Aye...there's the rub Bob D.  What else can be done...as we all know 
insanity can be defined as doing the same things over and over again and 
expecting a different result.  I have been keeping bees for over 25 years 
and have been making a "living" at it since 1999 and as Randy states, made 
lots of mistakes going to the School of Hard Knocks and hopefully learned 
from them.  Perhaps I mispoke by saying doing the "right things" which 
should have been applying  the current recommendations of successful 
beekeeping management.

For the sake of perspective, we had 700 colonies going into winter that were 
looking great in the autumn.  We took notice that mite loads were climbing 
in late August and immediately began formic acid treatment schedule using 
the "flash" method of application via the drawers of the screened bottom 
boards - 20ml for singles and 40ml for doubles.  All colonies were headed by 
vigorous queens with a majority of them being either new or one year old. 
Genetic stock was mixed with some Russian hybrids from Manitoba, stock from 
Ontario breeders, Buckfast stock from Nova Scotia and a line of our own 
selected from survivors of the 2001-2002 Apistan resistance crash.

This formic treatment was followed up by an oxalic acid treatment in mid 
November using an evaporator for the doubles and the dribble method for 
singles.  The colonies were still looking good then.  Fluvalinate(Apistan) 
and coumophos(Checkmite) have not been used since 2002 so chemical residues 
shoud not be an issue.

The drench method of fumigillin application at the higher concentration as 
recommended by Randy in earlier posts was used at one week intervals for 4 
treatments and began in mid September.  Both strains of Nosema had been 
identified in the previous year although not consistently high in different 
samples.  A fumigillin drench had also been applied in the spring.

We winter in four packs and all colonies have individual insulated two inch 
styrofoam covers that we run year round, and for winter, the pack is wrapped 
in either one inch blue styro and tarpaper or with thermofoil.  They sit on 
a styrofoam insulated pallet and are covered with a four pack telescopic 
cover.

There were no signs of AFB but with some scattered EFB, three treatments of 
powdered terramycin were applied in the fall.

Losses are in the 80% range this spring and the remaining 20% run the gamut 
from busting with bees to softball sized clusters.  No identifiable trends 
from 10 different yards although one yard has perhaps a 50% loss.  Deadouts 
are looking heavily spotted with dysentery and I will either be opting for 
acetic acid fumigation or for clorox sterilization of equipment.  The 
current buzzword here in N B is now backround contamination of comb with 
Nosema spores.  I'm not so sure about that but what the heck do I know? 
There is no provincial funding available to determine cause.  The deadouts I 
have cleaned up have no discernible cluster, a bit of capped scattered brood 
and not a lot of bees on the bottom board.  They have plenty of unconsumed 
stores and open cells containing sugar syrup purchased from the refinery.

Some beekeepers in the southern part of the province did okay and others are 
reporting losses in the 40% and upwards range.  Beekeeping roulette...go 
figure.

Questions that haunt me for future inquiry?  How was the sugar syrup 
prepared?  Did the fumigilin drench do more harm than good?  What viruses 
are present in survivors?  What kept 20% of the bees alive?  Are there new 
chemicals being applied to blueberry and cranberry pollinated crops ie 
pesticides/fungicides/herbicides?  Are the rug like local manicured lawns 
killing bees?  Am I using my cell phone too much around the bees?  (Kidding 
kidding)  Even if Einstein didn't say it...will the world really end in 2012 
after the bees are gone?

Claude

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "randy oliver" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 11:47 PM
Subject: Re: [BEE-L] Doing all the right things in a timely manner


> >Could everyone who did all the right things list them for the rest of us?
>
> Can't help you there, Bob.  However, if you ever want a list of all the
> things that you can do wrong, then I'm your guy!
>
> Randy Oliver
> Gonna get it right one of these years  :)
>
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