In a message dated 10/25/99 6:27:39 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<< > When this method was first
> explained to me the bees had to be starved and when I asked how you knew
> they were starving the answer was when they are seen to be dying.
Frankly, I doubt bees that have been starved will ever amount to much, unless
they have a long time until winter and lots of ideal conditions. >>
I agree. This is introducing new stresses in addition to the loss of
brood, pollen and honey feed.
I have done this a number of times, with usual success, without the
starvation idea. I simply put the bees on foundation and feed them heavily
with HFCS. I doubt that many spores survive the experience. If they are
still so weak that they break down again, I'm not sure I want that stock.
I sometimes wonder if I want the stock anyway, but sometimes I do this
early in the season, which is not now, in the northern temperate zone.
Which brings up a thought I like to remind newbies of, each year at this
time... And that is CULLING. Culling is the flip side of good breeding. As
you look over your hives and prepare them for winter, look at them closely.
If you see weak hives, greasy looking bees, chalkbrood, sacbrood, EFB, sour
smell (to be distinguished from the smell of goldenrod nectar), poor pollen
stores....any sign that you have weak genetic stock, it's time to eliminate
them now, and focus your energy into the rip-roaring bees you'll want to
breed from next year.
You waste far more energy (and money), in nursing along junk, which may
not survive the winter (or if it does, will still require nursing in the
spring), than you will in making up new hives from good stock next spring.
A good beekeeper will routinely cull 10-20%, sometimes more, in the fall.
The bees can be combined with good colonies, but don't combine two or three
poor colonies, and still wind up with a sorry queen.
Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA
The Pollination Home Page: http://www.pollinator.com
The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles):
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm
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