Since I've been talking about nosema and wintering and such, I thought
I should bring the list up to date on my latest.
 
Firstly I've been out checking bees, and in the hives we've looked at so
far this time (about 50 out of the 1,850 in outdoor wintering), I found
one dead and one poor.  Most are very strong.  On previous trips to
other hives a month ago there was virtually no attrition, so we were
wondering if it would be different this time.  It wasn't.  Moreover, our
tests for nosema show almost zero levels and that screws up our intent to
try different nosema treatments.  More on this below...
 
Anyhow, the Homemade (Am I spelling this correctly?) Bee Science Pages are
coming right along, and although they are still under construction, I
imagine they will always be, as other beekeepers or extension people come
up with experiments worth chronicling there.
 
The idea behind the Homemade Bee Science Pages is that we as -- practical
beekeepers -- run valid scientific experiments to test our theories under
the watchful and critical eye of our peers , and the eyes of extension
people and science pros.
 
I invite you to visit, and plan to take some time there, since there is
already some pretty worthwhile dialogue -- IMO.
 
The address is: http://www.internode.net/honeybee/BeeScience/
 
Now, back to our wintering success.  After two bad winter losses, why are
we so lucky this year?  Well, for one, we did have a mild winter.  there
is no discounting that, but we have *never* seen the bees looking so good.
 
We have never treated for tracheal mite, although we have had infestations
averaging around 10% or less for the last several years.  The thing we did
do differently this past year is that we fed pollen supplement all spring
and also used medicated grease patties.  As a result of the latter, we did
not see *any* (zero) AFB in the whole outfit last year.  Usually we see a
hive or two with a touch of this minor nuisance.  As a result of the
pollen supplement, we were able to split heavily and also we did not see
any small bees, as we usually do -- except in a few hives that refused
their rations when we omitted pollen in the patties.
 
Needless to say, we will be feeding supplement heavily again this year.
 
... And lastly, FWIW, the Free Bee Classifieds are getting a lot of
attention.  Moreover, I notice that things are being sold through them.
 
Allen
--
Buy, sell, trade, get a job, hire help, announce a
meeting, advertise a business or publication...
For free *beekeeping related* classified ads,
visit http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/BeeAds/