At 10:00 AM 1/21/99 -0700, you wrote:
 
>Should salt(s) not be offered as a free choice?  Somehow?
 
Normally I think that's how it works in nature which explains maybe why in
areas that are deficient in natural salt in the air, soil, or water the
bees will seek it out from other sources.
 
I did work with mineral salt blocks placed inside the hive such as is used
for rabbits..  In time the blocks would disappear. The next step would be
to make some flat sheets of a size that could be placed in other places in
the hive besides the bottom board. Never got that far as the problem with
metal in the hive stopped me dead in my tracks.
 
I then moved to putting a big coffee can of rock salt in water drums used
to water the bees here in the late summer when there is NO water for the
bees and they will take down a drum in a few days. I also administrated TM
in this way, and at other times added a cup of Bleach. All of these field
trials were 100% successful as no bees died, but if it was effective in
upgrading the health of the bees was never answered because healthy bees
were used in the field tests and at the end of the tests the bees were
still healthy. For sure this has not always been the case but with
experience one learns to be a little conservative in what is added to the
bee diets.
 
The lesson in all of this is if you do not have a problem then why expend
the time and money even if its true you can do it without toxic effects? I
have seen the claims from products that can be added to sugar syrups and
bee diets but never have seen the results claimed when I tested these
products. I can only assume that I did not have the problem that those who
promote these thing do or just lack of the proper or politically correct
vision needed to see the difference.
 
There must be some point that to seek out better bee locations is a better
solution to all these micro problems then try to supplement the poor
location we now have with artificial diets and chemicals.
 
Chow, the OLd Drone
http://beenet.com
 
 
 
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