>These trips are planned with NO stops
>for fuel or food during daylight hours other then emergency except when the
>weather is so cold the chance of any bees coming out is null.
 
 
I wonder what happens if the bees arrive at their destination at noon.  Do
the beekeepers unload at mid-day?  If so is there much problem with
drifting?  Do they continue to water them? Or do they plan not to arrive
during the heat of the day.
 
>Some carry special equipment to make watering fast and
>easy, others make arrangement for the use of them at pre arranged water
>stops. Something that I have not seen much written about is what beekeepers
>do before loading the hives and this includes some very efficient watering
>systems that vary from beekeeper to beekeeper. I have helped load many
>truck loads of 400-500 hives of bees most of the time without the need for
>a veil because of the better watering systems in use today.
 
Andy, I would *very* much like to hear about these systems.
 
 
>At the same time it would be very productive to work out the bee
>environmental problems that have been experienced in hauling bees enclosed
>in a refrigerated van as that would contribute to the next advance in
>moving bees when the public could be 100% protected from exposure to bees,
 
 
I did send a semiload of bees (400 hives) to Arizona a number of years ago
by reefer.  We built special ducts in the front and kept one tiny door open
at the back.  AFAIK they arrived just fine.  However that was November.
Just the same, they did go through Las Vegas at mid-day and the truckers
said they did stop for lunch.
 
>>As far as I can determine, the notion that Mineral Oil smothers mites is a
>>"guess" promulgated by this list. It seems to be derived from the fact
that
>>Vaseline smothers mites.
 
 
Well, actually it came from Dr. Rodriguez' talk at the ABF convention in
Virginia last year.  He put up a large slide of the mite and explained that
due to differences of scale and the small size of the varroa's pores and the
mechanism by which they control their body moisture, that they were
susceptible to small amounts of oil that would not bother bees due to the
larger size of everything on the bee.  Effects that are weak at larger sizes
get relatively stronger as the scale decreases. ...Something to do with
capillary action and surface tension and viscosity and water bugs walking on
water wheras we can't...
 
>> A better guess may be that the oil or grease interfers with the
>>ability of the mite to properly find and identify its host (with some
>>pretty good evidence that this is the case for the blind tracheal mite).
 
I believe Sammataro did some work on the attractiveness of young bees coated
with oil when working with tracheal mites. Her video is a must to see.  Even
better than Ulee's Gold.
 
>>One lesson that we learned very quickly - refueling stops during the day
>>are when things can quickly escalate out of control.  Pull in to a fuel
>>station, stop, and the temperature begins to climb in less than 5 minutes
>>(down right scarey).  In our case, we added a small generator and fan to
>>move air through the load (during these stops or any roadside breakdowns).
>>Without the fan system - don't stop!
 
 
Good advice, Jerry, and much appreciated.  Some people don't know that and
it bears repeating.
 
>The rule beekeepers should remember is that cold bees can be revived but
>seldom are overheated ones and even if they live don't have much
>value...Cold bees will fall down in a package bee cage but this seems not
>to harm them and they do not smother because of it and will get back up
>when warmed up
 
I wonder about the chilled bees.  I contend that, yes, they do get back up
and look okay, but only long enough to sell to a northern beekeeper.  In my
early years I bought some packages that I found out later had been chilled.
They looked okay on arrival, but did not stay up; they dropped again the
first night (which was cool) and had to be combined two for one to make
decent colonies.
 
Allen