This is mainly to Dr. Keith Delaplane as a thank you but also to any novice
beekeepers.
 
I saw your posting earlier and now that I know you're on the distribution
list, I'd like to publicly thank you for producing your videotape on
starting up and caring for bees.  The video has been very instructive and I
am having great luck in starting my first hive using your instruction.  The
tape was exceptionally well done and I would highly recommend it as a good
resource for any beginning beekeepers.  Perhaps you could post the
information with the exact name and how to obtain a copy (I don't currently
have the information at my fingertips).  By the way, that pollen substitute
does smell worse than it looks, and it looks awful!
 
In response to some earlier postings, I was using binoculars to observe my
hive, too, when I discovered I could get right next to the hive (to the
side, 3 ft. away) without bothering the bees at all.  I could sit for hours
fascinated by what goes on at the hive door (my wife thinks I'm even
stranger now than when I used to sit and watch the weather channel or sit
and watch my garden grow).  My two kids are also fascinated by the whole
thing.
 
The bees (Dadant Midnight queen with mostly Italian workers) seem to be
getting a slow start here in Michigan, the brood appearing to be about a
week behind the best case of 21 days to new bees after installation.  My
dad, who raised bees some twenty-five years ago, reminded me that they are
wild animals and that they've done just fine for millions of years on their
own.  He told me to be patient and let them alone to do their thing.  I've
taken his advice and it seems to be working.  Despite the cool and rainy
weather, they are working when the temperature is above 54F, are bringing in
lots of pollen and drinking down lots of sugar-water.  I've even seen them
out pollinating the apricot trees (which are just now in bloom), which is
the real reason I got the bees in the first place.
 
Well, good luck to all the beginners out there, and be patient.  I'm sure
the bees want to survive even more than you want them to and they probably
will in spite of us!!
 
 
 
John Moote
 
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