BEE-L Archives

Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

BEE-L@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Jerry Bromenshenk <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:13:19 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (50 lines)
[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])  writes:

"... he  was getting ready to plant the field around us and it rained and 
he couldn’t  plant for a day. So when he got around to planting which was on 
(April) the  twelfth, there was frost that morning, the ground was wet so I 
said, we’re in  good shape we aren’t going to have any problems. Well he 
planted it and within  an hour and a half we had bees coming out the front of 
our hives. And I don’t  know how many of you are beekeepers but bees can’t 
maintain flight if they  can’t maintain a fifty eight degree body 
temperature. So at freezing, they  don’t even bother coming out of the hive. So the 
bees started coming out and  dying and the only thing that would make sense is 
that the poison that was on  the corn became airborne and floated over 
across the bee yard. ….They were  super strong at that time, we fed them three 
pounds of pollen and they’d had  two feedings of  syrup because we were 
trying to get em in shape for our  queen breeding operation...."
The problem here is that it not only is anecdotal, but that  it doesn't fit 
common sense. It rained, ground was wet, frost on  the ground, yet when the 
field  was planted the bees came out and  died?  It seems from this 
statement that it was too cold for the bees  to fly and forage.  And too wet for 
dust.  So how did anything from  the planting  reach and get INTO the hive?
 
I'd have looked for high mite titers and other pathogens, as well as  
testing to document any possible pesticide residues.  What were  the results  of 
sampling, analysis?
 
In MT, when the tracheal and then the varroa mites first appeared, in  the 
spring, when the food resource and weather suddenly changed from good  to 
cold, wet - we got bees marching out of hives and dying in front.  This  
wasn't uncommon, and the bees were always loaded with mites.  I also had  
colonies in tunnels that did the same when mite levels got high.
 
One has to be careful about correlative associations - and yes, I do  
believe that dust during planting can be a problem, but where's the dust  here?
 
I imagine there could have been a lightening storm when it rained before  
the death march.  Did the lightening cause  the loss? 
 
Jerry
 
 
 
 
 


             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

ATOM RSS1 RSS2