Hello All,
I recently found out a retired USDA researcher from the Tucson Bee Lab has
moved close to me. He did a program for our bee club tonight with slides of
several countries he visited researching bees. He has done quite a bit of
work on African bees.

He has concented to mentor me (his idea)  on the way the bee labs run
experiements , keep records and raise queens.

On another subject:

I have got a friend which teaches biology. I give her frozen bees to look at
and the class disects the bees as a classroom project and reports back the
problems found. Hmmm. Maybe a solution which might work for many on the
list!

What would take me all day they do in an hour.

She called me last week and asked if the last sample I sent were Russian
bees ( she knows I have been working with Russian bees)  as the bees had a
different head shape than their pictures in the books. I said I thought all
mellifera head shape was basically the same. I guess I always cut off the
head so really never looked close.

Can you tell a Italian from a Carniolan by head shape?

The last sample I sent her were a sample of bees I took off a semi load of
another beekeepers bees (Nebraska)which had been in California to test for
tracheal mites. I found no tracheal mites when I checked. The beekeeper did
not believe me so I sent the biology teacher bees from the same batch I
tested from a sample I took last January. She finnally found one tracheal
mite in 24 bees. I do not know the strain of bees he uses as he buys queens
from several queen producers.

I was really not surprised as the bees had been treated for TM the fall
before by a method I had shared with him.

Bob

Hopefully I will be able do spend many hours  working with my new mentor
next season!

"Never to old need a mentor !"

Ps. If the  retired USDA researcher listens carefully he might learn a few
beekeeping secrets from Bob not found in books or ever wrote about on the
internet! My new mentor is friends with many people I have only read about
in books. I am still amazed that a person which spent a lifetime researching
bees and in his seventies would still keep a couple hives and still want to
research. I guess a "patch" needs to be invented to help people quit
beekeeping! Maybe Bob will need such a patch.

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