Waldemar wrote:

Just wondering... does the Housel positioning apply to
one-piece plastic frames ?  They should be coming out
exactly the same from the same cavity tool.

reply:
Yes. And while you are talking on adding, Lee showed up
yesterday here from Deming N. Mexico to physically go over
the "Housel Positioning" inside of domestic colonies we are
doing and trying to understand more. We looked at comb
samples all day and just questioned each other and talked.

We normally do a lot of cutouts in a year, but this year
was different and we due to excessive drought have only
averaged about 25 or so this year and not much of that was
after July. Normally we do at least 100 if not double that.

In doing swarm cutouts, we have always had an attrition of
about 50% initially in making the change to 4.9 and in
taking to the field to acclimitize better over the years
about the same. Talking with Lee and going over combs and
positioning now gives we something to further look at this
coming year, especially with El Nino due in. Namely, how
much of this loss in attrition was due to improper
positioning of combs to inhibit initial buildup of swarms
or triggered absconding? I am almost afraid to think about
it and the loss of bees!

I already am upset with all the needless culling and
remelting that done properly first with the positioning by
the HOusel method we could have avoided over the years.

Now I am thinking bees and swarm captures lost, and for no
other reason then improper sequencing of combs to allow for
proper buildup. My mind is saying bees that are
harmoniously kept don't swarm back out and abscond or have
trouble building up when hived. Lee and I talked about that
all day for hours after the thoughts registered.

Now that we are getting time to view the bees more, by not
having to worry about mites and accompanying diseases, it
sure is frustrating to see how little is known about bees
and how to keep them harmonious with a natural system, and
yet how much is lost by not doing so. Fine tuning our field
management for the betterment of bees is sure needed it
seems and not just with us.

Sincerely,

Dee A. Lusby







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