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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
charles Linder <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 10 Jul 2014 18:15:59 -0500
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> I think the folk-wisdom ... may just conceal from beekeepers the losses
that any significant move entails for the bees. 


Agreed... which is my goal.  Quit doing that.  Work on facts.   Same yards,
or nearby is not a issue.  Do it all the time,  and leave a hive to collect
foragers, Many times I will move out strong hives and leave weak hives in
the middle of the day on purpose. 

What I want to do is not be an ostrich with my head in the sand.  Many times
a year I move hives for convince, or a local crop such as sunflowers.  As
well as pollination contracts and normally in the fall I move hives back
into the home yard to save miles on the truck and me.   
Reconsidering that.  Losing bees in the fall is probably not an issue,  but
the spring move back out may well be.  Is it worth while to move bees to
sunflowers for 3 weeks? 

So the quandary in my head is twofold.  Is it true?  And what can be done to
lessen it.   James sent me a link to a wonderful study.  Unfortunately it
wasn't done to address this particular issue,  so no cures were checked,
just confirmed that they do in fact revert to landmarks when the sun is gone
(cloudy)  and if landmarks are similar  it's a problem.   They also studied
a bit on swarms and how they work in relation to relocating.

Right now I would like to get my hands on a bee counter.  One guy post info
on how to build one,  but I am not that electrically inclined.  So I am
still looking.  From there I would like to test a few hives and techniques
for moving.  Should be fairly straightforward to calculate normal losses and
unusual ones.

Charles

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