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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
"Bogansky,Ronald J" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 14 Oct 2003 09:50:33 -0400
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Thanks so much for all the comments to my question.  As much as I hate to admit it I think starvation is what took them out. As I said it looked like a colony lost in the winter.  Bees head first into empty cells. I know I left a good amount of honey and the colony was very strong five weeks ago, but obviously I miscalculated.  I even remember taking an extra super from this hive and giving it to one of the others that was a little light.  It was queenright and showed no other signs of trouble. Robbing was a possibility but this colony should have had no problem defending itself.  I am still really puzzled by the large amount of dead bees both on the bottom board and especially on the inner cover. Maybe it was a combination of defending and then starvation.

There are only four (now three) colonies at this site. These colonies are on a small farm for season long pollination.  The farmer told me that in spite of the good bloom and all the bees his pumpkin harvest was low.  The flowers that were pollinated gave large pumpkins, just not that many.  Way to much rain.  My thought is if they could not get out to pollinate they were not flying or bringing in stores.  Large colony equals large appetite. I talked to another beekeeper in my area.  He said he found colonies that will need serious feeding to get them through winter.  I guess I am lucky because all the colonies I check last week were OK.

 I have to agree that this year robbing would start if you sneezed while eating honey candy.  It took me forever to harvest.  Never had a season like this.  You could only work one or two colonies and had to move on to another yard or you risked kicking off a major frenzy.  One exception was one yard I have with 7 colonies.  It is the farthest away so I really hate making more than one trip.  I asked my daughter to accompany me hoping to speed up the harvest before the fun started.  When I arrived one look at the colonies told me there was a nice nectar flow going on.  I told my daughter we would not have any problems and I was right.  This was the last yard to be harvested.  I guess the Fall flow was much later than I anticipated.  The aster flow is still going strong.

 Thanks again for the comments.  I really do feel I am talking to my friends whenever I go to this list.


   Ron
Sixteen years, 34 colonies, and still so much to learn!

Ron Bogansky
Kutztown, (eastern) PA, USA




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