Bently Durant wrote:
>
> Yes these are tough days. Almost all the local beekeepers have
> suffered total loss of their bee colonies due to varroa. I am 14 years
> old and live in granburry texas. Its a small town southwest of dallas
> by about 35 miles. Two years ago we had bees flying all over the
> flowers of our yard. The next year they were gone. The year after that
> I started beekeeping. Now the bees are buzzing around the some trees.
>
> My first colony that I got the fall of last year was an aggressive
> italan hive. They tought me alot about not fearing the bees. I decided
> when I was budgeting that did not need apistan strips and Used a
> little oils and Terimiacin grease patties. Sadly I never was
> privelaged enough to see a single might on one of the bees. After a
> local beekeeper showed me how to find the queen I killed thousands of
> bees checking th hive whenever weather and time permitted. I would
> sometimes walk up to the hive and watch but I learned that the hive
> was aggressive enough to sting me so I usually stayed away from the
> bees for a bit. Winter came and as I requeened (I think it was
> unsuccessful because they still rush me whenever I don't use smoke)
> with the ars-y-c-1 carnolian cause I hered carnolians were gentle.
>
> I never thought the hive would survive the winter espeicially because
> I drowned the bees by the dozen inside the feeders. I managed to loose
> even more by moving the hive out of the way for a new phone line.
>
> Enought of then this is now:
>
> I now have 7 hives 6 of them midnights (Who needs a smoker with
> them... I would even trust them enough to walk up to them wearing
> nothing but my skippies if it for the neighbors and farm hands.) One
> hive is still agressive but I have a firelighter wich helps me to
> start the smoker up (but even the smoker has its drawbacks cause last
> time I was filling it up with hay, coastle, it burned me and I dropped
> it onto the grass. luckly no fire was started but had I let that fire
> touch my cover alls then I wouldn't have enough tome to think of the
> old stop-drop-and-roll methiod.)
>
> I painted the six of the hives a really nice color of blue and spaced
> them on beams about 3-4 ft apart with the front of each hive facing
> the back of the one in front of it.
>
> Putting the bees in also proved to be hazardouse because I was stun
> three times wile installing six 2# pacages of bees (everyone who
> hasn't met the italans thinks that thats alot :) I managed to have one
> fall in my tennis shoe at the end. He promptly stung me and sent me
> limping :( I also suffered when I poped open the italan hive.
>
> I have been spraying the bees with suger water and dusting them with
> sugar. the rain has done most of the watering. I have not been stung
> latly but I've noticed tha tthe bees are building new come like crazy.
> some of the hives were uneaven as a result of me not totally shaking
> the bees out but I have tried to even them out before I decided the
> the time had come to reliese the queens who had eaten most of the
> candy already. (gluttonus females :) so the queens pretty much walked
> out. I made shure the bees on the queen cage were not aming their
> stingers at the queen when i released her. most of the bees were aming
> their stingers away from the queen if not all of them so I felt pretty
> confiden't that the bees wouldn't ball the queens. I said a prayer
> anyway just in case.
>
> still no mites
>
> where are those mites
>
> this has been a state of the bigginer becoming a hobbiest beekeeper
> report.
>
>
>
> p.s. I will suggest the following to the local beekeepers when they
> get started again for controle of varroa mites.
>
> 1. oils (I use canola oil cause its so easy to get but do I need to
> use others)
>
> 2. apistan strips
>
> 3. citric acid (I don't know where to find this except on my
> toungebecause I love orange juice)
>
> 4.Crisco
>
> any others that you would recomend for the, uneducated in the modern
> ways of beekeeping, beekeepers.
 
 
HI DR. RODRIQUEZ !
     I wanted to forward this email I got yesterday to you because I
thought that you would get a laugh, over this very wonderful story. I
especially like his writing on when he got stung, but also about his
mention of useing canola oil. This is probably the sole reason that he
hasn't had any varroa, along with grease patties. I obviously disagree
with his statement that he hasn't had the prevledge of getting mites,
getting varroa isn't a priveledge. I will write back to him and tell him
how much I enjoyed reading his report, and tell him about my experiences
with varroa.
     Im glad to hear that the queens are working out. I have also
started useing mineral oil on the top bars as you suggested. No mites so
far without the use of Apistan, just useing mineral oil strips and top
bar applications. My hive is now moveing up to the 2nd deep. The pollen
flows are very very strong, one day when the sun was hot and the
temperature was 78 degrees last week I looked at the hive and it looked
like there was a robing taking effect. It was just the bee's all trying
to take off and land and they would all have to hover in front till they
could squeeze in. It was a sight that made me very happy. All the apple
trees are inb full bloom now. It's a bee paradise around here right now.
Every direction you look and all you see is acre after acre of apple
trees and cherry, and peach, all in bloom. This is the best time of the
year around here, soon the pears and late blooming trees will start. My
raspberries are in full bloom, and the bee's just love them, along with
the wisteria. I noticed that the wisteria also attracts allot of very
big bumblebees, of several different colors. I can stand and watch for
hours all the bee's buzzing around the raspberries, and wisteria. The
neighbors are going to think that i'm nuts when they see me just
watching the bee's out in the garden. They don't know that I have bee's
because I didn't want to attract any attention to my bee's because If
anybody gets stung in the neighborhood they would say that it was my
bees, and I don't know what my landlord would say, probably would be
affraid someone would sue, and tell me to get rid of them. If I could
have as many bee's as I wanted I would probably have about 50 to 100
hives, so that I could rent them out for pollination. Plus get all the
honey to sell.
   Thanks for the advice on useing smoke, the bee,s are manageable, but
I like to wait for the evening to check my hive because If I use it
during a flow then they pretty much shut down for the day, and I don't
want to slow them down at all.
    Please keep me informed if you have discovered additional methods of
applying the oil. Now that I have added the 2nd deep I hope that if I
just have the strips in the upper deep that, that will be sufficiant. I
don't want to have to split the hive open every time to re oil the
strips. What would you suggest?
THANK YOU VERY MUCH !
BRIAN HENSEL
[log in to unmask]