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Subject:
From:
Roy Nettlebeck <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Discussion of Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 28 Feb 1996 10:46:58 -0800
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On Tue, 27 Feb 1996, David Eyre wrote:
 
>  Mark Egloff wrote
> >        I am a hobbyist that has currently two hives of Italian HB that
> >     look like they might make it through the winter. (Although the S
>         I'm sure Dr. Nasr wont mind me supplying the following.
>         Selection Index. Traits to be evaluated, on a points basis.
>                         5. Exceptional       4. Excellent       3. Average
>                         2. Fair                   1. Poor.
> Traits Suggested:
>                 Winterability
>                 a. Colony strength first inspection after winter.
>                         5. 10 frames of bees or more.
>                         4. 8-9 frames of bees
>                         3. 6-7 frames of bees
>                         2. 4-5 frames of bees
>                         1. 2-3 frames of bees.
>                 b. Stored Food.
>                         5. Very heavy none needed
>                         4. heavy none needed
>                         3. enough food
>                         2  no food, needs feeding
>                         1. no food and starved
>                 Brood Viability
>                         5. >95% solid brood
>                         4. 90-95% solid brood
>                         3. 80-90% solid brood
>                         2. 75-85% solid brood
>                         1. <75%   solid brood
>                 Temperament
>                         5. Bees and queen are very quiet, no sting attempts
>                         4. Bees and queen are calm and 1-2 sting attempts
>                         3. Bees and queen fairly calm 2-4 sting attempts
>                         2. Bees and queen show some running 5-10 sting attempts
>                         1. Bees and queen Excited and running
>                 Cleaning Behaviour
>                         5. Clean bottom board and brood nest
>                         4. Clean bottom board with slight debris
>                         3. Little debris on bottom board
>                         2. Fair amount of debris
>                         1. Messy bottom board.
>                 Disease Status
>                         Examine brood, check and note. AFB should be eliminated.
>                 Honey Production
>                         Note on the check list total supers added.
>
>         We use a plastic pocket on on top of each inner cover, every time
> the hive is opened we note and record all of the above. Obviously we note
> the weather (temperament), queen right, and anything else which might be
> useful later. One final trait you might like to add, as your are dealing
> with various races, Propolis production. If you can produce a bee which
> doesn't produce vast quantities of the sticky stuff would be an advantage.
>         Any more traits? I think this is a valuable exercise and should be
> encouraged!!>
 
  Hello Beepeople,
   This is a very important post that David put out to everyone.You HAVE
to keep records on your bees if you want to really learn more about them.
A little plug for the A I Root Co. , they have a Colony record book that
is all layed out and covers most everything that you need to check. It
has an area that you can write notes in each time you check your bees.
I'm working on a program on my computer that will weigh the different
traits, so I can track my queens overall or special traits. I take a tape
recorder ( a small $ 30 one) out with me when I work the bees. The
recorder has a pause button on it, I just push the button and tell the
machine what I have seen and what I have to do next time I return to the
hive.
 We could get very deep in this evaluation problem. We need to have a
better understanding on what is genetic and what the enviornment has to
do with the behavior that we are seeing.That is very important if you
want to have a good evaluation.
 We need to feed back to the breeders what we see and if we have
problems.We can help them improve. I get some queens from a diffrerent
source every year. I tried 15  ARS-Y-C-1 carniolans and would say that
they were  overall average. I used a couple to breed from and one
queen that I raised
has turned out A+. 1 out of 100 +. I checked for Varroa and only found a
few. I did not treat the hive with any medication. They look good as of a
week ago when it warmed up to the mid 60 's F.
  The researchers need data on what we are seeing. It would be wonderful
to have more information on file that people could upload and download.
When you live close to Bill Gates and Micrsoft you think about using the
computer as an every day tool. The problem is, control of the data. I
have been in Biology files that were working well.It was a very small
subject , like bee eggs.
 Bee Happy
 Roy

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