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Date: | Sat, 20 Apr 2013 08:34:36 -0700 |
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I find the alarm about the 30% loss statistic to be of surprise.
I have always combined colonies in fall and winter to make almond
pollination strength. My rule of thumb was to expect to get 2 for every
3--which would be 33% loss. This rule held long before varroa arrived, or
the neonics were invented.
If I don't combine, even today, most will survive and rebound--I will
discuss this at length in an upcoming article. What I found was that the
stronger colonies build up so much more quickly in the fall (due to having
a cluster size that allows the queen to lay to her capacity) that it was
more cost-effective for me to focus on strong colonies, and then split them
to make early spring increase to recover my numbers. This works well in
Calif--I don't know about other areas.
--
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com
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