I am a new subscriber to Bee-l, and find it very interesting and
 informative, and even facinating at times! This is also my first post
 to the 'whole' list, so I hope I don't mess up. I have some comments,
 thoughts, and a few questions that I'd like to throw out.
 
 First, my beekeeping background. I've had two hives for two summers. I
 started with used equipment and 2 packages. I lost both hives the
 first winter. Last summer and fall, I was more diligent about feeding
 the medicines recommended at the correct times, and my bees survived
 last winter (I'm sure the mild winter here in Minnesota helped). We
 also harvested our first honey last fall - its amazing how much better
 your own honey tastes!!
 
 Some thoughts after reading the correspondense on Bee-l for the past
 couple of months.
 
 I would highly encourage knowledgeable people to direct their answers
 to the whole Bee-l list, since that information is invaluable to
 beginners like myself. I'm sure that Kelly from Florida has received a
 ton of good, beginner info that has been directed just to her that
 would help lots of other beginners. A recent example that comes to
 mind is the person that explained why Apistan shouldn't be left in the
 hive any longer than recommended, to avoid the mites building a
 resistance to it. I'm sure that was news to lots of people, especially
 the non-biologist types on the list.
 
 I would highly recommend Bee-l in digest form to anyone - it sure cuts
 down the clutter in my mailbox.
 
 Now for some questions:
 
 1) I've started feeding my bees some 1:1 sugar water and terramyacin.
 I'm feeding using the overturned 1 gallon feeders and another super.
 When I go back to refill a couple weeks later, I'm finding mold in the
 buckets. How can I avoid that? Will it harm the bees?
 
 2) I'm concerned that the 1 gallon feeders over the hole in the top
 cover will cause a ventilation problem in the hive, because you're
 effectively shutting off the top ventilation. Am I overly concerned?
 What are other peoples favorate methods of feeding?
 
 3) Bottom boards - which way should they be turned? You have a bigger
 space one way versus the other way.
 
  4) Harvesting honey - what is a good text or source for beginners on
 extracting? Seems like last year, we had the uncapping knife too hot,
 we didn't run it thru a fine enough screen etc. The honey that we
 ended up with was very edible for us, but not what I would want to
 market.
 
 5) Does anyone have plans for a solar honey extractor?
 
 6) Honey sales - the minute people found out that I had bee hives,
 they were lining up for 'free' honey, especially my relatives. To make
 it worse, they then start giving me honey jars, or scrounging up
 beekeeping equipment at sales. How do you get past that free stage and
 onto the marketing of honey?
 
 I've rattled on long enough - keep up the good work!!
 
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  Joel Piepenburg   Information Services   507-284-8818
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