1 mai 1997 12:56 > > It often puzzles (or embarasses) beekeepers that their bees seem to > prefer tainted water supplies (neighbour's chlorinated hot tub, seepage > from compost heaps, or worse) to the pure supply provided (sometimes > only after the habit of using the other source has been established). > > I'm speculating, but maybe the pure supply is just harder for a > scent-oriented bee to locate ("inolfactible" (?) like invisible), and > those water foragers with a distinct scent would gain more recruits than > others with a scentless water supply. (even with, or in spite of, > recruiting dances, wouldn't you agree Adrian?) > > If this is so, it suggests that scenting the (human) preferred source > might help redirect the water recruits away from the nuisance site. It > won't happen quickly if the nuisance source is a big and constant one > (like a swimming pool) but a smaller one (hot tub) could be made > unavailable (tarp) for a couple of hot days, and the bees might > re-orient to the new, distinctly-scented source. > > I'd expect a few drops of fragrant flavouring (anise, lemon, vanilla) > would do the trick for 40 liters or 10 gallons of otherwise clean water. > It should work even better if the scenting is done before the bees > become oriented to the "problem" source. > > Water dispensed by the droplet down a sloping board, into a tray of pea > gravel (nice dry platform for a bee) has been very attractive to bees. > > I'd like to hear if it works or not. > > Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist > B.C. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food > 1201 103 Ave > Dawson Creek B.C. > V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (250) 784-2231 fax (250) 784-2299 > INTERNET kclark@galaxy.gov.bc.ca ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 13:41:13 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: bartlett Subject: Re: Bees and water Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit My bees would always go down to the duck pen for their water. I tried to explain to them but they wouldn't listen! ; - ) billy bee ---------- > From: Kerry Clark of AGF 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299 > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Bees and water > Date: 1 mai 1997 12:56 > > It often puzzles (or embarasses) beekeepers that their bees seem to > prefer tainted water supplies (neighbour's chlorinated hot tub, seepage > from compost heaps, or worse) to the pure supply provided (sometimes > only after the habit of using the other source has been established). > > I'm speculating, but maybe the pure supply is just harder for a > scent-oriented bee to locate ("inolfactible" (?) like invisible), and > those water foragers with a distinct scent would gain more recruits than > others with a scentless water supply. (even with, or in spite of, > recruiting dances, wouldn't you agree Adrian?) > > If this is so, it suggests that scenting the (human) preferred source > might help redirect the water recruits away from the nuisance site. It > won't happen quickly if the nuisance source is a big and constant one > (like a swimming pool) but a smaller one (hot tub) could be made > unavailable (tarp) for a couple of hot days, and the bees might > re-orient to the new, distinctly-scented source. > > I'd expect a few drops of fragrant flavouring (anise, lemon, vanilla) > would do the trick for 40 liters or 10 gallons of otherwise clean water. > It should work even better if the scenting is done before the bees > become oriented to the "problem" source. > > Water dispensed by the droplet down a sloping board, into a tray of pea > gravel (nice dry platform for a bee) has been very attractive to bees. > > I'd like to hear if it works or not. > > Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist > B.C. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food > 1201 103 Ave > Dawson Creek B.C. > V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (250) 784-2231 fax (250) 784-2299 > INTERNET kclark@galaxy.gov.bc.ca ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 13:37:32 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MR MARK G SPAGNOLO Subject: bees & water Hi: Living on the "dry" side of the island of Hawaii, we deal with the problem of bees and water all year. Actually, certain times of the year, related to certain nectar flows, are worse than others. After trying many different ideas, we now use 100 gallon water tanks with water hyacinth on top. The water is kind of murky and the hyacinth provides a landing for the bees. It works well. Part of the secret is to keep the tanks filled. The bees will use the water year round. If the tank goes dry the bees will find another source and use that until it too goes dry. I can always tell when the Christmas berry (Brazilian Pepper to those of you in FL.) starts, as the bees will suddenly cover the water tank. When the tank is clear again I know the flow is over! Mark at Kona Queen ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 21:09:34 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: Bees and Water MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have seen following: An pool with waterplants (like hyacinth and waterlely) AND on one site it ends very slowly with little stones (one inch) on black plastic sheet. (Plastic sheet>>they use it for little pond in gardens) On that side the water is warmed by the son on the black plastic and hold ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 15:56:20 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: Requeening In-Reply-To: <19970501121100203.AAA172@default> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 1 May 97 at 7:59, John Wolford wrote: Requeening > Could anyone give me some insight on how to introduce a new queen to a > colony? I am a second year bee keeper. > > Do I have to find the old queen and destroy her before the introduction? The best way that I have found, is to pinch the old queen 24 hours before introducing the new queen in her cage. After pinching just drop the old queen back in the hive. Remove the candy end plug, pass a thin nail or similar through the candy to provide an easier removal. Suspend the cage, candy end down, and wire screen on the top, as the bees need to talk to her. I have seen a video that showed the screen pressed against the comb, no good at all. Check in 48 hrs, if not released then quietly let her run out. Another even better way, make up a 3 frame nuc on top of the hive to be requeened, double screen to ensure they cannot talk to each other, then introduce the queen. When new brood is emerging in the nuc, pinch the old queen, and unite with newspaper. ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 15:58:53 -0700 Reply-To: mister-t@clinic.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Bill Truesdell Subject: Scented oils MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I heard that there were problems this spring in the use of wintergreen and other oils used in hives in California almond orchards. The hives which had the oils were robbed out by other hives which were not treated because the the bees were disorganized and did not recognize their queen as the oils masked her pheromone. It may not be true, but it does track with some who found a new queen was not accepted when scented oils were present in the hive. This is only rumor and would appreciate hearing from anyone knowing the facts. Bill Truesdell Bath, ME ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 16:45:23 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Aaron D Wolfenbarger Subject: Re: Gary Ford Hi Al - <<>>>>> Would some one either post the original message back to the list or send it to me??] Thanks. Aaron Bees-n-Trumpets@juno.com (formerly AaFishes@AOL.com) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 18:58:17 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Richard Blohm Subject: Re: Bees and Water In a message dated 97-05-01 15:02:38 EDT, you write: << Help wanted. Calling all experts. . Has anyone successfully tackled the problem of bees ignoring the water supply in the apiary and going instead to a neighbour's pond? Although I keep a supply in the apiary all the year round (bees here collect water as early as January) many of my bees prefer my pond some forty yards away. Luckily I have no near neighbours to worry about. An acquaintance has just come to me with this problem. His neighbour is at present sympathetic but is worried about his children getting stung and is expecting the beekeeper to work a miracle and stop all the bees from visiting the pond. The bees have a supply well laid out and warmed by the sun in the apiary. Is there any way in which the apiary supply can be made very attractive or, alternatively, the pond supply made unattractive (there are no fish to worry about)? It is a situation which arises every year but I have never been faced with it and do not know the answer. If I can get a number of replies, helpful or otherwise, I can at least print them out for passing to the neighbour to show that we have taken the matter seriously and consulted beekeepers from all over the world. Sid P. >> Good question Sid! I know a few beekeepers who lost the use of apiary sites, all because of the water problem. I read that if you spray vineagar around where the bees are taking water it will act as a repelant, I haven't tried it myself, but it sounds like it might help. Good Luck Rich Blohm, NY ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 21:24:25 +0000 Reply-To: barry@birkey.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Barry Birkey Organization: BIRKEY.COM Subject: original post about Gary Ford MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Anyone wishing to get the original post about Gary Ford called "Vandalism may sink a young beekeeper" and a follow up can email me and I will send. -Barry -- Barry Birkey West Chicago, Illinois USA barry@birkey.com http://www.birkey.com ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 20:05:37 -0800 Reply-To: beeman@Alaska.NET Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tom & Carol Elliott Organization: Home Subject: Re: Aggressive Hive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Steven A. Creasy wrote: > I have 4 hives, and have been trying to work them recently without the > aid of a smoker. . . .ONE hive, however, when opened,> IMMEDIATELY reacts > by sending 20-30 bees out and stinging like crazy! There is a lot of talk, and writing about how much it slows down bees to open the hive, and smoke is the greatest culprit in all this. However, I never go into a hive without smoke. I do not use a veil, of gloves, or overalls, but ALWAYS smoke. I have harvested up to 295 pounds of honey from one hive in our short Alaskan summer, and I make weekly inspections of my hives. If smoke and inspection hinder colony development or honey production, it can not be by much. > Will requeening this fall solve the problem? If all else fails, it can not hurt to requeen, but try smoke. If that fails, I would requeen soonest. I am only in it for the fun. When it stops being a pleasure to work my bees and learn new methods, I will take up another hobby. If you are only in it for honey, you may see things differently. It sounds as though you are a hobbiest, so enjoy your bees. - - - - - - - - - - - - "Test everything. Hold on to the good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21) Tom Elliott Eagle River, Alaska U.S.A. beeman@alaska.net ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 00:04:48 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John M Thorp Subject: Re: Aggressive Hive Comments: cc: SCREASY@juno.com Why wait untill fall to requeen,if they're nasty that queen does'nt deserve that long.Replace her A.S.A.P. Take Care and GBY,John in Homestead,also at ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 00:04:48 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John M Thorp Subject: Albert W Needham : Gary Ford Contributions This reply is not only for Albert W. Needham but anyone of like mind. Anyone who's heart didn't go out to Gary Ford truly does have a hard heart and head to boot. Up until ten years ago I had 350 hives and the problems that went with them too. Hives tipped over,driven over and people with various types of guns that must have thought I was a nice guy leaving them such a lineup of wonderful targets. Unfortunately there were times when fire was involved. Another thing that we have to deal with down here in Dade County,Florida is the mosquito control folks. Once after the setup of a 40 hive yard they came merrily spraying thru the following night,my loss was 100%.No,my hand wasn't out then nor is it now and I'm not poking in any way at those in that posture and if they are it is not in any way being negative on their part. Thru a process of plus and minus experiences in life we should all, after aging a bit be able to evaluate things and deal with them accordingly. If we can't take the heat we need to get out of the kitchen. Albert,I really hate to tell you this but we don't live in perfect times and it probably won't get any better until we all get to heaven. And for the record if you're on the elevator down it only gets worse. For that matter,"Hell is for Wimps"but that's a whole different subject. Another thing worth consideration,bully platforms are'nt worth being on this or any other list,lets try to be positive and reflect the goodness I've seen in most(not all)Beekeepers for over more than 40 years. Remember we are all either part of the solution or part of the problem by how we respond or react,the "choice"is ours. Whenever saying stuff like this its directed right back at myself. Sorry if anyone's feelings have been hurt. Take Care and GBY,John in Homestead,also at --------- Begin forwarded message ---------- From: Albert W Needham To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU Subject: Gary Ford Contributions Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 21:52:34 EDT Message-ID: <19970430.134043.3422.2.awneedham@juno.com> Many of you are not going to like what I have to say and I really don't care what you think, but the more I think about it, the stronger my feelings about what a >cheap mean bunch< many of you are. A few over 700 List Members at the time of this event! I am recalling the story of Gary Ford and his $20,000 loss. A young man trying to start out in commercial beekeeping who had his hives destroyed by some idiots driving a four wheel drive and who then tossed diesel fuel over what was left. Let me just state some facts to justify my opinion! Dave Green reported a little while back that the cash contributions amounted to $235.00.(See Below). I gave $5.00. I recently met a fellow beekeeper in my travels who donated $50.00. I know of about four other members of this List who gave $5.00. So do your math! That totals 6 people who gave a total of $75.00. Subtract that from $235.00 and you get $160.00. Assuming that the balance of contributions were no more than $5.00....that would mean $160 divided by $5.00 equals 32 other folks who contributed out of over 700 of you. A cheap bunch in my opinion! I hope that I am never drowning and some of you are standing on the shore. I might just as well swallow sea water and get it over with before I wasted my breath hollering for help from many of you! Even if each of you contributed $5.00 I wouldn't consider some $3500 a money making scheme when you consider Gary is out $20,000 ! Some of my $5.00 was spent by Gary's wife to send me a personal note of thanks! Think about it !!!! You are enjoying some WORLD CLASS FREE ADVICE on this List and you can't even contribute the equal of a couple of jars of honey to try and help out a fellow beekeeper.... a young man with a family trying his best to make it ! Do you get that I am damn Peed Off. YOU ARE CORRECT! I hope that those of you who didn't contribute never experience the disaster that hit Gary. So much for your feelings for your fellow man or woman beekeeper! One member of this List (who shall remain anonymous) thinks that most of you are "Grumpy Old Men". He is being kind! I have said my peace and I can take the heat if you have the guts to throw it my way! ---------------- Qoute of Dave Green's Message Below----------------------------------- Gary and I want to thank each of you who helped to encourage Gary by your generous gifts. About 235 dollars was received and some bees and brood were also given, so he has gotten close to $400 in aid. All your snail mail notes and copies of the e-mail comments were also turned over to him. He will be in contact with many of you, as soon as he can, though some gave anonymously, so he cannot. Gary was much encouraged by your evidence that there are a lot of caring people in the world yet. He is back in New York right now, preparing an old truck which he will bring to get the bees he still has. I am glad he's not going to try to truck bees in the old school bus. There is no way to get adequate ventilation. I looked at some of his nucs yesterday, and they are doing very well. He hopes to split again, and I think he'll be using the contributions for queens. He should have enough brood to make some more hives up. Frankly, I am surprised (pleasantly) to see how well these nucs are drawing foundation. He could even have a little honey to harvest before he leaves South Carolina. I had delayed this note, in hopes that I would have some good news on the police investigation, but I have been unable to get any information, so that item will have to wait. Thank you again, good folks! Dave Green -------------------------End Of Quoted Message------------------------------------------------------ ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 20:15:58 -0800 Reply-To: beeman@Alaska.NET Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tom & Carol Elliott Organization: Home Subject: Re: Bees and Water MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sid Pullinger wrote: > > Help wanted. Calling all experts. . Has anyone successfully tackled the > problem of bees ignoring the water supply in the apiary and going instead to > a neighbour's pond? I have not had your problem, but we have tried (here in Alaska, that is) feeding water from a jar over the inner cover (or over a specially made inner cover) and they do take it. If water is available inside the hive at all times, they may give up "foreign" sources. - - - - - - - - - - - - "Test everything. Hold on to the good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21) Tom Elliott Eagle River, Alaska U.S.A. beeman@alaska.net ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 23:18:38 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Robert Barnett Organization: DNA Subject: Re: Aggressive Hive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Steven A. Creasy wrote: > > Howdy All! > > I have 4 hives, and have been trying to work them recently without the > aid of a smoker. I usually do this only on sunny days, in mid afternoon > (1-3 PM). Three of the hives usually do well with this method. If I > work slowly, only the occasional bee will rush to my glove and check me > out and rarely will I get stung. ONE hive, however, when opened, > IMMEDIATELY reacts by sending 20-30 bees out and stinging like crazy! > When my hand *slowly* approaches the top of the box to lift out a frame, > the bees just jump up to my hand and immediately begin stinging and > quickly move to my chest and arms where I am stung through my coveralls. > Is this behavior to be blamed on the queen? She is a new queen, placed > in that hive last fall. They overwintered well, and are raising lots of > new brood. Will requeening this fall solve the problem? Hello Steve! I have read at least two responses to these questions, which I thought quite accurate, and good. Your description mirrows my experiences with aggressiveness in that about 10-15% of colonies here in my yard in Alabama show exactly your reaction patterns. As queens age their colonies get more irritable, and if you buy new queens from a good breeder he/she selects for gentleness, but genetics in producing queens goes astray sometimes. As a hobby beekeeper, I am not going to put up with a queen whose colony is ugly. Of course you know that under certain conditions, ANY colony may be very unpleasant: no nectar flow, very hot, large and/or crowded with lots of fighting guards, and hurried and inaccurate work by the keeper, to name just a few. I am interested in why you chose to work your bees without smoke (pine straw in my opinion is unbeatable), but too much smoke will some time make an aggressive colony worse. If you believe smoke disturbs the colony unduly, and wish to minimize this, I understand it, though I have some doubt that visiting in colonies is disruptive. Not dedicated to making honey, I go in at the drop of a hat, because following what they do is so interesting; some nucs I look through nearly every day, and until the honey supers get too many and too heavy I may go there twice a week. Three colonies in my backyard made 60.1 gallons (721 #) of honey (extracted) last spring-summer, so visiting must not do much harm! I usually don't use a veil with most of my bees, never gloves, BUT, 1) When one lights the smoker, *first* give you exposed parts---face and neck, hands and bare arms, and any other skin, and hair, a through "smoking" to disguise your animal scent...nose, mouth, and eyes especially give it off, and most of all, your breath...Hold it, or breath shallow if a few bees are buzzing about the face. I seem to rarely get stung. (I don't wear the veil because its hard to see eggs quickly and well, as well as small larvae (as when grafting queens at hobby level), and even V.Mites on adult bees and brood. BTY, I'm no martyr and don't seek stings! A professional beekeeper showed me this trick when I was a beginner. 2. Pinch that Queen! Requeen as soon as the honey flow is over. During the buildup, and during the flow, just avoid entry into that colony. The reasons here are too obvious. I follow this to the letter, and 90+% of the time, 6 weeks after requeening, happy time has arrived. Hobbiests don't need the aggravation of a mean colony! Don't forget, I am very curious as to why you don't use your smoker all the time....except the fact that it takes time to fire up, even 'tho not much! Thanks! Bob Barnett, Birmingham, Alabama > > Curiously, > > Steve Creasy- (\ > Maryville, Tennessee USA {|||8- > Proverbs 24:13, 25:16 (/ > screasy@juno.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 20:09:16 -0700 Reply-To: leonc@ccinet.ab.ca Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "L.&J. Christensen" Organization: Ikin Enterprises Ltd. Subject: Re: BEE TV MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit adony melathopoulos wrote: > > There was another episode of the X-Files that had bees in its main story > Canada is a much mightier nation than the US apparently as the US > can only muster AHB while Canada has alien-vectoring super small pox bees > > Cheers > Adony > Well it may have worked if SOMEBODY hadn't blabbed. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 20:26:00 -0800 Reply-To: beeman@Alaska.NET Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tom & Carol Elliott Organization: Home Subject: Re: Requeening MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit John Wolford wrote: > > Could anyone give me some insight on how to introduce a new queen to a > colony? I am a second year bee keeper. > > Do I have to find the old queen and destroy her before the introduction? I would recommend putting the new queen in a "flat" queen cage (such a described in these posts lately. The cage fits between two frames and allows bees access only on the screen edges. These cages are easy to make. Form #8 mesh into a 3/8 inch flat (rectangular in outline) tube. Make wooden plugs for the ends. Leave her in the brood nest for a few days. And yes, you must destroy the old queen first. Best of luck. - - - - - - - - - - - - "Test everything. Hold on to the good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21) Tom Elliott Eagle River, Alaska U.S.A. beeman@alaska.net ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 07:59:15 +0200 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ljubisa Stanisavljevic Subject: Osmia Bees for Pollination (resend) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 08:15:22 +0200 >To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU >From: Ljubisa Stanisavljevic >Subject: Osmia Bees for Pollination > >Hi all interests for Osmia bees as alternative pollinators, > >I am a Ph.D. student in the laboratory of Prof. Krunic's where, among other things I work on biology, management and utilization of Osmia cornuta and O. rufa in pollination of various plants (apple, almond, pear, apricot ...). This laboratory has developed a method for rearing and multiplication of O. cornuta and for a several years produced more than 100,000 cocoons a year. > >Our investigation present that enough about 50-100 females O. cornuta or O. rufa per ha in our orchards, for full pollination. We have very good results of pollination in strawberry and raspberry in greenhouses. Research this year will be focused on pollination raspberry in nature conditions. In my country there is very little interest for Osmia bees as alternative pollinators. I am very sorry for it. We are interested in exporting cocoons of Osmia cornuta, if somebody is interested in them. Certainly,if it is possible, we want to cooperate with you. > >If you need O. cornuta cocoons we can give you free some (2-5000)from our laboratory next autumn. > >I would be very grateful to get your papers dealing with management and utilization of other bees as pollinators. >Exchange desired! > >Best wishes, Ljubisa Z. Stanisavljevic Institute of Zoology Faculty of Biology University of Belgrade Studentski trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, YUGOSLAVIA Fax: ++381 11 638 500 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 03:01:23 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MIDNITEBEE Subject: bumble bee removal HELP!! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ Can someone help these people? > >To: midnitebee@hotmail.com > >From: Public Affairs Associates > > > >Found your site on browsing the web. > > > >We have a bumble bee nest under our house. The bees seem to be extremely > >large bumble bees. > > > >My kids have insisted that we try to find a way to have a bee keeper capture > >them and relocate them instead of killing them. > > > >Do you have any contacts in the San Francisco Bay Area that might want to > >take them off our hands? > > > >Or just any bee keeper contacts in the Bay Area, we can do the contacting. > > > >Thanks. > > > >Ed McGovern > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------- > Get Your *Web-Based* Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com > --------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 11:52:37 GMT+0100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Anthony Morgan Organization: HiST/AIN/IET Subject: Re: HMF MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Hei ! having become interested in HMF I have collected snippits from here and there, three interesting ones being:- >From http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/business/honey.htm "Honey labelling regulations" Honey (unless it is described "Baker's Honey" or "Industrial Honey") must *not* have any of the following characteristics:- A foreign taste or odour. Have begun to ferment or effervesce. Have been heated to such an extent that its natural enzymes have been destroyed or made inactive. (i) A diastase level of less than 3 if it is citrus honey or honey with a naturally low enzymes content. (ii) A diastase level of less than 4 if it is any other type of honey. *(NB:both the above are minimum levels)* A hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content of more than 80 milligram per kilogram. >From http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/hmf.html In Holland, it is forbidden to sell honey with more than 40 mg/kg HMF. From http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/htdocs/Liasion/FR_Intent_toStudy.html DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service National Toxicology Program 5-Hydroxymethyl Furfural (CAS No. 67-47-0) (HMF) is formed during the thermal decomposition of sugars and carbohydrates. HMF has been identified in a wide variety of heat processed foods including milk, fruit juices, spirits, honey, etc. HMF is also found in cigarettes. *(and in cigarette smoke according to another US gov. source)* The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences nominated HMF based on the potential for widespread exposure in the diet, evidence for carcinogenic potential of other members of this class, and the fact that little is known about HMF toxicity. NTP plans to develop protocols to investigate the metabolism, toxicity and carcinogenicity of HMF. Now my question to everyone out there with chemical knowledge..how can one detect the prescence of HMF and/or measure the quantity present in a sample of for example honey? Are there any simple methods? Cheers Tony Anthony N Morgan, Forsteammanuensis Institutt for Elektroteknikk Hogskolen i Sor-Trondelag N-7005 Trondheim, Norway Tlf. 73 55 96 04 Fax. 73 55 95 81 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 07:47:13 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John Justin Spaulding III Subject: Re: Tbe birds and the bees In-Reply-To: <199705011410.KAA23827@wilde.oit.umass.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Dick, I have seen Bluebirds eating Bees but nothing to the reverse. I do have Bluebirds nesting within 150ft. of my hives. I'll keep my eyes open. John Spaulding juggler@nesc.org Associate Curator, Wildlife Center New England Science Center Worcester County Beekeepers Association ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 07:58:31 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Aaron Morris Subject: Bees and Water, keeping them out of your neighbors' pond MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT The most important thing to remember about bees and water is that bees prefer to take their water from a spongy material rather that from a standing pool of water. Take a pond for instance. Bees will drink the water from the spongy edges of the pond where the water meets the soil rather than taking the water from the middle of the pond. Keeping this in mind it should be easy to lure the bees from ponds or pools by providing a suitable spongy delivery system closer to the hive. The best watering hole for bees I have ever stumbled upon is watered potted plants. My bees line up at the drainage holes to suck the water from the soil after I water my houseplants which I set outside in the warm weather. In fact, my neighbor's swimming pool is actually closer to the hive than my houseplants, but I've never had a problem. The bees fly farther to the houseplants because they prefer the delivery mechanism. Serendipitously discovered by Aaron Morris ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 08:09:03 +0000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Richard Drutchas Organization: Bee Haven Honey Subject: Re: Tbe birds and the bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Richard Ive never actually seen the bees sting a bird but they certainly chase them around here. My barn swallows moved away this year Im assuming because I have a 100 hives sitting in the barn yard. You can even take a ball and throw it in the air and the bees attack it. Ive also heard that the bees get particularly mean in the craneberry bogs, getting sprayed and all, is that true? Rick ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 09:03:39 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Victor E Sten Subject: Re: Tbe birds and the bees Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Dick Bonney writes: >Has anyone had any experience with honey bees harrassing birds in and around >bird nesting boxes? > > Unfortunately, the person reporting this to me is neither a beekeeper or an >ornithologist. > >I hope to get to the bogs this year while the pollinators are in and see for >myself. >***************** > As a beekeeper/birdwatcher, I have not seen any evidence of this >behavior. > > Many of us are probably thinking of alternative explanations for the >observations that were reported to Dick Bonney, but I hope someone can check >this out. >Tim >Tim Sterrett >Westtown, (Southeastern) Pennsylvania, USA >tim_sterrett@westtown.edu > Hi For some years up till about 4 years ago I had 4 hives on the back porch of my cottage, the porch was 7 feet above ground level. A bird house with tree swallows was situated about 50 feet from the nearest hive and something like 5 feet higher. On several occations, when the swallows were making passes a few feet in front of the hives and at about the same height as the hives, did I see the guard bees, always more than one but no more than 4-5, chase the swallows at a speed quite a bit faster than regular flight speed. It was possible to see se the swallows zig-zag a bit with the bees following the course changes. As far as I could determine the bees aborted the chase after 50-75 feet. Shortly after a chase the swallows could come to the birdhouse without beeing attacked probably because the birdhouse was behind and to one side of the hives unseen by guards and the foraging bees took no interest. Viktor in Hawkesbury, Ontario. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 09:15:57 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: Albert W Needham : Gary Ford Contributions On Fri, 2 May 1997 00:04:48 EDT John M Thorp writes: > Another thing worth consideration,bully platforms are'nt >worth being on this or any other list,lets try to be positive and >reflect the goodness I've seen in most(not all)Beekeepers for over >more than 40 years. Remember we are all either part of the solution or >part of the problem by how we respond or react,the "choice"is ours. >Whenever saying stuff like this its directed right back at myself. >Sorry if anyone's feelings have been hurt. While I do not wish to add the small storm I raised, it has been suggested that I apologize to the List. I do apologize for "the manner" in which I expressed my "personal feelings" to those who have felt outraged about this "manner". You are absolutely correct that I should not have engaged in a "bully type" message and that I should have employed a different "positive approach". I can only say that a major failing of my personality is that when I feel personally outraged over some issue, I do not take the time to let that outrage simmer and to turn it around to a "positive approach". I did not expect "everyone to make a contribution". Personally I felt the level of contributions to be a very poor reflection on all of us as a group. I did not think that David Eyre's suggestion to make a $5.00 contribution to be an unreasonable or outrageous suggestion. As I have said, it only amounts to the equivalent of a couple of jars of honey to assist a fellow beekeeper and to encourage a younger person with a family to "not give up". Putting some money where our mouth is certainly was not going to make up for his $20,000 loss. I felt that a degree of monetary support would only encourage this young man to "stick with it and hang in there". Judging by the Thank You Note I received from Gary's wife, they are "hanging in there" What is even more important about this type of tangible support is that I am sure that Gary & family will, throughout their lifetime in Beekeeping, pay all of us back by doing their best for others in Beekeeping in the years to come! In the past there have been expressions of serious concern about the "shortage of young people" taking up Beekeeping. Here was an opportunity to do something about that! For those of you who hurled brickbats in return, I hold no ill will. I asked for it, and I can handle it. What amazes me is the level of support expressed publically on this List and in private e-mail messages. You might also be surprised at the level of support in words and deed amongst some folks who have joined this List since Dave Green posted his original message about Gary's misfortune. I was prepared to handle the entire List expressing their outrage! I feel very strongly that we share a common bond insofar as Beekeeping goes. I may not personally like some of you, but that is immaterial to my willingness to help where I can and to encourage folks to "hang in there" or to "give Beekeeping a shot" ! Al, Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 08:24:33 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Paul Basehore Subject: Re: Requeening Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" You don't have to but it lowers the success rate quite a bit if you don't destroy the old queen or put her in a nuke to start another hive. At 07:59 AM 5/1/97 -0400, you wrote: >Could anyone give me some insight on how to introduce a new queen to a >colony? I am a second year bee keeper. > >Do I have to find the old queen and destroy her before the introduction? > >John M. Wolford >jmwolford@kih.net > ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 22:36:09 -0400 Reply-To: dronebee@pilot.infi.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Dr. Pedro Rodriguez" Organization: InfiNet Subject: Beekeepers on Bee-L and elsewhere MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear colleagues: 1. As you may have heard (re: my previous posting to this sevice) I had and unfortunate power failure and consequently lost data which I had not yet saved on removable discs. 2. I am now incorporating data that I have obtained recently for a release of my findings. It will be soon, I promise. 3. I have received a "deluge" of requests for details on my project. Up to today, I have answered each and everyone (indicating what I have just explained above in this message). In an effort to save time, I am hoping that you will accept this form of reply for the time being. When I finish compilation of my findings, I will post it on Bee-L and send individual copies to those who have asked me via e-mail. 4. To all of you, thank you for your kind words and trust. I promise that I wont let you down. 5. To Dick Allen: hopefully you will read this message also. I am in need of your e-mail address, (I lost your too). I need to ask you an urgent question. Please send me an e-mail memo, so that I may have your address once again. Best Regards. Pedro Rodriguez to ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 08:21:15 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eric Abell Subject: Re: Queen cells with eggs Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:10 AM 30/04/97 EDT, you wrote: > I inspected my strongest hive last Saturday 4/26/97 and found eggs in the >queen cells along the bottom of the second deep. I use a slatted rack. This hive was >requeened last fall. > > What are recommended courses of action. I have a four frame >and a five frame nuc available. I have ordered a queen, I'm not sure when >it will arrive. I have no extra drawn deep comb. > > My choices seem to be: > - make a couple of nucs to reduce the population > - let things alone and see what happens > - do a split with a new queen > - do a split without a queen > - put on a third deep and checkerboard the with > new foundation and the comb from the two deeps. > - ? > > What should be the timing for any of these and what should >I be loooking for? I'm not trying to maximize my honey production as much >as I'm trying to learn as much as I can. > > > Jim Moore > Massachusetts > Second Year of Beekeeping > 4 hives (3 std, 1 tbh from package 4/17/97) If you want to learn then just let them go and see what happens. You might try setting out bait hives and in doing so retrieve any swarms that issue. For fun, let these cells develop and then carefully cut them off and use the cells to start another hive. Eric Eric Abell Gibbons, Alberta Canada T0A 1N0 Ph/fax (403) 998 3143 eabell@compusmart.ab.ca ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 08:21:34 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eric Abell Subject: Re: Requeening Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 07:59 AM 01/05/97 -0400, you wrote: >Could anyone give me some insight on how to introduce a new queen to a >colony? I am a second year bee keeper. > >Do I have to find the old queen and destroy her before the introduction? > >John M. Wolford >jmwolford@kih.net > By all means destroy the old queen. If you then wait a few days and cut any queen cells you will increase your chances of success. However, as soon as the old queen is destroyed you can introduce the new queen. She should be in a cage with the entrance/exit plugged with candy (or a small marshmallow). It will take a few days for the bees to remove the candy and she should then be accepted. You might improve your chances if the queen cage has only the queen and no attendants. Some beekeepers feel that a squirt of vanilla into the colony and on the queen masks odours and improves acceptance. To be more certain, make a press in cage, still candy in the entrance, and confine the new queen over some emerging brood. The brood will emerge and immediately accept the queen. She will be able to start laying within the cage. By the time the entrance is chewed out the queen will have her own attendants and be laying. The press in cage can be made out of something like 1/8 inch wire mesh. Cut and bend to create a cage about 3 x 4 inches and a tunnel entrance. One side is open and it is pressed into the comb. This is a rather poor description. If there is interest perhaps someone will do better or you can ask and I will elaborate. The press in cage is interesting and perhaps someone with a picture and a scanner could make it available. Good luck with your new Queen. Eric Eric Abell Gibbons, Alberta Canada T0A 1N0 Ph/fax (403) 998 3143 eabell@compusmart.ab.ca ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 08:21:40 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eric Abell Subject: Employment in Southern Hemishere Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" A young lady has worked for me for 4 seasons and is about to graduate from the University of Alberta with an Arts Degree. She would like to work for a year before going back to school. She has been terrific with the bees and I thought I would see if there are any opportunities out there for employment in another part of the world. I suggest the southern hemisphere because I want her back next season. If you can direct me somewhere or if you would like more information, please email me direectly. Ideally she would beekeep during the week and wake board on her days off. Eric Eric Abell Gibbons, Alberta Canada T0A 1N0 Ph/fax (403) 998 3143 eabell@compusmart.ab.ca ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 07:24:43 -0600 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: Tbe birds and the bees In-Reply-To: <3369A11F.35FF@together.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > My barn swallows moved away this year Im assuming because I have a 100 > hives sitting in the barn yard. You can even take a ball and throw it in the air and > the bees attack it. We had a similar experience and found it was the drones chasing the birds. This made the birds so upset that they were attacking our cats. There was more on this some time back. Allen ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 09:56:15 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: STEVE PHILLIPS Subject: Purple Martins and bees I've always had a purple martin house, but since I've started keeping bees I wonder if I need to get rid of the martin house. Since I've started keeping bees I've noted a marked increase in the number of martins that hang out on the power lines near my martin house. (I counted over 40 one day.) Do martins eat bees? Can martins have an effect on hive population or does a healthy hive raise enough brood that it isn't a problem? Are the martins likely to get the queen on her mating flight? -Steve Phillips- - Perry, KS - phillips@at01po.wpo.state.ks.us ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:54:19 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Robert E Neely Subject: Re: Albert W Needham : Gary Ford Contributions Dear Al, You have my support so I will share in the "FLAK". If my memory serves me correctly, Dave's first comment after breaking the news was for any that would like to help. I believe that clearly separated the wheat from the tares. There are many things discussed on this list that are not relevant to me. I am not fluent in French, Spanish or German. There are problems with bees in the far north that we would never encounter here in the deep south. We just skip over these things. I was "Off Line" for a little over two weeks while in the hospital so missed part of the confusion. We must support our YOUNG FRIENDS in our endeavors whether commercial or hobby. I will not forget the help that came my way over fifty years ago when I was struggling with my first colony. Lumber was not even available for hive construction due to the war effort. But that is another story. Just hang in there and keep up the good work. Bob Neely Goose Creek, SC neely-bee@juno.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:54:19 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Robert E Neely Subject: Re: Purple Martins and bees Steve: In our part of the world, the Martins have long been called "Bee Martins" due to the bright red and yellow feathers on the top of thier heads. It is believed that they spread these apart and attract honeybees toward the "Flower Look Alike" . I remember knocking one down with a sling-shot when I was a kid and looked at the feathers. My problem has been with the Blue Jay. They will dive in front of the hive and catch the bees, particular the ones laden with pollen. Bob Neely Goose Creek, SC neely-bee@juno.com On Fri, 2 May 1997 09:56:15 -0500 STEVE PHILLIPS writes: >I've always had a purple martin house, but since I've started keeping >bees I wonder if I need to get rid of the martin house. Since I've >started >keeping bees I've noted a marked increase in the number of martins >that >hang out on the power lines near my martin house. (I counted over 40 >one day.) Do martins eat bees? Can martins have an effect on hive >population or does a healthy hive raise enough brood that it isn't a >problem? Are the martins likely to get the queen on her mating >flight? > > -Steve Phillips- > - Perry, KS - > phillips@at01po.wpo.state.ks.us > ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:19:24 +0000 Reply-To: barry@birkey.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Barry Birkey Organization: BIRKEY.COM Subject: Re: Purple Martins and bees MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit STEVE PHILLIPS wrote: > > I've always had a purple martin house, but since I've started keeping > bees I wonder if I need to get rid of the martin house. Since I've started > keeping bees I've noted a marked increase in the number of martins that > hang out on the power lines near my martin house. (I counted over 40 > one day.) Do martins eat bees? Can martins have an effect on hive > population or does a healthy hive raise enough brood that it isn't a > problem? Are the martins likely to get the queen on her mating flight? Hi Steve - I don't know first hand but the commercial beekeeper that I have gotten nucs from in the past told me that purple martins are notorious for catching queens out on mating flights and that he has lost ?-numbers of queens due to this. -Barry -- Barry Birkey West Chicago, Illinois USA barry@birkey.com http://www.birkey.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:20:42 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MRS KATHLEEN R DONHAM Subject: bumble bee removal HELP!! You might try the bumblee researchers at Davis-- there is some current research on native pollinators which might have use for a hive. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:56:44 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: PondSite Subject: Re: Bees and Water MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Don't know about the expert tag, but try putting a large sponge in a birdbath or large bucket. The bees seem to like landing on it. I guess its because they won't drown, and can get all the water that they want, just like taking necter from a flower, WALT, S.C. Retirement Heaven. ---------- > From: Richard Blohm > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Bees and Water > Date: Thursday, May 01, 1997 6:58 PM > > In a message dated 97-05-01 15:02:38 EDT, you write: > > << Help wanted. Calling all experts. . Has anyone successfully tackled the > problem of bees ignoring the water supply in the apiary and going instead to > a neighbour's pond? Although I keep a supply in the apiary all the year > round (bees here collect water as early as January) many of my bees prefer > my pond some forty yards away. Luckily I have no near neighbours to worry > about. > An acquaintance has just come to me with this problem. His neighbour is at > present sympathetic but is worried about his children getting stung and is > expecting the beekeeper to work a miracle and stop all the bees from > visiting the pond. The bees have a supply well laid out and warmed by the > sun in the apiary. > Is there any way in which the apiary supply can be made very attractive or, > alternatively, the pond supply made unattractive (there are no fish to worry > about)? > It is a situation which arises every year but I have never been faced with > it and do not know the answer. If I can get a number of replies, helpful or > otherwise, I can at least print them out for passing to the neighbour to > show that we have taken the matter seriously and consulted beekeepers from > all over the world. Sid P. > >> > Good question Sid! > > I know a few beekeepers who lost the use of apiary sites, all because of the > water problem. > I read that if you spray vineagar around where the bees are taking water it > will act as a repelant, I haven't tried it myself, but it sounds like it > might help. > > Good Luck > Rich Blohm, NY ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:56:08 -0400 Reply-To: midnitebee@hotmail.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MIDNITEBEE Subject: Re: bumble bee removal HELP!! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have deleted the original message and can not e-mail to the homeowners. please send this message to their e-mail address. Thanks Midnitebee(Herb) > > You might try the bumblee researchers at Davis-- there is some > current research on native pollinators which might have use for a > hive. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:12:18 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Roy Nettlebeck Subject: Re: Gary Ford Contributions In-Reply-To: <199705011631.GAA08837@lehua.ilhawaii.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Thu, 1 May 1997, Walter Patton wrote: > For what it is worth I also got a nice thank you card from Garyu and wife > and it made me feel good and I have the card on my desk and I plan to send > more money to these strangers who seem to have a lot of class. > Walter Hello all and Walter, I have a nickle to throw out.Some people are ticked off about Al,s post about not many giving to the pot.We have free speach and it was something that was bothering him for awhile.Some people are born givers. They are always helping others.We on the list did not make them that way.We are all different and thank God for that.Walter recieved something back from Gary and it was more than the $ 5. Not everyone can and should pay. Gary did not ask for it and the suggestion came From David up in Onterio Canada. I have a point to make about beekeepers. When Vince asked for beekeepers to put in order the things that was most important to them in beekeeping. The list was made up for them and the reply was in the 30,s if I remember right. We had 800 plus on the list. He was not asking for money , he was asking for what was the most important things for the researchers to work on to help the beekeepers.I think Varroa came in first. But 30 out of 800 is not a good pole. For those that are mad at Al , take Zantac for heart burn. You wont change Al.We should give each other a little more room to be human. We all love bees or are in the quest of learning about bees. That is what this list is for. But we are human and some feel very strongly about helping a young beekeeper.. Leaving the list for such a little tiraid is a waist. I like different points of view. That is why I'm going to keep living for a long time. We have much to live for.Lets be the best beekeepers that we can be and if we can and feel so inclined to help out another beekeeper , please do so. It will make those so inclined feel better themselves. Thats great. If you don't feel like giving don't. No one has said that we have to. But the numbers do show that beekeepers do not participate very well , for anything , not just money. On a lighter side, I have 32 queens talking to me from there cages on my table here. They smell each other and have been piping back and forth. I wished that I knew what they were saying. I think it is , get us in hives right now before it rains again. Lets take a breath and go on. The best regards to a great Bunch of People. Roy ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 22:09:43 +0100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: D Warr Subject: Re: Venom Collection Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Can anyone tell me how to make an electric Bee Venom Collector? <><><><><><><><><> David Warr (Member of the ) (\ (\ (\ Ormskirk & Croston District Branch {|||8< {||||8< {|||||8< of the (/ (/ (/ Lancashire & North-West Beekeepers' Association| <><><><><><><><><> ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 17:22:10 +0000 Reply-To: jdalexa@widtech.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: John Alexander Subject: Nukes MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Does anyone know a url I can visit to get plans to build nuke boxes? Thanks mucho John Alexander Beltsville, MD ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 14:38:12 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Wolf Subject: Kamikaze bees Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I am a home beekeeper with 1 hive in the city. September last year my bees were Ok. In October after sunset and on until midnight, many bees were attracted to the house, crashing into the windows, appearing to be attracted to the inside (incandescent) lights. In the AM for about 10 days running, there were hundreds of dead bees below each previously backlighted window. By the end of November, the entire hive had crashed. No evidence of disease, no piles of dead bees in hive, no apparent problem with Varroa, though previous history with other colonies in previous years at another site. Has anyone seen this or have any ideas on what was going on with this behavior? ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 00:01:31 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: Venom Collection MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I read something about a plastic sheet with copper wire on top af it. 3 inch deep and wide as the entrance On the copperwire there are electric shocks (not 10.000 volt please) probaly on and on plus and minus. One bee must contact both wire and the sheet, so the tunnel is 1/4 inch high. Bees are guided for the entrance to go through the tunnel The bees will sting in the plastic sheet, and on the undersite ther will be some verom drip. -------------------------------------------------------- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 homepage webside: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index2.html webside van het AmbrosiusGilde: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/ambro_index.html webside for NECTAR: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/nectar_index.html with some pages in english on solitary bees. NEW PAGES ON THE FIGHT ON THE VARROA MITES. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemthod.html -------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 21:46:50 -0300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Stan Sandler Subject: Re: Bees and water Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Kerry wrote: > It often puzzles (or embarasses) beekeepers that their bees seem to > prefer tainted water supplies (neighbour's chlorinated hot tub, seepage > from compost heaps, or worse) to the pure supply provided (sometimes > only after the habit of using the other source has been established). > > I'm speculating, but maybe the pure supply is just harder for a > scent-oriented bee to locate ("inolfactible" (?) like invisible), and > those water foragers with a distinct scent would gain more recruits than > others with a scentless water supply. (even with, or in spite of, > recruiting dances, wouldn't you agree Adrian?) It is also possible that it is not the smell but the dissolved minerals that is attractive to the bees. Adrian noted that his father? or grandfather? use to salt a wet area for the bees in response to a post of mine last year about bees flying to salty ground around my cattle salt licks. I think it is possible that the seepage around the manure pile is attractive for its minerals, although I do not discount your speculation about smell. I for one am glad that my bees are used to the smell of cattle manure from gathering water, (although it offends OUR sensibilities) because they are completely unaffected by barn smells on me and my clothes when I go straight from milking to bees. Although I have read that manure smells can make them aggressive I have almost always had absolutely no problem. The one exception was getting attacked one time as I drove directly in front of a line of hives with the manure spreader. However I have done this literally hundreds of times before and since with no problem. I would also note, as Jan Tempelman started to (his post was cut) that in the spring WARM water from something dark is very much more attractive than cold water. I have a dump of old tires near the hives and they love the water from them in the early spring. Regards, Stan PS Three days ago I saw the first natural pollen being brought into the hives (I'm in PEI, Canada). Finally! ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 21:00:28 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Steven A. Creasy" Subject: Re: Aggressive Hive Thanks to all for the great responses to my original question. I inadvertently began a *smoker debate* with my post. The main reason I have not been using a smoker is time. I have two small children and a stay-at-home wife who like to see me when I am not working my crazy swing shifts, so when I go to do inspections, I try to save as much time as possible. Leaving the smoker home seemed to be the best bet on saving time. I had previously had very little *need* for it anyway, as my hives were generally very docile as long as I worked them in sunny weather (Italians, by the way). Also puzzling to me is that this behavior just cropped up after I split the hive a few weeks ago. They were just as docile as the other hive, which I also split, until then. I now have 4 hives and all are still docile except this one. She *is* however the only queen to remain of the original two I started with. The other queen died or was killed and the queens from the two queen cells suffered the same demise. I had to buy three new queens to replace them. Thanks again, everyone! Any more input? Steve Creasy- (\ Maryville, Tennessee USA {|||8- Proverbs 24:13,25:16 (/ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 23:19:50 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Harry Sweet Subject: BUCKEYE Has anyone had experience with bees vs buckeye trees? Is it a good idea to keep bees where the buckeye grow? Is the honey any threat to humans? TIA Harry Sweet N. California ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 23:38:18 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John M Thorp Subject: Re: Albert W Needham : Gary Ford Contributions Thank you for the nice reply. I hope to meet you some day. In some small way maybe this was needed to make us all realize again as well as in the past & future when one of us on this planet hurts we all do,or to coin the phrase,"Laugh and the world laughs with you,cry and you cry alone". As we all know,crying alone is no fun cause we've all had a stab at it. At best Albert I know that in your own way you were just trying ti improve on that quoted syndrome and make the world a better place.For that again.I thank you. Take Care and GBY,John in Homestead,also at ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 04:10:57 GMT Reply-To: mjensen@crl.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Mark Jensen Organization: No Junk Mail Subject: Re: BUCKEYE In-Reply-To: <970502231949_-1434265330@emout17.mail.aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Fri, 2 May 1997 23:19:50 -0400, you wrote: >Has anyone had experience with bees vs buckeye trees? >Is it a good idea to keep bees where the buckeye grow? >Is the honey any threat to humans? My hives are surrounded by buckeye trees, and they bloom profusely around= here in May. I have never seen a bee on a buckeye flower, and I have looked = numerous times. Nor have I ever noticed any negative effects on my hives during = the buckeye bloom. -- Mark Jensen Double J Apiaries mjensen@crl.com =20 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 21:41:56 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Simics Subject: Bee venom collector device Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" David, I have made several bee venom collector devices for other people. If you would like to contact me directly you may do so at: Michael msimics@direct.ca ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 22:24:16 -0800 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Sally Fries Subject: Re: bumble bee removal HELP!! Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Why dont you just leave them alone, they wont bother you. A bumble Bee nest is only a couple of dozen individules and is very important to pollination of some plants. There are books at your local library with instructions on how to raise Bumble Bees. They are non agressive, supossedly less agressive than Honey Bees I have seen my baby Daughter out Playing with them carrying them around in her hands. Relax and enjoy them they are beautifull. Jerry Fries ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 02:56:44 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Gregory A. Toothill" Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology Subject: Re: Bees and Water MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Help wanted. Calling all experts. . Has anyone successfully tackled >the problem of bees ignoring the water supply in the apiary and going >instead to a neighbour's pond? I had a similar problem with bees going to my swimming pool. I found keeping a Boardman feeder full of plain water kept them away from the pool. I assume they prefer the convience of having water right at the hive, and they don't have to worry about drowning that way. Greg Toothill ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 01:24:01 -0700 Reply-To: mwr@hotcity.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Reddell Subject: [Fwd: Re: BUCKEYE] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >Has anyone had experience with bees vs buckeye trees? > >Is it a good idea to keep bees where the buckeye grow? > >Is the honey any threat to humans? > > My hives are surrounded by buckeye trees, and they bloom profusely around here > in May. I have never seen a bee on a buckeye flower, and I have looked numerous > times. Nor have I ever noticed any negative effects on my hives during the > buckeye bloom. In the central coastal region of California there is a tree called buckeye that apparently causes the bees to produce severely deformed brood. Most of the locals around here insist that you should never allow your bees to stay in an area where it's in bloom. I have no personal experience with this, and am not sure what the tree in question is. When I kept bees in Seattle there were lots of horse chesnuts that were also called buckeye and my bees never payed any attention to them as far as I could tell. I have no idea if the California buckeye is the same thing. I suspect that it isn't. Michael Reddell mwr@hotcity.com http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 07:26:58 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: David Green Subject: Re: bumble bee removal HELP!! In a message dated 97-05-03 03:18:07 EDT, fries@servcom.com (Sally Fries) writes: << Why dont you just leave them alone, they wont bother you. A bumble Bee nest is only a couple of dozen individules and is very important to pollination of some plants. There are books at your local library with instructions on how to raise Bumble Bees. They are non agressive, supossedly less agressive than Honey Bees I have seen my baby Daughter out Playing with them carrying them around in her hands. Relax and enjoy them they are beautifull. Jerry Fries >> The first bee experience I remember as a child, was catching a bumblebee in the clover with my bare hands. They certainly do sting! Your daughter probably is playing with carpenter bees, which are easier to catch anyway. These are valuable bees as well. But I would discourage my kids from playing with any bee. Teach them to observe them and not to panic, but to respect them, and let them do their job. Pollinator@aol.com Dave Green, PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC 29554 (Dave & Jan's Pollination Service, Pot o'Gold Honey Co.) Practical Pollination Home Page Dave & Janice Green http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 15:52:15 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: Bee venom collector device MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Michael Simics wrote: > > David, > > I have made several bee venom collector devices for other people. If you > would like to contact me directly you may do so at: > > Michael > msimics@direct.ca come on Michael, on the net !!!!!!!! -- -------------------------------------------------------- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 homepage webside: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index2.html webside van het AmbrosiusGilde: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/ambro_index.html webside for NECTAR: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/nectar_index.html with some pages in english on solitary bees. NEW PAGES ON THE FIGHT ON THE VARROA MITES. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemthod.html -------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 14:03:01 GMT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Morris Booton Subject: Drone Comb Can any one tell me an easy way to determine the difference between worker comb and drone comb? Thanks MRB ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 14:05:41 GMT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Morris Booton Subject: Bob Oliver Does any one have the address for Bob Oliver in El paso, TX Thanks Morris Booton ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 15:07:00 GMT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Andy Nachbaur Organization: WILD BEE'S BBS (209) 826-8107 LOS BANOS, CA Subject: Top Ten Pesticide Companies=====================================P A N P S***Pesticide Action Network North AmericaUpdates Servicehttp://www.panna.or /panna/===================================== *FYI* Look and compare with the value of bees and you will understand why bees continue to die from pesticides. ttul Andy- ===================================== P A N U P S *** Pesticide Action Network North America Updates Service http://www.panna.org/panna/ ===================================== April 30, 1997 Top Ten Agrochemical Companies in 1996 The top ten agrochemical companies all showed an increase in both dollar and national currency sales in 1996. Monsanto had the highest rate of growth, with a 22.8% increase over 1995 sales. Zeneca also showed double digit growth -- an 11.3% increase in dollar sales with a 9% increase in volume. Bayer had the smallest growth in sales (1.2%) and fell from third place in 1995 to sixth. After last year's merger of Ciba Geigy and Sandoz, the newly formed multinational corporation Novartis entered the ranking in first place. 1996 Agrochemical Sales of Top Ten Companies Company Sales (US$ mill.) % change vs. 1995 1. Novartis 4,527 + 4.5 2. Monsanto 2,997 + 22.8 3. Zeneca 2,630 + 11.3 4. AgrEvo 2,493 + 6.4 5. Du Pont 2,472 + 6.5 6. Bayer 2,360 + 1.2 7. Rhone-Poulenc 2,210 + 5.7 8. DowElanco 2,000 + 1.9 9. Cyanamid 1,989 + 4.1 10. BASF 1,541 + 8.4 Rhone-Poulenc and Du Pont both reported strong sales in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Rhone-Poulenc's sales were boosted by high sales of its new maize insecticide, Regent (fipronil), due to be launched in the U.S. next year. Much of the company's U.S. agrochemical business is based on the older carbamate insecticides such as Sevin (carbaryl), Temik (aldicarb) and Larvin (thiodicarb) which were acquired when Rhone-Poulenc bought out Union Carbide. The company is currently restructuring its U.S. operations to create two new business units which will focus on "new" and "mature" products. Monsanto's increased sales were due in part to sales of Roundup (glyphosate) which were allowed for use on transgenic herbicide-tolerant crops for the first time in 1996. Roundup Ready (glyphosate tolerant) soybeans were planted on over one million acres in the U.S. in 1996, and Monsanto predicts an eight to ten million acre crop this year. In addition, approximately 250,000 to 300,000 acres of Roundup Ready soybeans were planted in Argentina for the 1996/97 season. Since 1995, Monsanto has invested over US$200 million in glyphosate manufacturing technology, and plans to invest another US$180 million for 1997. While glyphosate-tolerant crops offer potential for expanded sales of Roundup, in the next few years most of the increase is expected to come from increasing adoption of "conservation tillage" practices in countries around the world. Monsanto estimates that the practice could be extended to more than 240 million acres worldwide by 2000, up from the 185 million acres at present. More than 40% of the volume growth of Roundup in recent years has come from expanded use of conservation tillage practices. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency is currently investigating claims that residues of glyphosate have been detected in Copenhagen's drinking water at levels exceeding European Union limits of 0.1 milligrams per liter. According to the head of the Copenhagen food safety agency, residues of up to 0.18 milligrams per liter have been found. Source: Agrow: World Crop Protection News, No. 278, April 18, 1997. Contact: PANNA =========================================================== | Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) | | | | Phone:(415) 541-9140 Fax:(415) 541-9253 | | Email: panna@panna.org http://www.panna.org/panna/| | PANNA, 116 New Montgomery, #810, San Francisco, CA 94105 | | | |*To subscribe to PANUPS send email to MAJORDOMO@igc.apc.org| | with the following text on one line: subscribe panups | | To unsubscribe send the following: unsubscribe panups | | | |*For basic information about PANNA, send an email message | | to panna-info@igc.apc.org | =========================================================== ============== --- ~ QMPro 1.53 ~ ~ ))) In Stereo, Where Available ((( ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 08:43:54 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eric Abell Subject: Re: Bees and Water Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 07:13 AM 01/05/97 +0100, you wrote: >Help wanted. Calling all experts. . Has anyone successfully tackled the >problem of bees ignoring the water supply in the apiary and going instead to >a neighbour's pond? Although I keep a supply in the apiary all the year >round (bees here collect water as early as January) many of my bees prefer >my pond some forty yards away. Luckily I have no near neighbours to worry >about. A few quesses here: Have your apiary water out BEFORE the pond water becomes available. How about sweetening the apiary water then slowly reduce the sweetening until it is only water. I look forward to reading some of the replies. Eric Eric Abell Gibbons, Alberta Canada T0A 1N0 Ph/fax (403) 998 3143 eabell@compusmart.ab.ca ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 10:20:57 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "(Thomas) (Cornick)" Subject: mail order queens Thursday I recieved queens from Yorks as promised and on time Today I recieved queens from B Weaver as promised and on time Same as last year it is nice when things work smoothly. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 23:18:45 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul Cronshaw, D.C." Subject: Types of Queen Intro Cage Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Eric Abell posted: <> I have been thinking about which is the best queen intro cage. I have seen and used the following: 1. standard wooden/wire mesh cage with candy plug 2. cardboard Ashurst Sureway Queen Cage Are there any other queen intro cages on the market? Which ones work the best? Paul Cronshaw, D.C. Cyberchiro and Hobby Beekeeper Santa Barbara, CA USA ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 11:03:34 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: mail order queens On Sat, 3 May 1997 10:20:57 -0400 "(Thomas) (Cornick)" writes: >Thursday I recieved queens from Yorks as promised and on time >Today I recieved queens from B Weaver as promised and on time >Same as last year it is nice when things work smoothly. > Tom: I am curious what section of the country you live in. Merely to determine if sending a Queen from Texas to Boston, Mass area is a reasonable or unreasonable distance in terms of the Queen's health & well being. Thanks, Al Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 17:05:36 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: Drone Comb MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Morris Booton wrote: > > Can any one tell me an easy way to determine the difference between > worker comb and drone comb? > Thanks > MRB Apis mellifera!!! The workercell is 5.4 mm (7/32"") wide, 10 mm(13/32") -12 mm (15/32") deep, drone cells are 6.9 mm(17/64) wide, 13 mm(33/64) deep. what was the name of the beginners book??? -- -------------------------------------------------------- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 homepage webside: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index2.html webside van het AmbrosiusGilde: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/ambro_index.html webside for NECTAR: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/nectar_index.html with some pages in english on solitary bees. NEW PAGES ON THE FIGHT ON THE VARROA MITES. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemethod.html -------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 11:38:48 -0400 Reply-To: kellybee@log.on.ca Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: kelly rogers Subject: bee business for sale MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit For sale: thriving 650 hive Ontario bee business, established in 1923. Located two hours north-west of Toronto and within 30 minutes of Georgian Bay, Lake Huron and the Niagara Escarpment. Hiking, biking, skiing, swimming, boating and fishing only minutes from your doorstep. Owen Sound (population 20,000) is the closest city, 15 minutes north. For more information, please contact me at: kellybee@log.on.ca ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 13:09:14 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MR MARK G SPAGNOLO Subject: Mail order queens Hi: This is more of a response to Al and his question about shipping queens long distances. Queens are good for about 10 days in their cages. If you add a little water to the screens occassionally they will last even longer. We ship queens all over the world, so distance is not a concern. Actually, they have to travel 2500 miles just to reach LA, so they are already well travelled. Heat is the biggest concern when shipping queens. If the temperature is high enough to melt the candy in the cage, the queens are probably dead or have turned to drone layers. Hot bees will look "sweaty" and "greasy". Cold (reasonably), during shipping does not seem to be as lethal to queens. So, to answer your question, time is more of a concern than distance when shipping queens. A trip from TX to MA is simple. A trip from Hawaii to Israel, Indonesia or Edmonton is a little more complex, but certain routine. Mark at Kona Queen ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 21:45:07 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: MARCKQUANT MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit did anybody know if you can buy MARCKQUANT hydrogen-peroxide TEST TRIPS NR. 10.011 ?? In GB, USA or Germany??? Is it a wellknow companie: Marckquant?? -- -------------------------------------------------------- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 homepage webside: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index2.html webside van het AmbrosiusGilde: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/ambro_index.html webside for NECTAR: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/nectar_index.html with some pages in english on solitary bees. NEW PAGES ON THE FIGHT ON THE VARROA MITES. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemethod.html -------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 16:20:28 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: aarcher Subject: What would you do? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit My newly installed TBH colony (this is day 11) has had a rough start, and I need to get an opinion or two. On the 7th day, I opened the hive to find that the queen cage had fallen to the floor of the hive in such a way as to block her escape. The entire screened in portion of the cage where she is attended to, was also face down. She was alive and very ready to get out of her "cell". When I released her, she immediately ran into the dark and disappeared into the area where the bees were currently drawing combs. The particular queen cage had small slits in the side and I can only assume she was able to get food in some manner using one of them. I need to go back a couple of days prior to the first (1st week) inspection. My other hive which was installed (also from a package) the same day and which was installed on foundation in a Lang, had for several days been bringing in copious quantities of willow pollen. (I don't know how this area will be for nectar, but there are a couple of miles of river below with acres of willow, cottonwood, and alder all of which I have been told are excellent pollen producers). The activity at the TBH was altogether different. There was considerable bee activity at both hives, but in the TBH where the queen was unable to get out and lay eggs, it seemed almost chaotic around the hive. At first I suspected robbing but after many hours (of absolutely fascinating beeginner beekeeper observation time), in which time I could not find any actual evidence of such criminal activity, finally decided that it had to be something else. On about Day 5, it appeared that the TBH colony seemed to be made of about 1/3 drones. There were drones everywhere. After watching quite a while, it seemed that the drones were being escorted / forced from the hive by armed guards. Today, on Day 11, which is 4 days from manually having released the lady in question, the TBH workers are also bringing in tremendous quantities of pollen. In fact they have been noticeably active in pollen gathering since yesterday.... Here's the rub. In addition to still acting somewhat frazzled and somewhat disorganized, there still seems to be that very high ratio of drones to workers at this hive when compared with the other hive. The drones are still getting "the boot" from workers at the hive entrance. Could you explain what I'm dealing with? What could be the result (other than a setback in time) of a very long confinement by the queen. I'm itching to get into the hive and take a peek, but am trying to avoid upsetting what must be a disturbed group. What would you do? ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 17:43:42 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Paul Basehore Subject: Re: mail order queens Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" B Weaver also replaced a package of bees that died for me without question. Its nice to do business with someone who stands behind their product like B Weaver. At 10:20 AM 5/3/97 -0400, you wrote: >Thursday I recieved queens from Yorks as promised and on time >Today I recieved queens from B Weaver as promised and on time >Same as last year it is nice when things work smoothly. > ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 18:56:30 -0700 Reply-To: dougm@west-teq.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Doug McCulloch Subject: E-mail address MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Could anyone please give me the E-mail address for Kona Queen in Hawaii. Thanks alot. I'm looking for a good queen cage candy recipe if anyone has one. Thanks, Doug McCulloch ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 14:58:00 GMT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Andy Nachbaur Organization: WILD BEE'S BBS (209) 826-8107 LOS BANOS, CA Subject: BUCKEYE HS>From: Harry Sweet >Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 23:19:50 -0400 >Subject: BUCKEYE HS>Has anyone had experience with bees vs buckeye trees? >Is it a good idea to keep bees where the buckeye grow? >Is the honey any threat to humans? >Harry Sweet >N. California Hi Harry, California Buckeye honey is good to eat, but it is seldom produced in amounts that a beekeeper would extract it other then with other sources such as Sage or Vetch. The California Buckeye tree makes much of the foothill pasture in central and northern California a poor place to keep bees during its late spring bloom. It produces a toxin that will kill the bees. It is believed that if aphids are working the trees the toxin is produced in grater amounts or is more toxic. It is a natural protection for the tree or something. Anyway depending on when the trees bloom and what else is blooming it can not only kill the bees but also will effect the brood to the point that they young bees will hatch out with deformed wings. With bees who have worked the Buckeye it is common to find lots of dead bees in front of the hives, and occasionally you can find dead bees under the California Buckeye trees or on the flowers or leaves. Many times the hives appear OK on the coast but when moved to summer locations in the hot interior valley they will die. There is no cure. In different areas the trees seem to be less destructive. I believe this depends on what other flowers are in bloom. The grater number of other flowers the less the loss. Some hives are not damaged by California Buckeye, and at one time their was several old time bee breeders who lived in the Buckeye and produced stock that was reported to be immune to Buckeye. The bees they produced were dark. It is not a good idea to work hives during the California Buckeye bloom such as moving frames around only causes the bees to search out new pollen and nectar to replace what is no longer in the right place in the hive and if this is from the Buckeye the loss will be greater. The loss can not be prevented by trapping pollen. Feeding sugar syrup during the bloom many be helpful because it may dilute the toxins in the Buckeye nectar. The Buckeye trees of Europe is considered a honey plant. The trees growing in the Sierra foothills seem more toxic then the coastal areas and may cause loss every year when the coastal ones will be every five years. All seems to depend on the relationship to what else is blooming and the amounts of different bloom and what the beekeeper is or has done. Buckeye bees look black or hairless when they pile up in large numbers in the bone yard in front of the hives. Most beekeepers move out or stay away from the California Buckeye. ttul, the OLd Drone (c) Permission is granted to freely copy this document in any form, or to print for any use. (w)Opinions are not necessarily facts. Use at own risk. --- ~ QMPro 1.53 ~ http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/beecam/beecam.html ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 21:34:28 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Frank & Phronsie Humphrey Subject: Re: Bees and Water MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: PondSite > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Bees and Water > Date: Friday, May 02, 1997 1:56 PM > > Don't know about the expert tag, but try putting a large sponge in a > birdbath or large bucket. The bees > > seem to like landing on it. I guess its because they won't drown, and can > get all the water that they > > want, just like taking necter from a flower, WALT, S.C. Retirement Heaven. > > ---------- I use a rectangular plastic container about 6" deep 16" long and 14" wide. Into this I put a concrete block, which is very porous, and fill with water the bees land on the block and walk down to a damp spot and drink. If no animals are present, add a little salt to the water. You won't be able to do anything about the bees that are already addicted to your neighbors pool but they will die off within a few weeks this time of year. Frank & Phronsie Humphrey beekeepr@cdc.net ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 21:44:10 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Frank & Phronsie Humphrey Subject: Re: mail order queens MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ---------- > From: Albert W Needham > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: mail order queens > Date: Saturday, May 03, 1997 11:03 AM > > On Sat, 3 May 1997 10:20:57 -0400 "(Thomas) (Cornick)" > writes: > Tom: > > I am curious what section of the country you live in. Merely to determine > if sending a Queen from Texas to Boston, Mass area is a reasonable > or unreasonable distance in terms of the Queen's health & well being. > > Thanks, > > Al > > Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com > Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program > Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: > http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ Hi Al I live in Chattanooga TN and frequently order queens from California. Simply ask that they be shipped priority mail and you will have them in 2 days most times. The only problem I have ever had was when someone ran over the queens with a forklift. I called the breeder, he reshipped, I filed a claim for him. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 21:29:08 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: krengel lawrence e Subject: Re: mail order queens In-Reply-To: <199705032243.RAA20228@dns.okc> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII As long as we are passing along the suppliers who have done well, I would add Hardeman Apiaries. Three pound packages arrived in a timely fashion and in good shape. Yes, it is great to have the supplier you depend on come through for you. Larry Krengel Marengo, IL USA On Sat, 3 May 1997, Paul Basehore wrote: > B Weaver also replaced a package of bees that died for me without question. > Its nice to do business with someone who stands behind their product like B > Weaver. > At 10:20 AM 5/3/97 -0400, you wrote: > >Thursday I recieved queens from Yorks as promised and on time > >Today I recieved queens from B Weaver as promised and on time > >Same as last year it is nice when things work smoothly. > > > ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 21:35:45 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Dave from Scranton Subject: Re: Bees and water In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Thu, 1 May 1997, Kerry Clark of AGF 784-2225 fax (604) 784 2299 wrote: > It often puzzles (or embarasses) beekeepers that their bees seem to > prefer tainted water supplies (neighbour's chlorinated hot tub, seepage > from compost heaps, or worse) to the pure supply provided (sometimes > only after the habit of using the other source has been established). Before relocating to a spot where teh bees can see the swamp from their door. I had them up in swimming pool land. To keep them away from there I put a large plastic container (holds the live christmas tree in the winter) about 30 fee from teh front of the hive with water and some floats in it. The rain during the summer kept the levels pretty good adn the sides of the container got fairly slimy inside by the end of the summer. They seemed to use it, I always found a few drowned bees in it. ****************************************************************************** Dave D. Cawley, Maitre d' | The Internet Cafe | Scranton, Pennsylvania | (717) 344-1969 | dave@scranton.com | ****************************************************************************** URL => http://www.scranton.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 19:59:39 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul Cronshaw, D.C." Subject: No Apistan in supers Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I have been thinking about using all 9 5/8 hive bodies for honey and brood chambers, I understand this is how the commercial beekeepers manage their hives. However, using Apistan following the recommended program for Apistan - strips in Fall and spring prior would mean that one would have to keep track of the combs that had been exposed to Apistan. Namely, no moving brood combs into supers used for honey storage. WOuld be interested in hearing opinions as to how others manage honey flow and box sizes, Paul Cronshaw, D.C. Cyberchiro and Hobby Beekeeper Santa Barbara, CA USA ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 22:47:53 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Curtis L. Spacek" Subject: DEAD BROOD MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello to all, I have been reading the list for about a year.currently operating 2 hives, a feral colony captured in late may 1996,and a colony of Italian bees which I recently purchased from a local comercial beekeeper w/1500 hives.I recieved the italian bees about a week ago.This consisted of 5 frames of brood and a laying queen.(yet to be verified).Iwas watching the bees come and go when I noticed dead brood being removed from the hive by workers.(2 in about 20 mins.)The first was carried off over my neighbors house so I didn't get a good look at it,however I took the 2nd dead brood away from the worker .upon closer inspection I noticed the head was eaten away and the thorax was empty,all entrails removed.The beekeeper told me to be sure and treat the hive(and all other hives for varroa and foulbrood because of infestations in the area.I plan to thoroughly inspect the Italian hive tomorrow and plan to collect drone brood larvae for inspection under a microscope and to treat with teramicin and grease patties.My question is do bees eat healthy brood as a population control action or do I probably have a case of foulbrood on my hands.in any case am I on the right track? any and all responses welcome.reply to the list or me personally at cspacek@flash.net.THANKS TO ALL FOR THE ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF INFO. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 22:11:00 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Bob Oliver Subject: Re: Bob Oliver MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_01BC580E.E1F75340" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_01BC580E.E1F75340 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable The Address is Bob Oliver 10321 Rushing Rd. El Paso, Tx 79924 ---- From: Morris Booton To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU Date: Saturday, May 03, 1997 6:53 AM Subject: Bob Oliver Does any one have the address for Bob Oliver in El paso, TX Thanks Morris Booton ------=_NextPart_000_01BC580E.E1F75340 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

The Address is

Bob Oliver

10321 Rushing Rd.

El Paso, Tx 79924

----
From: Morris Booton <booton@internetland.net>
To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU
Date: Saturday, May 03, 1997 6:53 AM
Subject: Bob Oliver

Does any one have the address for Bob Oliver = in El=20 paso, TX
            &= nbsp;           &n= bsp;     =20 Thanks
            &= nbsp;           &n= bsp;   =20 Morris Booton
 ------=_NextPart_000_01BC580E.E1F75340-- ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 05:33:08 -0600 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: DEAD BROOD In-Reply-To: <336C06E9.D4D@pop.flash.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > I recieved the italian bees about a week ago.This consisted of 5 > frames of brood and a laying queen.(yet to be verified).Iwas watching the > bees come and go when I noticed dead brood being removed from the hive by > workers.(2 in about 20 mins.)The first was carried off over my neighbors > house so I didn't get a good look at it,however I took the 2nd dead brood > away from the worker .upon closer inspection I noticed the head was eaten > away and the thorax was empty,all entrails removed. There are a number of possibilities here, the most obvious of which would be starvation. Damage to the brood while transferring it into the nuc is another and ant predation is a third that comes to mind. Allen ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 08:52:56 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John Wolford Subject: Hive inspection MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have one hive that was determined to be queenless and have laying workers. I was advised to replace two frames from the laying worker colony with two brood frames from the strong colony in liew of introducing a new queen to the queenless colony. I was told that the queenless colony would develop a new queen possilby from these two new frames. The introduction of a new queen to the laying workers would result in conflict with the confused bees and would ultimatly be killed. Does anybody else have any information or ideas about this? Also, how long can you keep a hive unassembled without damaging the colony during inspection. Does it hurt the colony to inspect more that once monthly? John M. Wolford jmwolford@kih.net Liberty, KY ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 09:21:43 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: Requeening >The press in cage is interesting and >perhaps someone with a picture and a scanner >could make it available. Eric & others. In respect to the press-in-cage and any other photos that many List members could be interested in. As you know I have a web page. I would be glad to create a permanent BEE-L page on my site for the express purpose of displaying a specific photo or two that could be of interest to many List members to be able to view. I have a scanner, albeit an Easy Photo type that can handle about any size photo. I also have the capability to manipulate photos to some extent, i.e., crop, rotate, some degree of improving the quality of the original photo, etc. To be more specific on this idea....take Eric's "press-in-cage". If Eric had a photo of this & sent it to me, I could scan it, etc., and put it up on my web site under a specific menu item, let's say label the menu item "Picture For BEE-L List Members". Leave it up there for some specific length of time. Then any List member who had a Browser capable of showing pictures, could go to my web site and view what it was all about ! Of course the quality of the photo displayed at my site would be dependent on the quality of what was sent to me....as I say I could improve it to some limited degree. So..if someone comes up with something that may be of interest to a number of you..I am willing to give this idea a "trial run". Al, Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 23:05:52 -0300 Reply-To: davmc@nbnet.nb.ca Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: davmc Subject: Re: Power Faioure = loss of internet data MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Please send me your info on varroa. Thanks, David McKinney davmc@nbnet.nb.ca ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 13:46:33 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Robert E Neely Subject: Re: What would you do? The first thing that I would do is to keep plenty of sugar syrup available for at least a month or until they have at two or more full frames (capped) in store. Sugar syrup is a way of speeding up the drawing of comb. Unless further inspection proves different, they need the protein in the pollen to feed the young larvae. To me this is a good sign that the queen is laying. I would give them a week before I open them again. It sometimes takes two days or more for them to settle down after an inspection. Keep me posted, Bob Neely Goose Creek, SC USA neely-bee@juno.com On Sat, 3 May 1997 16:20:28 -0600 aarcher writes: >My newly installed TBH colony (this is day 11) has had a rough start, >and I >need to get an opinion or two. On the 7th day, I opened the hive to >find >that the queen cage had fallen to the floor of the hive in such a way >as to >block her escape. The entire screened in portion of the cage where >she is >attended to, was also face down. She was alive and very ready to get >out >of her "cell". When I released her, she immediately ran into the >dark and >disappeared into the area where the bees were currently drawing combs. > The >particular queen cage had small slits in the side and I can only >assume she >was able to get food in some manner using one of them. > >I need to go back a couple of days prior to the first (1st week) >inspection. My other hive which was installed (also from a package) >the >same day and which was installed on foundation in a Lang, had for >several >days been bringing in copious quantities of willow pollen. (I don't >know >how this area will be for nectar, but there are a couple of miles of >river >below with acres of willow, cottonwood, and alder all of which I have >been >told are excellent pollen producers). > >The activity at the TBH was altogether different. There was >considerable >bee activity at both hives, but in the TBH where the queen was unable >to >get out and lay eggs, it seemed almost chaotic around the hive. At >first >I suspected robbing but after many hours (of absolutely fascinating >beeginner beekeeper observation time), in which time I could not find >any >actual evidence of such criminal activity, finally decided that it had >to >be something else. > >On about Day 5, it appeared that the TBH colony seemed to be made of >about >1/3 drones. There were drones everywhere. After watching quite a >while, >it seemed that the drones were being escorted / forced from the hive >by >armed guards. > >Today, on Day 11, which is 4 days from manually having released the >lady >in question, the TBH workers are also bringing in tremendous >quantities of >pollen. In fact they have been noticeably active in pollen gathering >since >yesterday.... > >Here's the rub. In addition to still acting somewhat frazzled and >somewhat disorganized, there still seems to be that very high ratio of >drones to workers at this hive when compared with the other hive. The >drones are still getting "the boot" from workers at the hive entrance. >Could you explain what I'm dealing with? What could be the result >(other >than a setback in time) of a very long confinement by the queen. > >I'm itching to get into the hive and take a peek, but am trying to >avoid >upsetting what must be a disturbed group. > >What would you do? > ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 18:14:34 +0000 Reply-To: jdalexa@widtech.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: John Alexander Subject: Failing Hive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I returned from a navy deployment to find my first hive was failing with an (on-strike) queen. Requeened - to no avail - the only thing populous are ants and wax moths. What is a good method of doing away with the very few remaining bees so that I can salvage the drawn comb and honey for my new hives (and to restock this one)??? Thanks John Alexander Beltsville, MD ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 16:18:56 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Simics Subject: bee venom collector devices Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi Jan, Thanks for the vote of confidence but ... I have spent 12 years developing and perfecting my bee venom collector devices. Part of my living is made by making these available to others who want to try collecting bee venom. I have never patented my devices, because I know for $25.00 Can. one can purchase the copy of the patent and 12 years work is gone. Instead I sell them. In this way as well, the venom collector is assured of instant success. I have written a couple of articles that give general information on how bee venom is collected. One of them is: Bee Venom Collection - Past, Present and Future, American Bee Journal, Vol. 135, No. 7, pp. 489-491, 1995 Thanks for your interest. It is nice to know there are a few people interested in one of the more obscure aspects of beekeeping. Michael msimics@direct.ca ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 19:08:15 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: krengel lawrence e Subject: Menthol In-Reply-To: <970327204452_248512353@emout02.mail.aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII There has been discussion about using TM and Apistan strips with newly installed packages. What are the thoughts about using menthol? or how about grease patties? I have never heard it suggested and assume there is likely a reason. No tracheal mites in package? Larry Krengel Marengo, Illinois USA ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 01:13:37 GMT Reply-To: Tim_Sterrett@westtown.edu Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tim Sterrett Organization: Westtown School Subject: Re: Menthol Larry Krengel writes: What are the thoughts about using menthol? or how about grease patties? I have never heard it suggested and assume there is likely a reason. No tracheal mites in package? ********************************** While Varroa mites kill colonies in late summer or in autumn, tracheal mites are a winter problem. Tracheal mites debilitate or kill colonies in late winter. Menthol is used at the end of summer (while the weather is still warm) to reduce tracheal mite populations going into winter. Apistan is used early in spring (before the honey flow begins) and again in mid-summer (as soon as the honey crop is off) to reduce the build-up of Varroa mites during the honeybee brood-rearing season. Grease patties can be used all year, but they probably are most helpful to the bees during winter. Incidentally, unless menthol is used properly, it is useless. Menthol has to be applied when the temperature in the colony is high enough to vaporize enough of it to kill mites, but not so high that the vapor drives all of the bees out of the colony. Grease patties (or some other delivery method for oil/grease) is probably the main treatment for tracheal mites. Tim Tim Sterrett Westtown, (Southeastern) Pennsylvania, USA tim_sterrett@westtown.edu ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 19:04:59 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adony Melathopoulos Subject: Sampling absolute Varroa population In-Reply-To: <970503070346741@beenet.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Me and a collegue are trying to maintain some experimental Varroa colonies. We would like to have an absolute estimate of Varroa at any given point in time to better allocate mites to experiments (and not run out of mites or have the mites run off on us). We have been sampling phoretic mites by both 24 h natural drop onto sticky boards and collecting bees in ethanol. Anyone know a study that correlates these counts with absolute mite numbers ? This spring we brought Varroa infested colonies through the winter and in : Febuary - 20-90 % of adult bees carried phoretic mites and 24 h natural drop ranged from 1 - 30 (9 colonies) April - 3-18 % of adult bees carried phoretic mites and 24 h natural drop ranged from 24-209 (6 colonies) I think two things are contributing to lower % of phoretic mites on adult bees and higher natural drop : 1 - brood rearing started and there are relatively more bees to mites in April than in February (hence a lower percentage of mites per bees, but 24 h drop continues to increase because the absolute number of mites increases) 2 - more mites are reproducing under the cappings of cells in April than in February, and fewer mites are out on adult bees at a given time So how many mites do we have ? Without an estimate of mites in the brood can we really ever know ? Do we really need to sample brood to get an accurate estimate or can we rely on out of brood estimates (sticky board counts and adult bee samples)? How far do we have to go to know if a cell has mites in it ? Can we simply knick the cell and the mites will crawl out or do we have to take the pre-pupa / pupa out of the cell an inspect the whole cell completely ? If anyone has any leads or ideas and time to reply I would appreciate your help. Cheers Adony *********************************** ** Adony P. Melathopoulos ********* *** Center for Pest Management **** **** Simon Fraser University ****** ***** Burnaby, British Columbia *** ****** Canada, V5A-1S6 ************ *********************************** Tel : (604) 291-4163 Fax : (604) 291-3496 e-mail : melathop@sfu.ca "The pursuit of agriculture promotes the strength of the mind as well as the body" - Rev. John L. Blake, 1853 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 22:41:41 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: Hive inspection On Sun, 4 May 1997 08:52:56 -0400 John Wolford writes: >Also, how long can you keep a hive unassembled without damaging the >colony during inspection. Does it hurt the colony to inspect more that once >monthly? John: You should only be keeping a hive open long enough to make a determination about whatever is the reason you are opening the hive. A lot depends on the weather. It is sort of a common sense thing. Not to be funny, but the answer is somewhat related to the answer to the following question: "How long would you walk around naked on any given day?" The length of time on a cold rainy day is going to be something different than on a beautiful 95 degree day in the heat of the summer. There is the quick check type of look and there is the more in-depth look. The reasons in each case are different. For instance: In late winter,early spring you are taking a quick look to see if they have enough stores to make it thru to nectar gathering. You are looking to see where they are in the top super. If there are large numbers at the top of the frames, then they are running out of food and you better feed them fast as they can quickly starve to death. The more in-depth look may be to check the brood rearing pattern or to pull out a frame with drone cells, for the purpose of pulling some drone larvae out to check for varroa mites. So... the amount of time is dependent upon the nature of your mission. When you open/disassemble a hive, you are disrupting the productive activity of the hive and in effect losing that day's production. Some say that the loss of normal production is for about 24 hours. So it is not really a matter of how many times a month/week, etc. If you are a beginner, it is felt that it is okay to open more often than you would otherwise to see what is going on, because you are engaged in a learning process. In time, you can really tell a lot about what is going on by simply standing to the side and observing the comings and goings and even the "contented hum sound". When something is not right, it is really quite obvious, as they will act and sound discontented. It's not much different than observing the coming and goings of the house across the street from you and the behavior patterns of the occupants. You can tell if the folks in that house are a happy and contented lot just by observation of their routines & behavior patterns, and yes, even their sounds! Al, Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 22:47:50 +0100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Greg Hankins Subject: Re: 10-Day Old Package Questions In-Reply-To: <3366BFDE.646E@worldnet.att.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi All, I wrote using this subject line on Wednesday with concerns that one of my two newbie hives might be queenless a few days after installation of a package and queen. The list provided lots of helpful advice, for which I am grateful. I'm also grateful that inspection of my hives today revealed lots of eggs and some larvae in the hive I was worried about. There were LOTS of eggs on both sides of one of the central frames, laid in one cell right after another, dead center in the bottom of each cell -- so I'm pretty confident I have a productive queen rather than laying workers. The other hive actually had capped brood on both sides of the central frame! Thanks again to those who offerd advice. I find this list a great help -- and considerably entertaining, to boot! Greg ____________________________________________________ Greg Hankins Mt. Gilead, NC ghankins@ac.net ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 19:49:11 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: David Alexander Subject: Re: Failing Hive Comments: To: jdalexa@widtech.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit John Alexander wrote: > > I returned from a navy deployment to find my first hive was > failing with an (on-strike) queen. Requeened - to no avail - > the only thing populous are ants and wax moths. > > What is a good method of doing away with the very few remaining bees > so that I can salvage the drawn comb and honey for my new hives (and > to restock this one)??? > > Thanks > > John Alexander > Beltsville, MD john. it would be prudent to find out for certain just why the bees died. if mites, the equipment should be empty of bees for a week or so. you can just throw the bees out on the ground and put the equipment away from them. if you have foul brood then you will have to fumigate or destroy the hive. dave alexander k7da ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 13:47:11 +1000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Mauricio Montes Castillo Subject: STINGLESS BEES RESEARCHERS Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" A forwarded message for the stinglessbees people... Mauricio :) >Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 21:28:30 +0930 (CST) >From: Enoch Aduli >Subject: STINGLESS BEES RESEARCHERS >To: breeders@chuck.AgSci.ColoState.EDU >Cc: hyasue@niai.affrc.go.jp >Message-Id: >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII >Status: R > > >Hi all, > >A Japanese researcher (Dr Amano) working on stingless bees breeding is >interested in contact persons, e-mail addresses, phone and fax numbers of >Australian researchers in the same field. If you can help, kindly contact >me. Thanks very much. > >Aduli E. Malau-Aduli, >Animal Genetics Group, >Department of Animal Science, >University of Adelaide, >Waite Agricultural Research Institute, >Glen Osmond, S.A. 5064 AUSTRALIA. >e-mail: eaduli@waite.adelaide.edu.au >Phone: 61-8-8303-7341 >Fax: 61-8-8303-7114 > > > ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 20:18:02 -0800 Reply-To: beeman@Alaska.NET Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tom & Carol Elliott Organization: Home Subject: Re: Hive inspection MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit John Wolford wrote: > Does it hurt the colony to inspect more that once monthly? John, As to frequency of hive inspections, I understand that there is good scientific evidence that openning a hive disrupts it to some degree for two days. I would guess that, all things being equal, the less often a colony is openned the better it would do. All things are seldom, if ever, equal though. Why do you keep bees? If it is for pleasure, then learning about what goes on inside the hive may be of more value than some theoretial optimum of hive activity. Are there pluses to inspections that might outweigh any drawbacks to inspections more often than monthly (such as spotting swarm preparations, queenlessness, disease, or some such)? I think so. How much harm do you do to your colony if you inspect at weekly intervals? I do inspect at about that frequency, and I have often watched workers do their "dances" on frames I was holding during an inspection. I have often watched the queen examine cells and make a selection, then back into the cell and lay an egg. While I carry on inspections workers continue to enter and leave the hive (at lowered rates?). I have had crops vary from nothing (during a particularly cool or dry or wet season) to 295 pounds of honey (that is measured by weight after extraction, not guessed at by hefting the hive). I enjoy my bees, and if there is some theoretical improvement possible from inspecting less often, I really do not care. - - - - - - - - - - - - "Test everything. Hold on to the good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21) Tom Elliott Eagle River, Alaska U.S.A. beeman@alaska.net ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 23:23:50 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Carlson@netins.net" Organization: http://www.netins.net/showcase/goldenoak/gof.htm Subject: Overly large comb size in frames MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Okay, bearing in mind that this is our first hive... I have a question. When we installed our bees, I removed five frames, set the queen cage in between two frames and shook 3 lbs of bees in each hive. I then replaced 9 of the frames and left. Several days later I went to make sure the queens got out... they had, but I also found that the bees had a small mass of comb in the space left around the queen cage. I removed the cage and put the tenth frame in, not thinking much about it. But, now I wonder, with all of this extra thick comb in there....have I violated the 3/8 space and will this cause the bees to leave comb off of the adjacent frame? Could or should I have removed or cut this down? Is this normal? Maybe I do not need to do anything? Thank You Roger Carlson -- Visit us: at the Farm: "http://www.netins.net/showcase/goldenoak/gof.htm" at Aledo Time "http://www.netins.net/showcase/goldenoak/att.htm" ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 23:47:37 -0700 Reply-To: mwr@hotcity.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Michael Reddell Subject: 19 pounder! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I just picked up the largest swarm I've ever personally seen. It weighed in at 19 pounds. It's number 30 on my 'swarm watch' page. I got some nice pictures back today and will put them on my web site as soon as I can get to a scanner (should be Monday PM). The pros on the list won't be too impressed with this probably, since it's apparently common to see multiple swarms combine in a large commercial yard, but I'm a 16 year hobbyist, and I thought it quite remarkable. Michael Reddell mwr@hotcity.com http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 08:03:43 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Cesar Flores Subject: Recycling Duragilt foundation Does anyone know how to rewax plastic duragilt panels for reuse after peeling off the old comb? Cesar Flores Colorado ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 08:50:35 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eddie Leach Subject: love bugs Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To Richard Drutchas and any other interested parties, You are somewhat correct in your assumption that love bugs compete with bees for nectar/pollen on the blossoms of the saw palmetto plant. I am an Entomologist with the USDA Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology (CMAVE) Research Laboratory in Gainesville, Florida. In the late 60's, I was an Entomology student at the University of Florida and in the summer of 1968, I did a summer project for the late Dr. L. Hetrick in which I made observations on the life cycle of the love bug (Plecia nearctica Hardy). The information appeared in a Florida Coop Extension Service, IFAS Circular # 360 by Driggers and Short (in case you are interested in learning a little more about these beasties). I also did a couple of drawings of a mating pair of love bugs for that work which seems to make it's way into our newspaper every couple of years. I was also a beekeeper for many years as a result of taking a beekeeping class for part of my education major. The honey gods were speaking to me on the sunny afternoon of my very first Apiculture laboratory for when I arrived home I found the very first swarm of bees that I had ever seen in my life. They were hanging on an Azaleas bush limb beside my own driveway. I nuked that one and was on my way to a rewarding hobby. I no longer have bees, but am still fasinated by them. Palmetto honey was, and I imagine still is, one of the interim crops between the Orange blossom and the Gallberry flows. But, at the time, love bugs were merely a brief, twice a year nuisance. There are several things going on in this relationship between Palmetto, love bugs, and bees of all kinds (not just honey bees). I have been gathering photos and some information for some time now and would like to get some definitive answers to a few of the more pressing questions some day. However, the goals at our laboratory lie in the area of investigating pests of economic importance such as stored product pests, mosquitos, field crop insects, fire ants, etc.. Therefore, it becomes difficult to justify the necessary time and effort to study what seems to be a minor problem. I have chemists interested in studying and/or identifying and/or synthesizing whatever compounds might be involved if the right priorities can be established. So far, it's a slow process, but I'll let you know if we make any headway. Your email on the subject shows that good observations are part of the process of being a good beekeeper and is encouraging me to follow through on this subject. If there are others out there who would have input on the love bug/bee relationship, I would like to hear from them. I no longer subscribe to this list due to the tremendous load of email that tends to build and build till I have the time to sort through it all. Any correspondence on the above topic should be sent directly to my address below (otherwise, I won't get it - get it?) Eddie Leach, Entomologist USDA, ARS, CMAVE 1700 SW 23rd Drive Gainesville, FL 32608-1069 (352) 374-5708 culture@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 14:16:03 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: California buckeye shrubs Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Andy Nachbauer wrote: "The California Buckeye tree makes much of the foothill pasture in central and northern California a poor place to keep bees during its late spring bloom. It produces a toxin that will kill the bees." He also gave a lot of other good advice about that plant. Beekeepers in coastal regions do not experience the problems encountered by those who keep bees in the foothills of the Central Valley. Adrian Adrian M. Wenner (805) 893-2838 (UCSB office) Ecol., Evol., & Marine Biology (805) 893-8062 (UCSB FAX) Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara (805) 963-8508 (home office & FAX) Santa Barbara, CA 93106 *********************************************************************** * "Discovery is to see what everyone else has seen, * * but to think what no one else has thought." * * --- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi * *********************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 14:16:09 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adrian Wenner Subject: Re: Bees and water Comments: cc: jschmidt@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Stan Sandler commented quite perceptively about bees and water sources. In our adventures on Santa Cruz Island, we found bees usually collected water from some quite "raunchy" sources. An algae coated seep on a rock face proved especially attractive. The algae covered stones at the edge of streams was another. For some years I have advocated floating a burlap bag on boards on top of the water surface provided for bees. In time that burlap gets infused with algal cultures. It seems that bees need an odor source that they can associate with a water source. And, yes, the minerals may be quite important. Male butterflies of some species ingest water from muddy sources, pass it through their bodies, and thereby concentrate the minerals. They apparently later pass those minerals on to the females during copulation --- thus enhancing nutrition of the resultant eggs. Adrian Adrian M. Wenner (805) 893-2838 (UCSB office) Ecol., Evol., & Marine Biology (805) 893-8062 (UCSB FAX) Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara (805) 963-8508 (home office & FAX) Santa Barbara, CA 93106 *********************************************************************** * "Discovery is to see what everyone else has seen, * * but to think what no one else has thought." * * --- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi * *********************************************************************** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 08:21:17 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ted Fischer Subject: Re: DEAD BROOD MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Curtis L. Spacek wrote: > My question is do bees eat > healthy brood as a population control action or do I probably have a > case of foulbrood on my hands.in any case am I on the right track? No, bees will never eat brood, although I understand that they may eat eggs at times. If in fact the brood was eaten, it must have been ants. It would not have been foulbrood, because the brood in that case would have been brown, semiliquified and often unrecognizable as brood if the cell were to be cleaned out. Often chilled brood is cleaned out, or brood which cannot be fed because of a sudden end to a good nectar flow. The brood may have merely been pulled apart by the bees in order to get it out of the cell. Ted Fischer Dexter, Michigan USA ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 07:57:59 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Eric Abell Subject: Re: Requeening Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Unfortunately I do not have a photo but your offer is a great idea. For this cage and many others. Allan Dick had several photos on his web page of his unwrapping and this was most interesting as well. Eric >To be more specific on this idea....take Eric's "press-in-cage". >If Eric had a photo of this & sent it to me, I could scan it, etc., >and put it up on my web site under a specific menu item, let's >say label the menu item "Picture For BEE-L List Members". >Leave it up there for some specific length of time. Then any >List member who had a Browser capable of showing pictures, >could go to my web site and view what it was all about ! > >Of course the quality of the photo displayed at my site >would be dependent on the quality of what was sent to >me....as I say I could improve it to some limited degree. > >So..if someone comes up with something that may be of >interest to a number of you..I am willing to give this idea >a "trial run". > >Al, > >Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com >Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program >Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: >http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ > > Eric Abell Gibbons, Alberta Canada T0A 1N0 Ph/fax (403) 998 3143 eabell@compusmart.ab.ca ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 08:35:04 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ted Fischer Subject: Re: Hive inspection MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit John Wolford wrote: > > I have one hive that was determined to be queenless and have laying > workers. I was advised to replace two frames from the laying worker colony > with two brood frames from the strong colony in liew of introducing a new > queen to the queenless colony. I was told that the queenless colony would > develop a new queen possilby from these two new frames. The introduction > of a new queen to the laying workers would result in conflict with the > confused bees and would ultimatly be killed. Does anybody else have any > information or ideas about this? There has recently been information on this list about treating hives with laying workers, so I won't repeat that, except to emphasize: DO NOT TRY TO INTRODUCE A QUEEN INTO A LAYING WORKER HIVE!! It is a waste money, time and a perfectly good queen, since she will surely be killed. The same goes for putting in young brood. Such a hive will not even try to raise a queen for themselves, since in their opinion, they have about a dozen perfectly good substitute queens. Ted Fischer Dexter, Michigan USA ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 10:15:52 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John A Skinner Subject: Re: BUCKEYE In-Reply-To: <970502231949_-1434265330@emout17.mail.aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Harry, Work done by Vansell in California substantiated toxic effects of pollen, nectar and honey of California buckeye to honey bees. Pellet lists buckeye as a "honey source" and in searching the literature for a book chapter, I could find very little about toxicity of buckeye to humans. Toxic conditions were brought about by a reduction in other forage to honey bees, stimulating them to forage on buckeye as the only food source. For other information about plants toxic to honey bees see Honey Bee Pests, Predators, and Diseases. edited by Roger Morse. A third edition will be available soon. Grins, John John A. Skinner 218 Ellington Hall Extension Apiculturist University of Tennessee jskinner@utk.edu Knoxville, TN 37901 (423)974-7138 On Fri, 2 May 1997, Harry Sweet wrote: > Has anyone had experience with bees vs buckeye trees? > Is it a good idea to keep bees where the buckeye grow? > Is the honey any threat to humans? > TIA > Harry Sweet > N. California > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 11:57:45 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jack Griffes Subject: MSU looking to hire Comments: To: BeeBreed List MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This may be a bit off topic though it definitely needs to get to folks interested in breeding bees resistant to mites/disease - if you know a qualified party that this would possibly interest please forward it to them. Thanks. Michigan State University is currently seeking someone to replace Dr. Roger Hoopingarner upon his retirement early this Summer. if interested contact Mark Scriber (517) 355-4662 (517) 355-4665 Dept. of Entomology or J. Ian Gray (517) 355-0123 Agricultural Experiment Station PhD required currently MSU is offering something in the $24-27,000 US range for this non-tenured position a great deal of pressure is being exerted on MSU by beekeepers, growers of bee pollinated crops and concerned state officials to get the pay up where MSU can attract and hold a good person interested in working on various projects including bee pollination and the breeding of bees resistant to mites and disease in direct cooperation with the beekeepers of MI Thanks, Jack Griffes Country Jack's Honeybee Farm Honeybee Improvement Program Horseshoeing by Jack Griffes Ottawa Lake, MI 49267 USA e-mail Griffes@ix.netcom.com Web site http://www2.netcom.com/~griffes/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 15:16:33 +0100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Sid Pullinger Subject: Inspections Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" John Wolford asks--- <<<>>>> I assume the KY in your address is for Kentucky and I know nothing about nectar conditions there. Here , however, in England where the weather changes from day to day and the season is fairly short, it is necessary to keep the hives full of bees from May to July in order to snatch the nectar whenever the sun shines. A monthly inspection would mean losing many swarms and the consequent loss of a honey crop. As far as I am concerned the art of beekeeping lies in keeping the hives full of bees and not allowing them to swarm. For this an inspection every seven to ten days is essential with remedial action taken if queen cells are found. I keep several stocks permanently on scales and I have found that the routine inspection, carried out with the minimum of fuss, every comb in the broodchamber scanned for queen cells, costs from four to six pounds of nectar loss during a good flow for that day only. I have seen it written that an inspection upsets the bees for three days but that is not what I have found. If there is little flow on then the loss is negligible. However, losing a swarm means losing half of the foragers just when every bee is needed. There is then a fortnight's wait for a virgin to mate and start laying and by the time the stock has built up the season may be over. <<>>>> How long do you need? A few minutes for the experienced, half an hour for the beginner. Little chance of real damage to the stock but the longer it is open the greater the chance of damage to beekeeper and neighbours. Checking twenty combs in a double broodchamber stock, making sure you do not miss a single cell, can be a daunting task for a beginner, often ending up with the bees in turmoil. There is a right way and many wrong ones and I always advise any beginner to work with or watch an experienced beekeeper before taking it on. Sid P. _________________________________________________________________ Sid Pullinger Email : sidpul@Interalpha.co.uk or 36, Grange Rd Sidpul@compuserve.com Alresford Hants SO24 9HF England ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 12:58:42 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: Types of Queen Intro Cage In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 2 May 97 at 23:18, Paul Cronshaw, D.C. wrote: Types of Queen Intro Cage > I have been thinking about which is the best queen intro cage. I have seen > and used the following: > 1. standard wooden/wire mesh cage with candy plug > 2. cardboard Ashurst Sureway Queen Cage > Are there any other queen intro cages on the market? Which ones work the best? Not sure about the best! We use JZB's plastic. They are small enough to fit between frames without having to remove one. They are scented,which masks the queen odour, and filling with queen candy is a snap, and cheap. We also handle a Queen's guard cage, a little more difficult, and of course more expensive. We do have them in stock, for any who want to try them. ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 10:04:30 -0700 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Paul van Westendorp of AGF 576-3737 Fax: 576-3730" Subject: Re: BEE-L Digest - 1 May 1997 to 2 May 1997 In-Reply-To: <01IIEP7UZAJMCF5EQV@saturn.gov.bc.ca> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Re. Osmia Cocoons from Yugoslavia L.Z. Stanisavljevic reported on the work done re. O. rufa and O. cornata. I also noticed that he offered coccoons to anyone interested. I am not sure the wisdom of shipping Osmia coccons and nesting material possibly all over the world. For many countries, such importation is downright illegal but more importantly for us interested and conscientious about bees and pollinators, are we wise in distributing Osmia species to areas where they may not native and hence, affecting existing pollinator populations? Also, Osmia is known to act as host to a range of organisms (not necessarily parasites) including fungi (Ascospheara spp.), mites, flies, etc. The intro of Osmia in a given area may not have any affect but the associated organisms may. I would advise caution to any proposed shipment of Osmia until more information is available. regards, pvw ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 14:33:18 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ted Wout Subject: Overly large comb size in frames Roger Carlson wrote: >>When we installed our bees, I removed five frames, set the queen cage in between two frames and shook 3 lbs of bees in each hive. I then replaced 9 of the frames and left. Several days later I went to make sure the queens got out... they had, but I also found that the bees had a small mass of comb in the space left around the queen cage. I removed the cage and put the tenth frame in, not thinking much about it. But, now I wonder, with all of this extra thick comb in there....have I violated the 3/8 space and will this cause the bees to leave comb off of the adjacent frame? Could or should I have removed or cut this down? Is this normal? Maybe I do not need to do anything?<< Hello Roger and All, This has happened to me when I installed packages in the past. I just cut that comb that is built in the space on either side of the queen cage out. It seems like a shame to remove the eggs laid in it, if there are any, but it's better than messing up your bee space. For some reason the bees really love to build comb when hived from a package and they'll build freestyle comb around the queen cage. Upon exiting her cage, I have noticed that queens just start laying in the first cells available, in this case the freestyle comb built in the space around the queen cage. Cut it out and move them over for your tenth frame. I have noticed that sometimes the cells in this burr comb have more than one egg in them. It's not laying workers because the queen is free and laying away. Could it be that the first few layings are haphazard and it takes the queen a few trials to get things under control? I've only noticed this twice and thought that maybe I had laying workers. After further inspection, I had a queen and everything was fine. Has anyone else noticed this? Ted Wout Red Oak, TX ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 14:33:21 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ted Wout Subject: Re: Recycling Duragilt foundation Cesar Flores wrote: >>Does anyone know how to rewax plastic duragilt panels for reuse after peeling off the old comb?<< Since there is no imprint of honeycomb on the plastic, bees will not draw out "bald" Duragilt. This has been a topic of discussion on this list in the past. Many got on the anti-Duragilt bandwagon for this reason. There were however some staunch supporters of Duragilt. I believe that there may be some management hints that some of the pro-Duragilt folks may be able to give you. Barry, are you out there? My opinion is that it's best to prevent the bald spots in the first place by not using Duragilt. Use something like Permadent or Plasticell. There's also a new plastic foundation called RiteCell from Mann-Lake. Has anyone on the list tried this yet? If so, have you got an opinion? Ted Wout Red Oak, TX ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 21:08:38 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: bee venom collector devices MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I see something about a plastic sheet with copper wire on top af it. 3 inch deep and wide as the entrance On the copperwire there are electric shocks (not 10.000 volt please) wire:>> on and on plus and minus. One bee must contact both wire and the sheet, so the tunnel is 1/4 inch high. Bees are guided for the entrance to go through the tunnel The bees will sting in the plastic sheet, and on the undersite ther will be some verom drip. -- -------------------------------------------------------- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 homepage webside: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index2.html webside van het AmbrosiusGilde: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/ambro_index.html webside for NECTAR: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/nectar_index.html with some pages in english on solitary bees. NEW PAGES ON THE FIGHT ON THE VARROA MITES. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemethod.html -------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 21:22:42 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Varroa, hmf and heated honey MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit new pages on hmf http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/hmf.html Varroamites http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemethod.html heated honey http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/H2O2.html solitary bees. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/sol_bees.html -- --------------- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 homepage webside: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index2.html webside for NECTAR: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/nectar_index.html --------------- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 14:50:04 +0000 Reply-To: barry@birkey.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Barry Birkey Organization: BIRKEY.COM Subject: Re: Recycling Duragilt foundation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ted Wout wrote: > > Cesar Flores wrote: > >>Does anyone know how to rewax plastic duragilt panels for reuse after > peeling > off the old comb?<< > > Since there is no imprint of honeycomb on the plastic, bees will not draw > out "bald" Duragilt. This has been a topic of discussion on this list in > the past. Many got on the anti-Duragilt bandwagon for this reason. There > were however some staunch supporters of Duragilt. I believe that there may > be some management hints that some of the pro-Duragilt folks may be able to > give you. Barry, are you out there? No, I'm hiding! :>) When I saw this one I was going to reply that Cesar might want to give Dadant a call but then I thought again and figured someone else could better handle this one. > My opinion is that it's best to prevent the bald spots in the first place > by not using Duragilt. Use something like Permadent or Plasticell. > There's also a new plastic foundation called RiteCell from Mann-Lake. Has > anyone on the list tried this yet? If so, have you got an opinion? > > Ted Wout > Red Oak, TX Ted is right, it's best to prevent this problem in the first place but then we differ. One could use the several different plastic foundation that is available out there such as the ones Ted mentioned. Bald spots on Duragilt will not get recombed so you either have to live with the bald spot if it's small in comparison to the whole comb or you work this frame to the outside position and then either leave it there or replace. So many options, so many opinions, not enough money or time to try them all, what's a beekeeper to do? -Barry -- Barry Birkey West Chicago, Illinois USA barry@birkey.com http://www.birkey.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 14:49:53 +0000 Reply-To: barry@birkey.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Barry Birkey Organization: BIRKEY.COM Subject: Re: Overly large comb size in frames MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ted Wout wrote: > I have noticed that sometimes the cells in this burr comb have more than > one egg in them. It's not laying workers because the queen is free and > laying away. Could it be that the first few layings are haphazard and it > takes the queen a few trials to get things under control? I've only > noticed this twice and thought that maybe I had laying workers. After > further inspection, I had a queen and everything was fine. Has anyone else > noticed this? > > Ted Wout > Red Oak, TX Hi Ted - I just noticed this happening to one of my hives this last week. For whatever reason, I had a hive that was queenless so I put in a couple of frames that had fresh eggs. Last week all the emergency queen cells were open. I pulled one frame out and noticed half the cells had at least 2-4 eggs in them. I assumed that I had a laying worker and was ready to tear the hive down and combine with another. Then a much wiser beekeeper on this list suggested I make sure that there wasn't a queen in the hive as it is somewhat common for a newly mated queen to lay several eggs in a cell at first. I went back out and went throught the hive and finally found a queen, small as she was. I would say that half of the cells with eggs in this hive had more than one egg in them. Not having had experienced this before, I mentioned it to another beekeeper on the list and he felt that the erratic egg laying is fairly common, as they don't seem to have the necessary knowledge to get it right and that the bees will eventually superscede and replace her. Remember, I'm talking about a queen raised the "emergency" method here. The bees from my hive in question could have shortened the days to sealing by using larvae which was too old, thus producing intercastes. Not quite a queen and not a worker. I guess time will tell as I marked her so I can keep tabs on what happens. Interesting behavior for sure. -Barry -- Barry Birkey West Chicago, Illinois USA barry@birkey.com http://www.birkey.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 21:59:36 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: Overly large comb size in frames MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ted Wout wrote: > I have noticed that sometimes the cells in this burr comb have more than > one egg in them. It's not laying workers because the queen is free and > laying away. Could it be that the first few layings are haphazard and it > takes the queen a few trials to get things under control? I've only > noticed this twice and thought that maybe I had laying workers. After > further inspection, I had a queen and everything was fine. Has anyone else > noticed this? New queen do those thinks, and sometime difficulty to begining laying My bee Father say: attach a frame with eggs from a other hive. The queen "thinks"(do they??): O!. is that the trick, i can do that to, look at this" -- -------------------------------------------------------- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 homepage webside: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index2.html webside van het AmbrosiusGilde: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/ambro_index.html webside for NECTAR: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/nectar_index.html with some pages in english on solitary bees. NEW PAGES ON THE FIGHT ON THE VARROA MITES. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemethod.html -------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 17:48:33 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: James Meehan Subject: Re: Failing Hive I inadvertantly deleted the instructions on how to post messages to BEE-L. Would you please tell me who to send my E-mail to? Thanks ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 17:55:29 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Dusty Rhodes Subject: maltose? and other questions In-Reply-To: <970503175749773@beenet.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Howdy, I am a gonna be beekeeper. I am studying as much as I can off the net. and there is a local beekeeper's group which I will be attending. I own a homebrew beer and wine making supply store. There has been an increase interest in making mead lately and as luck would have it, I met the secretary of the Texas Beekeepers Association while trying to find a local source of bulk honey. I have lots of questions and to some extent do not know the questions i really need to ask. I get bulk malt syrup in 170 pound drums and 33 pound plastic hedpaks. This syrup is made from barley malted grain and is primarily maltose. I generally end up with containers which still contain 2 to 4 lbs of this syrup. maltose is described as C6 H12 O11(Csix Htwelve Oeleven) and as TWO GLUCOSE MOLECULES, joined. (there are also other detrins or carbohydrates (amylose) in this extract syrup--about 25%) corn sugar-glucose- is C6 H12 O6 fruit sugar-fructose- is C6 H12 O6 and differs from glucose in structure only cane sugar- sucrose- is C12 H12 011 I toured the sugar refinery in Sugarland Tx. and there were many bees taking advantage of the turbinado (partially refined) sugar brought in on railcars. You know if I worked at a Pizza place, my dogs would eat lots of pizza. 1 Would it be harmful to offer large quantities of maltose to a colony of bees? 2 In what form should it be offered? as a thick syrup? 3. What type of sugar is best to feed bees? (correct me if I am wrong, but i think honey contains only about 1% maltose) OTHER THINGS I NEED TO KNOW I am getting into beekeeping because I want bees to sting me! Yeah, sure, right, I am making a joke to make this point, I know I will get stung, but I want to protect myself as much as possible. On the other hand, it really gets hot in Texas and heat stroke is a real threat. I am about to order my personal equipment and want to make the best possible decision and use of funds. I am interested in function, quality, durability, and price--- in that order. If you would like, you could privately email me any recommendations, but these are the choices I am faced with: 4. hats-coolest, durability, fit kelly plastic? light mesh? dadant plastic? mesh? other? 5. coveralls-sting resistance, coolest, durability kelly cotton? nylon? dadant polyester cotton blend? 6. veil- sting protection-vision-coolest-durability zipper? non-zipper? kelly round veil? square folding? dadant folding? excelsior? other? 7. gloves-sting resistance, ease of working, coolest kelly cowhide? pigskin? canvas? dadant leather? light weight leather? canvas? plastic coated canvas 8. smokers- good design, durability, ease of use sheilded? non sheilded? kelly? dadant? other? 9. hive tool- best tool dadant? kelly? other? 10. what else do I need to order? 11. whose other catalogs should I get? THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME! Cheers, Dusty Rhodes 11201 Cliffwood Drive Houston, Texas 77035-6009 dusty@netropolis.net http://www.netropolis.net/dusty/homebrew.htm ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 18:26:52 +0000 Reply-To: barry@birkey.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Barry Birkey Organization: BIRKEY.COM Subject: Re: Failing Hive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit James Meehan wrote: > > I inadvertantly deleted the instructions on how to post messages to BEE-L. > Would you please tell me who to send my E-mail to? Thanks James - you did just fine sending this one! -- Barry Birkey West Chicago, Illinois USA barry@birkey.com http://www.birkey.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 19:33:02 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: Failing Hive On Mon, 5 May 1997 17:48:33 -0400 James Meehan writes: >I inadvertantly deleted the instructions on how to post messages to >BEE-L. > Would you please tell me who to send my E-mail to? Thanks James: If you look at the "mail header" on any BEE-L message you receive, you will see ....BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU Al Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 20:14:48 +22324924 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Adam Finkelstein Subject: Re: Sampling absolute Varroa population In-Reply-To: from "Adony Melathopoulos" at May 4, 97 07:04:59 pm Content-Type: text Try Wyatt Mangum at the NC-State Entomology Dept. Adam -- _________________ Adam Finkelstein adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu http://sunsite.unc.edu/bees/adamf/home.html ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 20:19:36 -5 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Vince Coppola Subject: For sale: bottom boards, feeders MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT New, assembled bottom boards, doug fir or larch, $5.00 each Top feeders, new assembled, waxed, $10 each No small orders please. Vince ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 20:26:34 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John M Thorp Subject: Re: Recycling Duragilt foundation Use a double boiler to melt the wax then use a non animal brush to apply it. If you use boar brush the bees will avoid it. Take Care and GBY,John in Homestead,also at ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 17:34:00 CDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Otto, Warren" Subject: how quickly do bees eat? Having installed my first bees on May 3, I feel like a new parent wondering what to do next. I gave each colony approximately 6l of syrup for feeding. When I opened the hive May 4 to see if the queens had been released (they hadn't) I was surprised that the pails of syrup were still full. Will the bees take a day or two to settle down before feeding or are they worried about releasing the queen first? Could it be weather realted. The weather on May 3 was sunny, 13C and no wind. May 4 was sun and cloud, 20C and 20km south wind. So many questions and so little time. Warren Otto w_otto@umanitoba.ca ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 23:00:48 -0600 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Bob Oliver Subject: Re: Recycling Duragilt foundation MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit We have wax coated Ritecell installed in one of our hives in 1 weeks 3 days we have 5 frames drawn with capped brood, nector and pollen filled from end to end. And I expect the other five by now are well on there way. So right now I would say it doing well. BTW this was a swarm install in a new hive box, The only thing that was hard to see was the eggs on white plastic. Bob ---- From: Ted Wout To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU Date: Monday, May 05, 1997 11:30 AM Subject: Re: Recycling Duragilt foundation >Cesar Flores wrote: >>>Does anyone know how to rewax plastic duragilt panels for reuse after >peeling >off the old comb?<< > >Since there is no imprint of honeycomb on the plastic, bees will not draw >out "bald" Duragilt. This has been a topic of discussion on this list in >the past. Many got on the anti-Duragilt bandwagon for this reason. There >were however some staunch supporters of Duragilt. I believe that there may >be some management hints that some of the pro-Duragilt folks may be able to >give you. Barry, are you out there? > >My opinion is that it's best to prevent the bald spots in the first place >by not using Duragilt. Use something like Permadent or Plasticell. >There's also a new plastic foundation called RiteCell from Mann-Lake. Has >anyone on the list tried this yet? If so, have you got an opinion? > >Ted Wout >Red Oak, TX > ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 14:58:00 GMT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Andy Nachbaur Organization: WILD BEE'S BBS (209) 826-8107 LOS BANOS, CA Subject: Re: DEAD BROOD & More TF>From: Ted Fischer >Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 08:21:17 -0400 >Subject: Re: DEAD BROOD TF>Often chilled brood is cleaned out, or brood which cannot be fed because >of a sudden end to a good nectar flow. The brood may have merely been >pulled apart by the bees in order to get it out of the cell. Hi Ted, Of course you must be right, but us old beekeepers call this activity "eating the brood". I have never seen any reports of research that bees do not eat at least part of the brood when they remove it but it would not surprise me someday to learn that they suck out the brains or something but then I see varroa as the vampire mite anyway but then they do feed on the bees blood don't they? Just had another look on the boob tube at what was at one time California's great hope for bee research who now play's the county fair's showing off his talent for blowing his own horn while covered with bees,,, Nothing changes as this was also his main skill while on the peoples dole. What a waste, but we must all do what we must do to get by and university retirement is not all that great I would guess. I know he gets stung many times during his act but would just love to see him try this stunt with the local bees in Arizona. I doubt he could survive package bee shaking efforts needed to get the young bees. Matters not what breed in the Sonoran desert I have seen these bees when they hatch and all births are breech first. ttul, the OLd Drone (c) Permission is granted to freely copy this document in any form, or to print for any use. (w)Opinions are not necessarily facts. Use at own risk. --- ~ QMPro 1.53 ~ message: [X] [ ] [ ] please make your mark and return. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 10:10:30 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: maltose? and other questions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dusty Rhodes wrote: > 3. What type of sugar is best to feed bees? the best is fructose and glucose. So the bees don't have to spilt the sacarose in it > (correct me if I am wrong, but i think honey contains only about 1% maltose) Honey contains about 5 to 10 % of maltose it is not so sweet in tast for men, (they use it in laboratorium as foot in testcultures ) -- -------------------------------------------------------- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 homepage webside: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index2.html webside van het AmbrosiusGilde: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/ambro_index.html webside for NECTAR: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/nectar_index.html with some pages in english on solitary bees. NEW PAGES ON THE FIGHT ON THE VARROA MITES. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemethod.html -------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 23:43:00 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "MR WILLIAM L HUGHES JR." Subject: Re: mail order queens Al, I purchase queens from California and I live in Tennessee. I have had no problems with these queens. They are shipped Piority Mail and are only in the Post Office System for 2 to 3 days. The same as package bees. So IMHO shipping queens from Texas to Mass would not be a problem. Bill Hughes Bent Holly Honey Farm Brighton, TN < writes: >Thursday I recieved queens from Yorks as promised and on time >Today I recieved queens from B Weaver as promised and on time >Same as last year it is nice when things work smoothly. > Tom: I am curious what section of the country you live in. Merely to determine if sending a Queen from Texas to Boston, Mass area is a reasonable or unreasonable distance in terms of the Queen's health & well being. Thanks, Al>> ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 21:07:24 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: Recycling Duragilt foundation On Mon, 5 May 1997 20:26:34 EDT John M Thorp writes: >Use a double boiler to melt the wax then use a non animal brush to >apply it. If you use boar brush the bees will avoid it. >Take Care and GBY,John in Homestead,also at John: Not meaning to be dumb...but are you saying that if an area of Duragilt was bare of any wax..then you can simply perform the above operation to layer some wax on that specific bare area, and then the bees will build it up into regular comb? Al Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 06:38:10 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John M Thorp Subject: Re: Recycling Duragilt foundation Comments: To: barry@birkey.com John M Thorp wrote: Use a double boiler to melt the wax then use a non animal brush to apply it. If you use boar brush the bees will avoid it. Hi John - Have you actually done this to Duragilt with success? -Barry Hi Barry, No,after I quit keeping bees I was talking to another beekeeper about that being one of my main complaints about Duragilt. He had done it for years but found it to only bee good for honey supers as they would usually only draw out drone comb. Guess that info should have been included to help the trial & error process for those out there in bee-l land. Hope this helps. Take Care and GBY,John in Homestead,also at ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 12:47:28 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: maltose? and other questions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > maltose is described as C6 H12 O11(Csix Htwelve Oeleven) > and as TWO GLUCOSE MOLECULES, joined. > (there are also other detrins or carbohydrates (amylose) in this extract > syrup--about 25%) > corn sugar-glucose- is C6 H12 O6 > fruit sugar-fructose- is C6 H12 O6 and differs from glucose in > structure only > cane sugar- sucrose- is C12 H12 011 see http://www.xs4all.nl/`jtemp/enzyme.html footnote!!! -- -------------------------------------------------------- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 homepage webside: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index2.html webside van het AmbrosiusGilde: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/ambro_index.html webside for NECTAR: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/nectar_index.html with some pages in english on solitary bees. NEW PAGES ON THE FIGHT ON THE VARROA MITES. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemethod.html ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 08:20:15 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Kim Flottum Subject: Bees and Water, and more The June issue of Bee Culture magazine has an informative and interesting article on bees and water by Dr. Jim Tew, OSU Wooster. He has delved into many of the features already discussed in the past few days, and several more. Contact us, or Dr. Tew for a copy, when it is released. Bee Culture Magazine. 623 W. Liberty St. Medina, OH 44256 800 289 7668, ext. 3255, or BCULTURE@AOL.COM ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 08:23:56 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: John M Thorp Subject: Re: Recycling Duragilt foundation Comments: To: awneedham@juno.com Hi Albert, Just before you sent & I recieved your letter one was sent to Barry Birkey and the bee-l list concerning this. As all of us can see,none of the questions on our round table discussion are dumb ones here on "Bee Central"(bee-l). This is from beginners to old salts. Even tho getting started in the mid 50's I like to think of myself as still conning out of the beginning class. I'd like to share somthing that happened to me about 15 years ago at the peak of the beekeeping portion of my life. It was a beautiful day in every way. The sun was doing its job as well as the gentle breeze that helped cool the day down a bit. This was on the edge of an avacado grove at the peak of the honey flow when the only problem was a timley visit to one and all for r&r of honey supers combined with nightly extracting sessions. The folks in England have coined a phrase used when lifes problems arise,"Tell it to the bee's". Without even knowing of that saying most of us know it to be true that have had anything to do with bees,no matter what the extent. What a privalige to work directly with a part of God's creation. It was time for lunch so I sat down in front of some of the hives to more enjoy this perfect day. Every once in awhile I'd help one of the girls up off the ground,her wings so worn out she would fall just short of her goal,the enterance to her home. When lunch was finished I stood up to go back to work when the two brain cells involved in my thought process colided. Here we are so many of us going thru life hopfully doing the right thing most of the time but yet we are the only part of Gods creation that is not in His divine order and plan. To think a lesson like this could be learned from the bees. I got down on my knees and tearfully thanked the good Lord for such a simple lesson. I hope and pray that all of you out there can see and have that same experience. As you can see my faith is in Him & I want to make Heaven my home and not fall short like the girls some of us have helped back into their home.With his help we can make it to Heaven,otherwise we will fall short. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 Take Care and GBY,John in Homestead,also at On Mon, 5 May 1997 21:07:24 EDT Albert W Needham writes: >On Mon, 5 May 1997 20:26:34 EDT John M Thorp > writes: >Use a double boiler to melt >the wax then use a non animal brush to >>apply it. If you use boar brush the bees will avoid it. >>Take Care and GBY,John in Homestead,also at > >John: > >Not meaning to be dumb...but are you saying that if an area of >Duragilt >was bare of any wax..then you can simply perform the above operation >to layer some wax on that specific bare area, and then the bees will >build it up into regular comb? > >Al > >Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com >Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program >Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: >http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ > ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 08:23:03 +0000 Reply-To: barry@birkey.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Barry Birkey Organization: BIRKEY.COM Subject: Beekeeping short course MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit BEES AND BEEKEEPING SHORT COURSE at the University of Illinois August 23-24, Urbana, IL The University of Illinois is offering a new short course in bees and beekeeping for the summer of 1997. After surveying other successful beekeeping courses across the country, we have tailored ours to cover beekeeping management techniques, both basic and advanced, as well as other areas of increasing importance for the future such as production of specialty honeys and pollination. This will also be the first short course in the nation to offer participation as "scientists" in real experiments performed on honey bees. FEE: $55.00 per person, which includes course material and workshops, refreshment breaks, and entrance to the international honey tasting, after-dinner speaker and mixer. SPONSORS: Dept. of Entomology, Univ. of Illinois School of Life Sciences, Univ. of Illinois Center for Economic Entomology, Illinois Natural History Survey Dadant and Sons, Inc. Sandoz Agro, Inc. In cooperation with the Purdue Univ. Dept. of Entomology ACCOMMODATIONS: (ask for special short course rates) Reservations must be made at least one month in advance. The Illini Union ($60 single; $68 dbl.) Luxury rooms on-site of the short course; Free parking, on campus. (217) 333-1241 for reservations. Hendrick House ($31 single; $25/person dbl.) High quality, air-conditioned dormitory rooms; $2.50/day parking, -10 min. walk to campus. Ask for west wing rooms. (217) 333-6843 or schulz@uiuc.edu For further information: David Schulz or Jack Kuehn (217) 333-6843 or schulz@uiuc.edu INSTRUCTORS & SPEAKERS WILL INCLUDE: Prof. M. Tom Sanford, Professor and Extension Apiculturist, Department of Entomology, University of Florida Prof. Gene E. Robinson, Department of Entomology University of Illinois Prof. Greg Hunt, Extension Apiculturist, Department of Entomology, Purdue University Prof. Laurian Unnevehr, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois Mr. Jack Kuehn, Beekeeper and Technician, Department of Entomology, University of Illinois ...plus other members of the University of Illinois faculty and Bee Research Facility staff ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 08:42:02 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Paul Basehore Subject: Re: Recycling Duragilt foundation Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" AMEN!! At 08:23 AM 5/6/97 EDT, you wrote: >Hi Albert, Just before you sent & I recieved your letter one was sent to >Barry Birkey and the bee-l list concerning this. As all of us can >see,none of the questions on our round table discussion are dumb ones >here on "Bee Central"(bee-l). This is from beginners to old salts. Even >tho getting started in the mid 50's I like to think of myself as still >conning out of the beginning >class. I'd like to share >somthing that happened to me about 15 years ago at the peak of the >beekeeping portion of my >life. It was a beautiful >day in every way. The sun was doing its job as well as the gentle breeze >that helped cool the day down a bit. This was on the edge of an avacado >grove at the peak of the honey flow when the only problem was a timley >visit to one and all for r&r of honey supers combined with nightly >extracting sessions. The folks in England have coined a phrase used when >lifes problems arise,"Tell it to the bee's". Without even knowing of that >saying most of us know it to be true that have had anything to do with >bees,no matter what the extent. What a privalige to work directly with a >part of God's creation. It was time for lunch so I sat down in front of >some of the hives to more enjoy this perfect day. Every once in awhile >I'd help one of the girls up off the ground,her wings so worn out she >would fall just short of her goal,the enterance to her home. When lunch >was finished I stood up to go back to work when the two brain cells >involved in my thought process colided. Here we are so many of us going >thru life hopfully doing the right thing most of the time but yet we are >the only part of Gods creation that is not in His divine order and >plan. To think a lesson like this could be learned >from the bees. I got down on my knees and tearfully thanked the good Lord >for such a simple lesson. I hope and pray that all of you out there can >see and have that same experience. As you can see >my faith is in Him & I want to make Heaven my home and not fall short >like the girls some of us have helped back into their home.With his help >we can make it to Heaven,otherwise we will fall >short. All have sinned and fall short of >the glory of God. Romans 3:23 > Take >Care and GBY,John in Homestead,also at > > > > >On Mon, 5 May 1997 21:07:24 EDT Albert W Needham >writes: >>On Mon, 5 May 1997 20:26:34 EDT John M Thorp >> writes: >Use a double boiler to melt >>the wax then use a non animal brush to >>>apply it. If you use boar brush the bees will avoid it. >>>Take Care and GBY,John in Homestead,also at >> >>John: >> >>Not meaning to be dumb...but are you saying that if an area of >>Duragilt >>was bare of any wax..then you can simply perform the above operation >>to layer some wax on that specific bare area, and then the bees will >>build it up into regular comb? >> >>Al >> >>Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com >>Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program >>Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: >>http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ >> > ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 09:40:02 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Karen M. Ferner" Subject: Books MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII I am looking for two books. My husband and I were at Dadant in Waverly and they told us that one was out of print and one was very hard to find. If anyone has a copy they are willing to give up (we'll pay for it) or knows of a place we can find them, please let me know. We are getting our bees this Friday, 50 hives, and have locations all ready. It's very exciting and we are looking forward to this new venture. Well, new for me, my husband worked with bees 10 years ago and decided to do it again. Here's the name and author of the books we are looking for: American Honey Plants (out of print) Frank C. Pellett Honey Plants of North America J. H. Lovell Or if anyone has any ideas of another book of similar subject, please let me know. This list has been very interesting the two weeks I have been on it. Thanks. Karen Ferner ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 09:41:09 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: RICHARD E BONNEY Subject: Re: Tbe birds and the bees In-Reply-To: <3369A11F.35FF@together.net> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hi Richard It's interesting that the bees chase your swallows. I have swallows nesting in my barn every year and the bees have never bothered them that I have seen. I also have a bluebird box close to the hives that is usually occupied by tree swallows. Also no problems that I have seen. Of course, I have never had more than 10-12 hives at this location. Maybe numbers have something to do with it. I have been in the cranberry bogs when the pollinators were there and didn't find them to be particularly ornery. I wasn't working them but I was walking around the hives and wore no veil. My experience there is limited, though. The blueberries in Maine are something else. I have spent time there working the bees. Some of them are just average bees, others are moved every three days to accomplish saturation pollination - those are mean, especially the morning after a move. Working them the morning after a move is good practice for dealing with Africanized bees. I will post more information about all this as it becomes available. Regards Dick ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 09:43:57 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: RICHARD E BONNEY Subject: Re: Tbe birds and the bees In-Reply-To: MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Hi John I'm getting answers to my query both ways - bees chase birds, birds eat bees. Nothing definitive though. After I have more information and after I see first hand next month (I hope) I'll post more information. Dick ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 10:19:39 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Trevor Weatherhead Subject: Re: Bees eating brood Ted Fischer wrote that bees never eat brood. This is certainly not my experience. I can remember in June 1986 sitting in the University of Minnesota talking with the late Basil Furgala about cannabilism in bees. He told us of trials he had done where he had witnessed cannabilism as a side issue and he stirred my interest in this subject. When I came back to Australia, I started to take notice of this and there are times when bees cannabilise brood, especially unsealed brood. We have an ironbark called Caley's ironbark which flowers in the winter time. It produces a great honey but is pollen deficient. If it is in any way dry or there are no wattles flowering to produce pollen, the bees will eat the unsealed brood and often the sealed brood. There are other times when conditions deteriorate very quickly that bees will also eat brood. Maybe the conditions in the USA are a lot better than ours and you don't see it but Basil had assured he had seen it in Minnesota. FWIW Trevor Weatherhead AUSTRALIA ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 14:19:22 +0000 Reply-To: aliceann@interaccess.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: alice foote Subject: Equipment for Boy Scout Camp Comments: cc: thefeet97@aol.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am trying to start a bee-keeping program at the Boy Scout camp Makajawan in Northern Wisconsin. The camp is restricted to a limited budget, and needs donations of equipment and equipment and bees sold at discounted prices if it is to start this program. I believe this is a very fun and educational opportunity for hundreds of Scouts. If you can help I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Please contact me by e-mail at thefeet97@aol.com Sincerely, Michael Foote (18 year old Scout, and staffing for the camp) e-mail: thefeet97@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 16:23:33 +0000 Reply-To: tvf@umich.edu Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "T.V. Fischer" Organization: University of Michigan Subject: Re: Bees eating brood MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Trevor Weatherhead wrote: > I can remember in June 1986 sitting in > the University of Minnesota talking with the late Basil Furgala about > cannabilism in bees. He told us of trials he had done where he had > witnessed cannabilism as a side issue and he stirred my interest in this > subject. > > When I came back to Australia, I started to take notice of this and there are > times when bees cannabilise brood, especially unsealed brood. We have an > ironbark called Caley's ironbark which flowers in the winter time. It > produces a great honey but is pollen deficient. If it is in any way dry or > there are no wattles flowering to produce pollen, the bees will eat the > unsealed brood and often the sealed brood. > > There are other times when conditions deteriorate very quickly that bees will > also eat brood. > > Maybe the conditions in the USA are a lot better than ours and you don't see > it but Basil had assured he had seen it in Minnesota. Well, this is all very interesting. I have personally never seen this in 35 years among the bees, although I have often seen brood, especially drone brood, pulled out of the hive. I was taught that one of the major dietary differences between bees and other hymenoptera is that bees get their protein solely from pollen whereas wasps, etc., get it from a variety of sources, but especially animal (i.e., insect) body parts. I have also seen bees in early spring try to collect anything that resembles pollen, even if it is not. Thus they are pests around cattle feed lots where ground wheat and oats is fed. They seem to go to great lengths to try getting pollen. If they could merely cannibalize their own brood, why would they be out looking for anything that is pollen-like? I would be interested in any research that Furgala has actually published on this subject. Does anyone have any information? Ted Fischer Dexter, Michigan USA ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 23:13:34 +0200 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Dr. Reimund Schuberth" Organization: Imkerei, Kvniginnenzucht, Besamungsstelle Subject: Re: MARCKQUANT MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jan Tempelman wrote: > > did anybody know if you can buy > MARCKQUANT hydrogen-peroxide TEST TRIPS NR. 10.011 > ?? > In GB, USA or Germany??? > Is it a wellknow companie: Marckquant?? > -- Hallo Jan, to my opinion the name of the test-trips should be MERCKQUANT. MERCK is the producer of quite a huge variety of chemical substances. The homeland of the company is Germany, but it produces all over the world. You should get the product at every chemicals selling store in your country. Perhaps you should also have a look at URL: http://www.merck.de. Yours sincerely, Reimund Dr. Reimund Schuberth ## beekeeping and queen rearing ## Am Rehenbach 19 D-96364 Marktrodach - GERMANY - Tel./Fax. ++9261/ 53838 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 17:59:21 +0100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Greg Hankins Subject: Pine Pollen? Nectar? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi all! Are pine trees (southern white pine, loblolly, etc.) of any use to honeybees as a source of pollen -- or of nectar? I recall reading of a pine honey in a book whose author approached honey from a European experience, but I think that was based on pine sap. Greg ____________________________________________________ Greg Hankins Mt. Gilead, NC ghankins@ac.net ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 00:27:53 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: MARCKQUANT MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Perhaps you should also have a look at > > URL: http://www.merck.de. > for all the peaple who read the HMF file http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/hmf.html --- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 18:24:19 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: David Verville Subject: Branded Equipment and a question about a queen. Comments: cc: dverville@attworldnet.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Two quick questions, 1) When did AI Root Stop branding their top bars with "Triple lock corner frame" (when wedges where actually wedge shaped) 2) Queen in the observation hive stays in one place lays an egg, which is pick up (actually snatched away) by a worker and eaten? After about 1/2 hour she resumes normal activity. (Wonder if this is normal activity inside the hive but we don't see it.) Once again spending way too much time, really way too much time watching the bees! Dave Verville ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 21:39:00 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Curtis L. Spacek" Subject: Re: Books MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Karen M. Ferner wrote: > > I am looking for two books. My husband and I were at Dadant in Waverly > and they told us that one was out of print and one was very hard to > find. If anyone has a copy they are willing to give up (we'll pay for > it) or knows of a place we can find them, please let me know. > We are getting our bees this Friday, 50 hives, and have locations all > ready. It's very exciting and we are looking forward to this new > venture. Well, new for me, my husband worked with bees 10 years ago and > decided to do it again. > Here's the name and author of the books we are looking for: > > American Honey Plants (out of print) > Frank C. Pellett > > Honey Plants of North America > J. H. Lovell > > Or if anyone has any ideas of another book of similar subject, please let > me know. > This list has been very interesting the two weeks I have been on it. > Thanks. > > Karen Fernertry "amazon.com"or amazon books large inventory of hard to find books Good Luck curtis ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 10:27:05 GMT+0200 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Garth Organization: Rhodes University South Africa Subject: Bees eating brood Ted wrote concerning bees eating brood: > Well, this is all very interesting. I have personally never seen > this in 35 years among the bees, although I have often seen brood, > especially drone brood, pulled out of the hive. I was taught that > one of the major dietary differences between bees and other > hymenoptera is that bees get their protein solely from pollen > whereas wasps, etc., get it from a variety of sources, but > especially animal (i.e., insect) body parts. I have also seen bees > in early spring try to collect anything that resembles pollen, even > if it is not. Thus they are pests around cattle feed lots where > ground wheat and oats is fed. They seem to go to great lengths to > try getting pollen. If they could merely cannibalize their own > brood, why would they be out looking for anything that is > pollen-like? > > I would be interested in any research that Furgala has actually > published on this subject. Does anyone have any information? > > Ted Fischer > Dexter, Michigan USA I have seen bees eat brood, when, after removing a feral hive I placed a sheet of removed brood, that got chilled in with the removed bees in their new hive. I gather they ate the chilled brood, and used it to start new egg laying, as I now see capped brood in the hive. They were definitely eating the brood, as I watched them do this, No bits of bees were dragged out the front as I have usually observed. Keep well Garth --- Garth Cambray "Opinions expressed in this post may be those 15 Park Road of Pritz, my cat, who knows a lot about Grahamstown catfood." 6140 *garth@rucus.ru.ac.za* South Africa Phone 27-0461-311663 In general, generalisations are bad. But don't worry BEEEEEE happy. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 11:15:49 +0200 Reply-To: jtemp@xs4all.nl Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Jan Tempelman Organization: Home Subject: Re: Pine Pollen? Nectar? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Greg Hankins wrote: > > Hi all! > > Are pine trees (southern white pine, loblolly, etc.) of any use to > honeybees as a source of pollen -- or of nectar? > > I recall reading of a pine honey in a book whose author approached > honey > from a European experience, but I think that was based on pine sap. perhaps they write about the honey collected on pine trees as a secrete of louse who tap the sap of the tree direkty (not from nectarglands), and produce a sap what is sugarfull enough for bees to collect. Nickname "louse urine" "louse piss' It is a kind of "heavy" honey, dark, thasteful, contains windpollen. I don't like it, but they say: "it is the best you can get" ---------- Jan Tempelman / Ineke Drabbe | EMAIL:jtemp@xs4all.nl Sterremos 16 3069 AS Rotterdam, The Netherlands Tel/Fax (SOMETIMES) XX 31 (0)10-4569412 http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/index2.html with some pages in english on solitary bees. NEW PAGES ON THE FIGHT ON THE VARROA MITES. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemethod.html ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 06:37:17 +0000 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Richard Drutchas Organization: Bee Haven Honey Subject: eating brood MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Seems to me while sitting at fairs with the closed up observation hive the bees would adventually start tearing down brood. They would suck up any liquid body parts and try to toss out the rest. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 00:08:01 +1000 Reply-To: aweinert@tpgi.com.au Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Andrew & Judy Weinert Subject: Peroxide test strips MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT I believe the product that was mentioned a couple of days ago was Mercoquant test strips for peroxide They are available from Merk KGaA 64271 Darmstadt Germany Tel (06151)720 They work in the range of 0.5 - 25 mg per litre of H2O2 (Hydrogen peroxide) I assume the person requiring these wants to test the natural peroxide in honey. These strips should work in honey although the stickyness may be a bit disconccerting. The strips work on a colour change reaction to peroxide. They are easy to use and reliable Hope all goes well Andrew ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 14:34:05 +0100 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Vita Vydra Organization: Faculty of Civil Engineering Subject: Why do you use foundation? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 28 Apr 97 at 18:04, Thomas W. Hoyt wrote: >> Do I always have to buy foundation for new frames...or >> can let the bees make their own? > > > You DO have to buy foundation - or the bees will make their own CROSSWAYS or > whatever other way that they decide to build at the time. Foundation is > essential to being able to manipulate the frames later on. > My own experience is different. In one period of my beekeeping (lasting five years) I was too lazy and too busy to wire frames and to fix foundation. I always cut old comb off leaving just 1 inch strip on top. Such frames has always been built perfectly on condition that they had been placed into a hive BETWEEN TWO COMBS. Later I found that even any strip of comb or foundation on the top bar is not necessary. On the other hand was clear soon that to wire frames is a must, as new combs without wires are too easy to broke. The only 'disadvantage' of this practise was that combs were often half or even all drone combs. Last few years I gave up this practise because of Varroa. Removing of sealed drone brood is an important part of my Varroa control and it is very convenient to have all drone brood concentrated in only few (2-3) drone combs. It means I have to use foundation for other frames. In Varroa free time I kept bees (30 colonies) with a good success and honey crops without any foundation (more: I save a lot of many not buying foundation and got much more of bees wax). I thing that most of beekeepers do use foundation because they wish to have 'nice' combs without drone cells. In old Czech beekeeper's magazine were described methods how to reduce number of drones including traps and long knifes as drones were believed to reduce honey crops. Isn't using foundation just a 'more human' continuation of this medieval practises? Are there any reliable proofs of reduced honey crops due to number of drones? What are other reasons for using foundation? Vita Vydra ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 20:41:40 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "A.S. Chesnick" Subject: hive MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I need plans for a beehive ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 08:45:59 +0000 Reply-To: barry@birkey.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Barry Birkey Organization: BIRKEY.COM Subject: Re: Varroa control, was "Why do you use foundation?" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Vita Vydra wrote: > Last few years I gave up this practise because of Varroa. > Removing of sealed drone brood is an important part of my Varroa > control and it is very convenient to have all drone brood > concentrated in only few (2-3) drone combs. It means I have > to use foundation for other frames. Hello Vita and all - You bring up an interesting point about using drone brood for varroa cont= rol. This=20 method seems to be a more common practice in Europe. I have been working = a little=20 with Jan Tempelman on her "varroa control method" that's on her web site = that is used=20 by alot of beekeepers in the Netherlands and I'm interested in discussing= this method=20 with others on the list. I've heard others mention in the past when Dr. P= edro was with=20 us about using "trap" combs for varroa and was wondering if this is the s= ame method.=20 I am taking the liberty to include here, some of what Jan has on her web = page, and=20 would like to see some input from others about it. My first thought is th= at most=20 beekeepers in the U.S. would not be likely to use such a method as it is = labor intensive=20 compared to putting in Apistan strips but there are other advantages to t= he method=20 Jan uses. If enough are interested, I could either post the entire conten= ts of Jan's=20 page or you can read it off her site. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THE LIST ABOUT THIS WITHOUT FIRST DELETING 90%=20 OF THE TEXT! -Barry ---------------------------------------------- THE METHOD Here is the method used to kill 95% of the varroa mite in a hive This method is developed by Johan Calis*, Joop Beetsma*, Willem Jan Boot*= , Jan van de Ende**, Aard de Ruijter** and Stef van der Steen** * University Wageningen, The Netherlands, Entomology. ** Bee and pollination research institut AMBROSIUS HOEVE, Hilvarenbeek, the Netherlands No copyrights. Everything is free to distributed by all media, without permission of the authors. But they are happy when they are mentioned in the source .A method without drug or acid/chemicals!!!!! (not so nice for BAYER and SANDOS, but good for the bees, wax, honey, propolis, beekeeper, and [mankind??]) We call it the Darreraat methode."drone comb method" Introduction Many varroa mites can be found in drone brood. Capturing the mites in drone brood is nothing new. In fact, it was the first method used to combat the mites. But since not all mites could be captured and many mites survive in the worker brood, this method was relatively ineffective and other methods were employed.. Varroa mites propagate in brood cells. Research from the University of Wageningen (The Netherlands) has shown that the Varroa mites are 12 times more likely to enter drone cells versus worker cells. If all of the mites are on the bees (not in the brood) it is possible, with a couple of drone cell brood frames, to catch a high percentage of the mites. Capturing mites in broodless hives with drone cells frames is very effective. A broodless period is essential to this method since the mites, all on the bees, will be caught in the drone cells.=20 Premise - It is possible, in a broodless hive, to capture an adequate number of mites (500 cells per kilo (2.2 lbs.) of bees).=20 Mites will not exist in brood cells 7 days after the egg has been laid. The brood cells can be moved before that day between hives without the risk of transporting mites.=20 For a hive to successfully care for a frame of drone brood, it must have at least 1 brood box.=20 An overview of the method The catch of the mites in the early springtime: During the first spring inspection, a frame with drone cell foundation is placed in the middle of the brood nest. This frame is removed when the majority of the drone cells are closed. Before the swarm period, one drone brood frame should always be present in the hive. This way the drone brood frame will be quickly built and many mites caught. According to research from The University of Wageningen, it appears that the mite population will be stable at this point, and not be able to grow. The catch of the mites during the swarming period: In this method sequence, we will work with two hives. The actions will be a swarm prevention program and during this time a broodless period will take place so that the mites can be caught. >From hive 1 all the brood will be put into hive 2 The result is that now all the mites that are left in hive 1 are on the bees and these mites can now be caught by one drone cell frame. This drone cell frame is made by, one week before this event, putting one already built drone frame in the hive. This frame stays in the hive to catch the mites. them. The new brood of the present queen will be just after that point closed. The mites are at that time already caught in the closed drone cells. The drone cell cappings can be cut off with a serrated knife. When enough drone cells have been capped (500 cells / 1 kg bees), the fight on the varroa in this hive is done.=20 At the moment hive 2 gets the brood of hive 1, one drone cell frame is put in the middle of the old queens broodnest. After one week it will be easy to make an artificial swarm without any brood, with the bees of 6/7 frames and the drone frame. When the drone celles are closed, removed and cleaned, the fight on the varroa in this hive is ready. Hive 2 is queenless and a new queen will be raised (brood in all stadia was present). New queens can be used or selcted queen from elsware can be introduced. Hive 1 will be the supplier of new build and "egged" drone frames. Two egged frames moved from hive 1 to hive 2 (one week between them). Are those frames closed, removed and cleaned, the fight (or combat/ battle) (US make movies like the exterminator) on the varroa in this hive is ready. THE METHOD Condition of the succsesfull use of the method. Strong hives: at the beginning of springtime, the hive has to have a minimum of one broodbox and one super with bees.=20 For each hive, 2 drone frames are necessary. You have to buy drone foudation and attach them to a normal broodbox frame. Since you are going the capt the dronecells and thrust the larve out, it is better to do that with wired frames.=20 Discription of the method in sequential parts(index) over wintering=20 control, put in cleaned drone frames=20 the catching of the mites in the early springtime=20 the catching of the mites in the swam protection time=20 week by week=20 week by week in a table=20 control of the effectiveness=20 control on the end of the season=20 Over wintering- During April, inspection takes place. Stong hives have to be made by combining two small hives. Put in, control and cleaning of the drone frames- You have to buy drone foundation and attach them to a normal broodbox fra= me.=20 The bees will work on the drone foundation to make drone cells.=20 - there will be no drone cells (or next to none) on the other frames .=20 - worker foundation (attached at the same time) will be built into workercells without drone cells.=20 - through the catch of the varroa mites, 95% of the varroa will be out of= the hive.=20 In testing, it appears that most of the drone cells were built and capped after two weeks. Sometimes it takes longer. It is good to remember= : drone>>> 3 days, egg>>7 days, larva>>14 days, pulpa.=20 There are three stages you could find on the drone frame.=20 -no brood or only eggs. This frame can stay for three weeks in the hive.=20 -eggs and larva present. This frame can stay for two weeks in the hive.=20 -bias (brood in all stages) can be found. The moment the drones emerge from the cell on this frame, it can be calculated back to the moment of putting the frame in the hive and the information obtained on earlier inspections. Assuming that the first closed drone cells are found, the frame can stay in for one more week.But keep in absolutely no longer or the catch method will be a breading method. =20 It's good to write the stage of the broodcells development on the hive protocol chart. Keep good records! Estimate/count the closed drone cells. Keep good records, too. How do you remove the larva and pulpa from the capped frames? A good method is this: uncap the cells with a serrated knife or your normally used honey uncapping tool, thrust the larve out. (it is good to mix the drone larva with the chicken feed, they love it!!) (but our teacher talks about eating them!! Ask him for a recipe, he will = be angry with me) Clean the cells with water, dry it in the air, use it agai= n.=20 The catching of the mites in the early springtime- During the first inspection, a drone foundation frame is put in the middl= e of the broodnest. It is recommended to mark that frame with a thumbtack/pin and write the hive number on it. If the frame isn't built out on the next inspection, you should think things over that this hive is possibly too small. The first frame should then be uncapped, larva removed, cleaned and dried, and so on. During this period there should always be one drone frame present in the hive. The process of putting in drone frames in the hive will continue until the swarm protection prog= ram.=20 The catching of the mites in the swarm protection time- First choose the dates for the swarm protection agenda. Usually in May, depends on: honeyflow, hive development, personal preference.=20 At least 1 week before that date (week 1 in regards to week 2), place a queen excluder between the two hive bodies with the queen in the bottom hive body.=20 Control of the effectivety- Control in hive 1 and the artificial swarm. A hive with one kg (2.2 lbs.) bees ( =B1 7 broodframes with bees) can effectively be stripped of varroa mites with 500 drone cells, a hive with 5 kg (11 lbs.) bees need 2500 cells. In practice, this means that the war on the mites in a swarm is effective with 500 closed drone cells. In hive 1, the largest percentage of the mites are going to hive 2 because of the change of the total brood. The mites on the bees will be caught by the remaining drone frame. control of hive 2 Here, the last two frames that are "egged/larva" in hive 1 and closed in hive 2, are the most essential for the effectiveness of the method. If 2000 drone cells are closed, the mite problem is settled. If that number is not reached, then it is necessary to put drone frames in until the new brood of the new queen will be closed. The effectiveness must be determined by counting the closed drone cells. One frame in Holland ( foundation =3D 198 x 340 mm) counts 3000 drone cells. One Langstroth deep frame counts 3225 cells per side, 6450 total frame. control on the end of the season- The number of mites in a hive (during brood season) can be found by counting them on the bottom sheet in one day and multiplying that by 50. If there are no more than 10 mites a day, it is not likely that the mites do measureable harm.=20 ------------------------------------------------ --=20 Barry Birkey West Chicago, Illinois USA barry@birkey.com http://www.birkey.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 08:08:28 -0600 Reply-To: allend@internode.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: Allen Dick Organization: The Beekeepers Subject: Re: Why do you use foundation? In-Reply-To: <2B4E521FE1@CIHLA.fsv.cvut.cz> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > I always cut old comb off leaving just 1 inch strip on top. > Such frames has always been built perfectly on condition that > they had been placed into a hive BETWEEN TWO COMBS. > The only 'disadvantage' of this practise was > that combs were often half or even all drone combs. If only worker comb is desired, use small (nuc) colonies. They make 100% worker comb - usually. In case it is believed that a strong colony is necessary to make comb, it is absolutely amazing how much comb even a *baby nuc* can make with only a handful of bees if there is a good flow and warm weather. Allen ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 10:35:20 -0500 Reply-To: beeworks@muskoka.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology Comments: Authenticated sender is From: David Eyre Organization: The Beeworks Subject: Re: eating brood In-Reply-To: <3370231D.1236@together.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT On 7 May 97 at 6:37, Richard Drutchas wrote: eating brood > Seems to me while sitting at fairs with the closed up observation hive > the bees would adventually start tearing down brood. They would suck up > any liquid body parts and try to toss out the rest. A point regarding observation hives. It is imperative that they are fed whilst closed up. Incoming nectar is the trigger for egg laying and brood production, no incoming, no brood. What was seen here is the natural reaction to confinement. I have watched our bees in the fall, as soon as we have a killing frost and the nectar flow stops, so does brood production.Even to the point that layed and hatched eggs disappear. Last year I had late queens which we were trying to prove before wintering, we had to feed syrup to get them to lay to prove they were viable. So, if you want to see an observation hive in full operation, either let them fly, or feed with 1-1 syrup. ********************************************************* The Bee Works, 9 Progress Drive Unit 2, Orillia, Ontario, Canada. L3V 6H1 David Eyre, Owner. Phone/Fax 705 326 7171 Dealers for E.H.Thorne & B.J.Sherriff UK http://www.muskoka.net/~beeworks ********************************************************* ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 10:33:58 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: hive On Tue, 6 May 1997 20:41:40 -0400 "A.S. Chesnick" writes: >I need plans for a beehive > Try Barry Birkey's Web Site at http://www.birkey.com Al ............ Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 13:04:36 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Ted Wout Subject: Branded Equipment and a question about a queen. Dave Verville wrote: >>Once again spending way too much time, really way too much time watching the bees!<< Hello David, I don't really think that's possible. I think none of us spend enough time watching bees. I for one have a job that keeps intruding on my hobby. Ted Wout Red Oak, TX ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 10:12:08 -0700 Reply-To: snielsen@orednet.org Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Susan L. Nielsen" Subject: Dead Queens as Specimens I do apologize if this is a repeat post. However: If anyone out there has on hand a perished but not destroyed- looking queen, I would be happy to receive her (or several of same) as specimens. I'm preparing a lecture package to take through the grade schools here, and would like very much to be able to show them a queen. I am truly loathe to buy a queen just for the purpose of killing her. I am happy to send packaging and pay postage for the reciept of queen corpses. Susan Nielsen snielsen@orednet.org -- ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 14:14:59 -0700 Reply-To: mister-t@clinic.net Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Bill Truesdell Subject: Re: Pine Pollen? Nectar? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit As you see from one response, "Honeydew" nectar is favored by some. The major problem I have had with it is that it ferments easily. If bees store it for overwintering it will kill them because of dysentary. It certainly killed a couple of my hives a few years ago. I could shake the fermented honey from the comb in cold weather! It was like water. The prior winter in Maine found most of the many winter kills near pine woods. My guess is honeydew honey, but no proof. So, yes, you get honey indirectly from pine woods, but don't let the bees overwinter with it. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 14:54:09 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Cesar Flores Subject: bee vacuum Where can I buy a bee vacuum for collecting swarms? ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 15:05:09 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: MIDNITEBEE Subject: Re: Pine Pollen? Nectar? Comments: To: mister-t@clinic.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ I am surrounded by pine woods. I have not had a winter kill in three years. Guess I am just a LUCKY keeper of bees. Another point-no varrora or tracheal mites in last three years and by saying that,I believe I have just placed a jinx on my bee yard. Dysentery? I use Fumidil,that's not to say others don't. It's cold ,rainy and wet in Maine. Where is Spring!!!!!! Not in this State. Midnitebee(Herb) ---------- > From: Bill Truesdell > To: BEE-L@CNSIBM.ALBANY.EDU > Subject: Re: Pine Pollen? Nectar? > Date: Wednesday, May 07, 1997 5:14 PM > > As you see from one response, "Honeydew" nectar is favored by some. The > major problem I have had with it is that it ferments easily. If bees > store it for overwintering it will kill them because of dysentary. It > certainly killed a couple of my hives a few years ago. I could shake the > fermented honey from the comb in cold weather! It was like water. > The prior winter in Maine found most of the many winter kills near pine > woods. My guess is honeydew honey, but no proof. So, yes, you get honey > indirectly from pine woods, but don't let the bees overwinter with it. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 16:14:08 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Albert W Needham Subject: Re: Pine Pollen? Nectar? On Wed, 7 May 1997 15:05:09 -0400 MIDNITEBEE writes: >http://www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/ > Where is Spring!!!!!! Not in this State. >Midnitebee(Herb) It " ain't " here to your south either! I think that Walter Patton is holding it hostage in Hawaii. Maybe in cahoots with Kona Bee ! >From what I hear it isn't in Sweden either. Al, Al Needham--Scituate,MA,USA--awneedham@juno.com Author Of "The HoneyBee"--An Educational Program Check Out " The Amazing BeeCam " At: http://www.xensei.com/users/alwine/ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 19:23:34 +0000 Reply-To: barry@birkey.com Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Barry Birkey Organization: BIRKEY.COM Subject: correction please MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Fellow beekeepers - My sincere apologies have been given to Jan for misrepresenting his gender in my post to this list. It is this honest blunder on my part that I ask everyone else to take note so any replies to my post can be corrected. -Barry (still a bit embarrassed, sorry Jan!) Okay, on with the discussion! -- Barry Birkey West Chicago, Illinois USA barry@birkey.com http://www.birkey.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 22:18:45 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Abbas Edun Subject: Re: hive Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 08:41 PM 5/6/97 -0400, you wrote: >I need plans for a beehive > >If there is a beekeeper near to you ask him to lend you a hive. This is the best way to go. If this is not possible, please let me know & I will send you the measurements of the hive. Sincerely, Abbas ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 21:42:48 -0500 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: "Curtis L. Spacek" Subject: INSTIGATOR MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello to all,It was a great deal of fun reading all the responses to my original question about bees eating their brood.BTW the heads were gone and all soft organs removed.All that remained was an empty shell. Well let me throw another bug in the honey pot.What effect does banging pots and pans together have on swarming bees to cause them to light on a nearby tree?I have seen this only once and was told the bees think it is thunder so they light to gain protection from the rain.I later read this evolved in England.It seems beekeeper was required to notify everyone that he was persuing a given swarm to maintian possession.Thus the banging of pots was used as a method to notify all this swarm was spoken for.Shake the hive and see what pops out!! All comments welcome and incouraged,reply to the list or me personally at cspacek@flash.net.Thanks for the help and btw the hive is in graet shape.Instead of getting 4 frames if brood with bees and a queen when I opened the hive for inspection I discovered the beekeeper filled the hive completelywith brood,comb, and honey.hive weighs abuot 75lbs.Good luck to all.LOoking forward to the many responses.funny only really old drones believe this. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 23:25:22 -0400 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: Tim Damon Subject: Troubled about Packages & Queens MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This evening I checked on three packages that I installed last Sunday, and three splits that I made at the same time. First of all I had to release five of the six queens from their cages. In each case the candy plug was eaten away and the tending bees were entering and exiting the cage with no restriction, but the queen was staying in. Now this in itself would not worry me even though I have had to release only one queen out of about 50 - 60 in the past few years. I would have just figured that they would have all made there way out tomorrow and I was just lending a hand. However the sixth queen was found on the top of the frames with a circle of attending bees, she was quite dead. The thing that I found odd was the fact that I found three small patches of eggs each about 1 - 2 inches in diameter, and each on a different frame. This was a new package, so she had to have laid them. What could have happened to her? I am worried as these three packages and the three queens all came from the same supplier. I also noticed what I would consider excessive spotting on the outside of the hives of the three packages. I may be a little paranoid, however I am wondering if I have a problem with these six hives. Has anyone ever noticed if the ability of the queen to release reflect at all on her quality/health. What's up with the spotting? These packages were shaken in Georgia, USA last Thursday (so I'm told), so they should have been packaged only three to four days. And why would a queen die on top of the frames like that? I'm puzzled by all of this. All of my overwintered hives and packages installed 3 weeks ago are doing great. Those earlier packages (6) came from a different supplier. Any ideas? Thanks, Tim Damon Ann Arbor, MI - USA