Some more thoughts on Canola... What I have experienced here in Sweden
the latest years.
Two different kinds; one that is self pollinated, and one that need cross
pollination.
We have had both for ages, the self pollinated one being the best honey
producer.
The last 2-3 years it has not produced so much honey any more, genetics been
fiddling with it I suppose. I even took the trouble to move hives to a field,
only to
see bees flying in the other direction to some lime trees (linden, basswood). So
when discussing Canola, we maybe should check what it is out there on the fields
as it no doubt change from year to year.
> Another Alberta beekeeper who has been on the pollination job for many years
> now mentioned the unusual queen loss associated with canola pollination
The hybrid isn't here yet, only some test fields so far. But what you say about
queen losses is something I have been wondering about too. For the last two
years I have had similar experience, queens just disappear without any cells in
the hive. Trying to remember if it happened during the july honey flow... think
most of them did. To me it looked like the queen stopped laying for some reason,
then died without any chance for the bees to replace her. But I have no proof
for that theory, just my feelings. I don't believe they tried to supersede! I
haven't kept a record on if they were flying on Canola, but sure will do
it this summer.
> In considering the swarming factor, I don't think that every hive that
> succumbed over the season swarmed.
I have almost no swarms during the flow, bees tend to forget about it and
concentrate on getting the honey for winter at that time. A few of them will
supersede, but this often happens at the end of flow when bees seem to
think they got enough honey and starts thinking on a new queen.
> Another factor, one that may not affect you in Australia, is that canola
> honey tends to be very poor for wintering, due to its hardness in the comb.
> Hives put into winter on strictly canola honey have a hard time of it.
If I was to try it here I don't think I had any bees next spring... But my bees
are confined to the hive for at least 5 months without flying.
> Or do you think that the failure to requeen is not at the cell building
> stage, but somewhere farther into the process? How is caged queen aceptance
> on the canola?
I had excellent acceptance on a good Canola flow here. Bees just haven't got
time to think about queens with all that nectar around.
I have also had a few situations where the queen stopped laying and I thought
she was gone until coming back with a new queen and she was there after all
and staring up again. This all happened the latest seasons, strange things I
haven't
seen before.
P-O
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