Thanks to all those who wrote to me both via bee-l and directly. As
expected, everyone so far is from the North American continent, so I
guess I'll have to work on some more people here! :)
 
Demonstrating how small the world really is, Jane Power tells me her
sister lives only about 30 miles from me and works only about 20
miles away in Reading!
 
Jane> I wonder how well or poorly your bees manage
in the winter against ours -- ours certainly should do better as our
winter is _far_ less severe than yours (have I heard somewhere that 30%
losses are typical in Canada?).  We do however suffer from a kind of mild
dampness which is not good for the bees (or me) and they do tend to eat
lots of stores in these conditions. I think though that we get around 10%
losses, about half of which is really due to poor winter preparation as
many colonies starve about now -- and they shouldn't!  More of a concern
for us now may be varroa -- in Germany I have heard of 40% losses due
directly or indirectly to this little beast and this is where the cold
may just help you as the mites have a much harder time if there is no
brood!
 
Brother Adam of course is one of those great heros of beekeeping. His
work has undoubtedly reached all corners of the world. We (the
Association) had the pleasure to visit him a couple of years ago and the
visit was a superb pleasure. Brother Adam may be a frail old man of 92
(then) but if starts walking before you do you may have to run to keep up
with him! A wonderful man and a wonderful character who has been made by
the Abbot to give up beekeeping. Everyone was angry at this imposition,
but I suspect that this was mostly to make him slow down a bit.
 
I shall enquire about the suggestion that Buckfast bees groom out varroa,
but I suspect that this is a story that grew a bit.  I know that he was
working in this direction but I supect that it is far too soon yet for
success.  There have been some experiments with Apis Cerana workers
introduced into Apis Mellifera hives (as 'slaves' to help groooming) but
without success so far -- but maybe Mellifera will learn from them?
 
Jim> Shipping Honey to a mass honey packer is one of those thing that
some do and some don't. Most small-scale UK producers don't -- we're too
old fashioned, I think :). Many mainland Europeans do, frequently running
co-operatives, and many larger scale British beekeepers do. It certainly
beats all the sticky fingers, sticky doors, sticky furniture, sticky
cloths, sticky.... I guess I stop there :)
 
Mike> I'm definitely interested in swapping newsletter content, so I'll
collect what makes sense to send away and post it. If it's small, on
bee-l, if it's large, perhaps I should post direct to those who ask.
What's the etiquete here?
 
David> I am still hunting on CompuServe for a beekeeping related forum,
so far with no success. If I find anything I'll post it. Good luck
starting with the hobby -- you do know that it's more addictive than some
illegal substances don't you? :)
 
Thanks again, Bye,      Gordon.