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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Sun, 10 Feb 2002 17:17:01 -0500
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Give and man a fish, or teach a man to fish?
You know which is the correct answer.

The easy way to get a MS patient the bees
he/she needs on a long-term basis to teach
them to keep bees themselves in an observation
hive.

This avoids all the liability issues, avoids
"practicing medicine without a license", avoids
all the ethical/legal problems of charging money
for something that should be free, and makes less
work for the you, the beekeeper.

Certainly a few jars of bees up front are not a big
problem, and one should verify that bee stings are
having a positive impact before getting ahead of
oneself, but one does not want to turn this into
a long-term obligation for either party.

Here's what I have done:

a)  Make a gift of an observation hive, or convince
    the patient to buy one.  Stock it with a queen
    that you would otherwise kill and a frame of bees.
    A slow-laying older queen is an ADVANTAGE in an
    observation hive.   :)

b)  Rig up a stand-alone feeder assembly that can be
    placed "down the entrance tube", between the hive
    and the exit.

c)  Between the hive and the feeder assembly,
    rig up a "trap" to catch bees, one or two at
    a time.  Using off the shelf plumbing components
    (appropriate for those who use clear flexible hose
    as an exit tube), you need a "tee" and appropriate
    sized threaded adapters for the tube.  I use 1 1/4
    inch Inner Diameter clear tubing, since this matches
    the most common PVC plumbing components.

d)  Hold the tee so that it looks like a letter "T".
    You want one opening to point straight down.

e)  Cut slots into the top of the two horizontal flanges
    with a handsaw or a dremel tool.  You want a straight
    and thin cut, ideal would be 1/16th inch thick and no
    winder than the pipe's diameter.  (Cut no further than
    1/2 way through the pipe.)

f)  Fabricate a "pipe to jar lid adapter" by cutting a hole into
    the jar lid, and sliding in and gluing a sink flange.  Glue
    this assembly to the downward tee flange with PVC glue.
    When done, cut a slot in the front side of the flange,
    similar to (e).

g)  Fabricate a set of three "slide-in doors" from flashing,
    plastic, cardboard, whatever is lying around.  They should
    block the opening in the tee completely.

Operation is simple.  The downward door is normally closed,
and the "in" and "out" doors are normally open.  (Yes, the
bees may take a few days to learn to quickly navigate through
this unusual obstruction...)

Wait for a bee or two to enter the trap, and slide the in and out
doors into their "closed" positions.  Screw a jar with a bit of
honey onto the downward projecting tee flange, and open the
downward door.  Wait a bit, and the bees enter the jar.

Unscrew the jar, quickly screw on another jar top, and voila -
bees in a jar.

If more than one day's bees are needed, one can simply bait
the jar, close the outermost door, open the downward door,
and leave the jar in place until one has a good number of bees.

One can even rig up a gerbil feeder nozzle to a jar lid as a
feeder for bees in a jar that need to be kept alive for longer
periods, like trips.  When feed runs out, refill the feeder.
Be sure the patient knows the number of sugar packets
and amount of water required to mix up a new batch of
thin syrup.  One can do this with nothing more than water
from the hot water tap, and sugar packets pocketed at a
restaurant.

As far as keeping the colony alive, there are lots of good books
on the subject, and a typical MS patient who uses bee stings
is very motivated to learn.

What about winter?  In winter, an indoor observation hive can
be kept warm enough to keep traffic going between the feeder
and the hive.  Yes, feeding is a constant issue in winter,
but one must also feed one's fish.

Here's a diagram, in genuine ascii art, since Bee-L barfs
on attachments (if it looks screwy, cut and paste it into
a work processor using a courier font):


Threaded               Tee                 Threaded
Adapter                                    Adapter

            Cut                   Cut
            Slot                  Slot

+------+  +--v----------------------v--+  +-------+
|||    |  |  v                      v  |  |     |||
|||    |  |  v                      v  |  |     |||
|||    |  |  v                      v  |  |     |||
|||    |  |  v                      v  |  |     |||
|||    |  |                            |  |     |||
|||    |  |                            |  |     |||
|||    |  |                            |  |     |||
|||    |  |                            |  |     |||
+------+  +----+                  +----+  +-------+
               |                  |
               | <<<<<<<<>>>>>>>> |  Cut Slot
               |                  |
               +------------------+   Downward Tee Flange


          +---------------------------+
          |                           |  Jar Lid
          +                           +
               +----------------+
               |                |        Sink Flange
             ======================

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