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Thu, 30 Mar 2006 08:01:53 -0500 |
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Greetings all:
Just thought I'd add some data regarding California queen mating. I am in
eastern Ontario (all my life of 45 years running 1200 hives the last 20
years) where our industry has caused many of it's own hardships with it's
overly protective strategy. Total border closure to US imports in the late
1980's was a significant factor in the decline of colony numbers in this
province which are 35% lower today. The initial impact on western province
packagebee operators was much worst and totally unforgiveable IMO. I am
adjacent to New York state and the bees/mites did not respect the law but
came across anyway.
However, in June 2004 after much tough debating, with testing and
protocols in place, US queen imports have resumed. I have brought in 325
California(north of Sacramento)queens since then and I believe over 600
queens total came in last year province wide. This province(gov't-OMAF)
decided they would follow up with morphmetric testing of the offspring of
these queens inspite of the other protocols in place. None of the queens I
brought in showed any signs of africanization by FABIS and I have not
heard of any positive test results on the others.
So far the AHB drones seem to be absent or unsuccessful in this area of
California, atleast during mid to late April when my queens were getting
mated.
First pollen yesterday March 29th.
Rob T.
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---
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