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Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:37:04 EST |
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I'm beginning to feel like piggy in the middle! Here is Bisi's latest
response.
Chris
1. You can use solid board in standard hives, no problem. They are sold
ready made or just attach a piece of wood to the top bar.
2. Experiments are all very well, but the bees don't read the books and
they will continue to act as they have done for thousands of years! Bees
never occupy a hive that is inadequate for their size or leaky or infected etc.
Neither would they choose to die!!!
3. I am Nigerian but I deal with temperate and tropical bees. This is one
of the reasons I choose not to participate in these bee forums. Thinking is
very limited. And attitudes patronising. Most problems in Europe are
caused by beeks thinking they know it all, experimenting willy nilly and getting
it wrong in the short and long term. European bees and African bees
started off pretty much on the same footing (size, behaviour etc) but adapted
themselves for weather and local forage. European bees were roughly the same
size with the same capabilities. It was beeks messing about with the size of
comb to increase honey storage and queen breeding experiments which have
produced the larger less hardy hybrid you find in most UK apiaries. African
bees seem to deal effectively with varroa and other pests. They have
retained their natural responses, what Europeans call aggressive. I live in
Dorset in the UK, schooled in Somerset for 12 years and am familiar with
snow.... The best thing a beek can do for their bees in winter is to make sure
they keep them dry.
4. Something made the bees leave. This is an extreme emergency response.
Either invasion or contamination, something they could not deal with or
correct in the premises, so they left. It is a guess as to what that might be
at this stage.
5. Location is very important. Perhaps a brief conversation about how the
bees should be supported would have helped. Sounds like an invasion of some
kind of pest given the bees propolising and the pattern left. Narrow the
entrance to a couple of bees widths and or fit mouse guards in winter.
6. I firmly believe package bees should be isolated, as should swarms for
at least a season as a disease prevention measure. I don't combine until I
have seen they are thriving and disease free, then if still needed I prefer
to do combinations in the spring so they are strong by late summer for
winter.
Bisi
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