On Fri, 11 Apr 1997 07:47:02 -0500 "Excerpts from BEE-L"
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
>Reply-to:      Discussion of Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
>From:          Aaron Morris <[log in to unmask]>
>
>Last August at a workshop where preparation for the upcoming winter
>was
>being discussed, a gentleman who made dirt look young got up and
>admonished
>us young uns for coddling our bees.  "You don't need no stinkin'
>wraps!
>You don't have to nurse your bees through the winter! In fact, you
>should
>get out to your hives in February, open 'em up and knock on the hives
>just
>to shake 'em up a bit!"  He ranted for quite a while, but I was
>impressed
>by the wisdom of his years and listened to his advice figuring that if
>his
>advice was folly he would have ranted himself out of business a long
>time
>ago.  His point was that this late winter shake up was what the bees
>needed
.
>
>Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!
>
        Most of us know that bees seem to survive in spite of us
sometime. However, my experience has been there are dividends returned if
we make life easier for the bees. I also wrap, not so my bees will
survive the winter, because they usually will. I kind of like the fact
that they consume half the honey and are ready to  start gathering
surplus when the real early flows come along. One need not manipulate
frames either I suppose, but we know how well that queen fills up empty
cells when they are in the appropriate place and the stores are
sufficient but not crowding out potential brood space.  It's the old saw,
beehavers or beekeepers.
 
Alden Marshall
B-Line Apiaries
Hudson, NH 03051
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tel. 603-883-6764