randy oliver <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>I encourage you to expand your apiary, Joe. But don't underestimate
>yourself--you are only counting your queen mothers…
Hello Randy!
I do recognize that I should make expansion a priority. My biggest fear
is that if one apiary gets wiped out by some catastrophe, and I could
loose my best stock in one swoop. Because I have limited number of
colonies, I’ve been splitting my top ferals and moving them out to
different yards as a way to spread out the risk a bit. I admit to being a
bit lax in my efforts to expand, so I need to get working at this a bit
more.
Your drone mothers are
>likely mostly ferals,,,
I have been rather disappointed in the past with mating success, but last
season I finally was able to get very nice matings, which I hope after
waiting so long, is an indicator of adequate drone source from a
recovering local feral population. The plan was to allow my better stock
to raise what ever drone they wish as a way to get the genetics I like
infused into my local feral population, which until last season, seemed to
be lagging a bit in the feral recovery. Then if catastrophe happens, I
can draw back bees from my local feral population, and this will also aid
in feral drone source for future matings.
I can’t go down to the bee store and buy more ferals if I need stock, so
I am also considering the possibility of moving drone source colonies
from early recovery feral stock captured in 2001 from farmlands into a
woodland area (discovered last season and in my early stage of assessing
them found them to have very nice performing queens) as added insurance.
I want to see if I can infuse traits found in the perfered 2001 stock into
the woodland bees, this to create another repository of genetics with
traits I prefer that I can draw from if need be. Plus, it would be a bit
closer to home. :)
Best Wishes,
Joe Waggle
EcologicalBeekeeping.com
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries'
Feral Bee Project:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeralBeeProject/
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