allen dick <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Just curious, I imagine you've inspected and measured some of the brood
>comb. What are you seeing?
Hello Allen!
Not sure what you mean, but viability in ferals I have collected in the
past tend to run abut 95% give or take. I’ve been rather disappointed
with brood viability, but last season I identified an area of woodlands
that ferals originating from there exhibit above 98% brood viability. I
have not determined a mode of resistance in these particular ferals just
yet, but it will be interesting to see if the correlation of varroa
fecundity to colony fecundity causes mite pressure. If you mean measured
did I measure cell sizes,,,, the ferals that assess well enough to keep
generally run between 4.9 and 5.1 tops for my area. I have noticed last
season an overall up tic in brood viability and largeness of patterens in
queens mated that season. I don’t know the cause of this, but assume it
is due to the ongoing feral recovery has something to do with it.
>Also, I checked out your area on Google Earth some time back and noticed a
>large wooded area near Derry, where I seem to recall that you are located.
Yes, I am about a mile into the wooded area east of Derry. Feral
resurgence is lagging a bit in my immediate area, but lately I’ve noticed
more ferals beelining for the woodlands when bait is set out.
>I've wondered if that has proven a refuge for bees, or if you find more in
>the nearby agricultural areas?
This is a great question, after the crashes of 95-95, the first ferals
that I collected that survived without aids was in 2001. They were found
in small faming area with a variety of forage and many voids in the form
of old silos, abandon farm houses and large border trees (assuming several
were hollow). I have only identified one more farming area providing good
ferals, and the common denominator seems to be the presence of ‘abundant
voids’ and ‘forage variety‘.
I believe I may have identified what might be an intense allorgroomiing
trait in these bees caught in 2001, but as such does not meet the typical
description of allogrooming as described by Seeley and looks at first
glance to be an aggressive behavior to many that have witnessed it. So
this season plans are to attempt to evaluate the trait and see if I can’t
film the actual grooming of a mite, or at least establish that it is
either allogrooming or aggressive.
Several seasons ago I began targeting woodland ferals, after I found them
to perform very well during assessments in comparison against other ferals
caught in the farmlands that season. I realize that these woodlands
might be grading better simply because I am assessing them in the
environment that they have adapted to. But because brood viability tends
to be higher in the woodland ferals, I’m going with the assumption that
this is the direction to focus catching swarms, and also to pockets of
early recovery of ferals farmlands such as the area of the feral caught in
2001
>I've also wondered what size of apiary you maintain with these collected
>bees.
My apiary size runs 20 colonies. I assess up to 20 additional feral stock
per season, which is usually culled down by the end of the first season to
about 50%, then by spring, culling another 10 to 20%. I don’t enjoy
culling to such a degree, but I only keep the best performers each
season. These are either integrated into my Apiary by replacing bottom
performers, or given away to nearby beekeepers wanting bees or staring
just starting out. I’m expanding another 10 to 20 colonies next season
into out yards, to reduce the risk a bit. The goal was to get the bees to
performing at a respectable level before expanding the operation into
breeding and such.
Best Wishes,
Joe Waggle
EcologicalBeekeeping.com
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries'
Feral Bee Project:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeralBeeProject/
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---
|
