Gentlepeople:
I am a hobbyist that has currently two hives of Italian HB that
look like they might make it through the winter. (Although the Spring
is young.)
This coming year I will be trying several different types of
honeybees (Italian, Carniolan, Weaver Buckfast) to see for myself the
differences in behaviour, production, etc. I would like to be
somewhat structured in my evaluation of the different types so am
garnering information about what to watch for, how often I should
observe, etc. Italians have been ok so far and may continue to be the
breed of HB that I continue to use, but since I had no experience with
any others, I am running my own experiment. I live in Dayton, Ohio,
USA (39.90N).
For the scientists and breeders on the Lists, this is probably old
boring stuff and probably the information that I am going after has
been done to death, but I am a hobbyist that is just exiting his
fourth winter and I am curious to experience the differences myself.
I have never done any type of scientific study although I have
evaluated vendors and products at work. We use a structured approach
there with measurement points, evaluation criteria, weighting of
evaluated traits, etc. I would expect that there already exists out
there somewhere something similar for Honeybees.
Ideally what I would like is some type of form or evaluation
checklist or procedure that you have used to quantify the differences
in bees. In Quality Assurance terms, some way of gathering "metrics"
on the different bees. If nothing like that exists, your suggestions
as to what items and criteria should be included in my evaluation
would be helpful. At least then I wouldn't miss something because I
was too narrow minded or ignorant.
Any help and guidance you all could offer that would help to
provide some structure to my evaluation would be greatly appreciated.
Also at the end of the 1996 season, if anyone is interested in what
I discover I would be willing to share what I learned.
Cheers,
Mark Egloff
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