--- Michael Palmer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I remember you posting on Norland about your
> problems.

Yes thanks for the kind assistance back then, you
helped me a great deal in focusingit the right
direction toward a solution.  You remember then my
average winter die off was an average 50% and
fluctuated to 90% to 100%  every few years.  Yes, I
believe you gave very good advice, some major causes
were due to lack of TM resistance and substandard
genetics.

...Perhaps it isn't
> that the bees are
> "ferals" but rather that you have found some good
> stock.

I agree Mike, could be ferals, then again, could be
that it is not, I'm open minded here.   That I am
finding good stock in places where you would not
expect much influence from domestics such as the
woodlands is perplexing to me, the more isolated the
better, it's not what I had expected to see at all in
poor forage areas.

 ...supercedure
> queens...good or bad....
...should be selected for...

Is there a particular time of the year these
supersedure colonies are more prone to supersede?  I
have seen this trait in a few colonies that had a
perfectly fine queen that was performing well.  I just
brushed it off as an 'oddity' and did not make record
of it.  I'm seeing it more in late summer and even
nearer to fall.  Maybe it would be better to record
this type of thing when I see it.

If you would please, how is Kirk doing his isolated
mating yards?,,,, what;s the ratio mating nucs to does
he use drone colonies or regular colonies to provide
drones?,,,or do you believe he is counting on the
ferals to pick up the slack in providing drones?
I might be able to make it to Lewisburg to see Kirk.
Would enjoy hearing his lecture.

In the past, he
> blows the bees out in
> the fall in colonies suffering from PMS.

The PMS, I am still having trouble with.  What tools
are you using to determine the level of PMS that would
necessitate blowing out the colony?  Are you also
looking at other symptoms here such as chewing out
etc?  My colonies are showing signs of PMS, but it
dosn;t seem to be affecting performance as it has in
the past, I see it, but am still getting a good
surplus in spite, but it is something I believe I need
to select against.  Thanks!

Joe Waggle ~ Derry, PA
Small Cell Beekeeping
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries'
http://www.biologicalbeekeeping.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers/



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