Hello All,
Terry Brown (Brown's Bees Australia) is leaving for Australia tomorrow. My
partner and I had an enjoyable visit with Terry. We looked through hives,
supered hives and bottled honey. Whatever project we were doing Terry jumped
in to help. On Saturday we took Terry to see the sites of Kansas City and
then to a barbecue.
I learned quite a bit about Australian beekeeping and we hope Terry learned
from us. Terry also brought pictures and information from a beekeeping
equipment trade show in Argentina he attended last week.
Australian import update:
The Australian bees still are not showing varroa problems and remain
untreated although we treated all the bees which were in California with the
Australian bees as they did and still do have serious varroa issues. The
Australian bees are packing in the honey.
I am not surprised about honey production as they are from Italian stock but
I must admit I thought by now the Australian bee would have serious varroa
issues. Not yet and I believe they will finnish the season without needing
treatment (pulling supers and treating).
One needs to remember these bees were on a strong 6 week flow in Feb/March
and then on an intense apple flow in April. We have made two nucs from these
bees to keep from swarming. Now they are on an intense clover flow. Brooding
up now for five months.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

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