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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 10 Jun 2012 11:49:23 -0600
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 > In commercial circles today 80,000 is not unreasonable for hives kept 
 > in at least two deeps and managed.

Can you provide proof of that?  Have you ever shaken out the bees and 
weighed them?  The people being quoted apparently have.

 > My production hives bees will not fit in two deeps this time of year.

Sure.  That is normal.  Do we know that such hives are not what was 
being counted in the numbers above?  Those guys were not known for being 
stupid.  Why assume that research hives were the only ones examined?

Hives which seem average suddenly appear much larger when exposed to 
feeding or a flow.  This is not due to larger populations.  It is due to 
the higher metabolism and the fact that the bees spread out when revved 
up.  Increased metabolism creates heat. Warm bees thin out in the brood 
chamber and move elsewhere.

 > Dr. Lu's hives were in a commercial operation which to me means bees
 > cranked up.

But even if that is true and I am guessing not, when were the test hives 
poisoned?  At peak population?  I don't think so.  There is so little 
actual information that all this seems to be a matter of speculation. 
It is wise when speculating to speculate on the conservative side.

 > when you look at the shear size of the colonies I have created one
 > can not argue with the results... The most common comment I hear
 > when a hobby beekeeper looks at commercial hives at season peak
 > is "I have never seen nothing like these bees!".

I know.  A beekeeper came by yesterday, and when he came around the 
quonset and saw my splits.  He said, "Now those are strong colonies!" 
He was looking at splits which had been split again.  I had to smile.

The original 22 that came out of winter are now 75.  I'm been feeding 
Global Patties steadily since the end of March and have now fed about 
500 patties to those original 22 and the splits that came from them. 
Each hive eats about a patty a week regardless of the pollen coming in 
or not.

Again, I have to chuckle at beekeepers who buy a patty or two per hive 
and think they are really laying it on.  I've fed about 20 patties each 
so far this year and I am not stopping.

Bob, you could settle this easily.  How about going out and shaking out 
a hive or two and weigh the bees, then count the bees in one pound and 
figure out the total?

That would convince us all.  Nothing else will.

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