I'm beginning to feel like piggy in the middle!  Here is Bisi's latest  
response.
 
Chris
 
 
1. You can use solid  board in standard hives, no problem. They are sold 
ready made or just attach a  piece of wood to the top bar.
 
2. Experiments are  all very well, but the bees don't read the books and 
they will continue to act  as they have done for thousands of years! Bees 
never occupy a hive that is  inadequate for their size or leaky or infected etc. 
Neither would they choose  to die!!!
 
3. I am Nigerian but  I deal with temperate and tropical bees. This is one 
of the reasons I choose  not to participate in these bee forums. Thinking is 
very limited. And  attitudes patronising. Most problems in Europe are 
caused by beeks thinking  they know it all, experimenting willy nilly and getting 
it wrong in the short  and long term. European bees and African bees 
started off pretty much on the  same footing (size, behaviour etc) but adapted 
themselves for weather and  local forage. European bees were roughly the same 
size with the same  capabilities. It was beeks messing about with the size of 
comb to increase  honey storage and queen breeding experiments which have 
produced the larger  less hardy hybrid you find in most UK apiaries. African 
bees seem to deal  effectively with varroa and other pests. They have 
retained their natural  responses, what Europeans call aggressive. I live in 
Dorset in the UK,  schooled in Somerset for 12 years and am familiar with 
snow.... The  best thing a beek can do for their bees in winter is to make sure 
they keep  them dry. 
 
4. Something made the  bees leave. This is an extreme emergency response. 
Either invasion or  contamination, something they could not deal with or 
correct in the premises,  so they left. It is a guess as to what that might be 
at this  stage.


5.  Location is very important. Perhaps a brief conversation about how the 
bees  should be supported would have helped. Sounds like an invasion of some 
kind of  pest given the bees propolising and the pattern left. Narrow the 
entrance to a  couple of bees widths and or fit mouse guards in winter.
 
6. I firmly believe package bees should  be isolated, as should swarms for 
at least a season as a disease prevention  measure. I don't combine until I 
have seen they are thriving and disease  free, then if still needed I prefer 
to do combinations in the spring so  they are strong by late summer for 
winter. 
Bisi


             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L