Hi Waldemar & All,
> the better survivors fly less in the winter when the weather is marginal
>
I see you agree with me, some people do not see it this way. Up here where
winters are long, snow can be on the ground six months out of the year, and
temperatures that drop to -25 to -35 degrees F. for weeks at a time it is
easy to weed out those that do fly and brood to early. They are simply to
weak come first inspection or die out well before this. The very best of the
survivors perform as Brother Adam describes below for the best part.
Conservation of energy and stores are an essential characteristics and
traits for me to breed a better bee for Alaskan conditions. Brother Adam
sees these as hereditary so my goals should be within reach because I have
seen these in the best and strongest survivors.
Brother Adam on the link below writes about wintering and spring
development;
http://www.fundp.ac.be/~jvandyck/homage/books/FrAdam/breeding/partII85en.html#p4
Quote
" 5. Hardiness and Ability to Winter
Hardiness and the ability to winter well are linked to a number of other
characteristics. Clearly any bee that quickly gets chilled when collecting
water or pollen on sunny but cool spring days cannot be described as hardy.
On the other hand, resistance to extremely low temperatures is less
important. Good wintering is largely determined by an ability to survive
over long periods on inferior stores without a cleansing flight and the
reaction of a colony to sudden changes in temperature or to disturbances in
general. The Carnica, for example, is inclined to fly on a bright day and a
rise of temperature, when our own strain, in identical conditions, will
remain completely inactive. Indeed our colonies appear as if dead from the
beginning of November to the end of February, or until conditions for a
satisfactory cleansing flight have arrived in spring. Any activity in
inclement weather brings about a loss of energy in bees to no good purpose
whatever, as confirmed in all such instances by practical experience.
6. Spring Development
The next important matter is spring development. I hardly need to emphasise
that the way in which bees develop in the spring, whether early or late,
depends on a hereditary factor. In my experience which, of course, relates
to the conditions prevailing in the south-west of the British Isles, the
build-up in spring must occur without any stimulative feeding; it must not
start before the weather conditions are favourable; once it has begun it
must proceed uninterruptedly despite changes in the weather. The Anatolian
bee, even when crossed with other strains, is ideal in this matter. Early
breeders expend their stamina by flights in unfavourable weather and waste
their energy in endeavours which bring no advantage and often, in fact, are
positively harmful. It is well known that early breeders are more
susceptible to Nosema than those which start breeding later. The latter
nearly always overhaul the early breeders, and moreover at the right point
of time, as they have not used up their vitality uselessly and
inopportunely. The dwindling of colonies, which is constantly being
reported on all sides, is very often the result of a premature spring
build-up.
What the modern beekeeper requires is a bee which needs no stimulative
feeding but one which builds up in the spring spontaneously, on its own
initiative. In this way he is spared all the dangers, the expense and the
labour involved in an artificial development. Equally spontaneous must be
the ability to maintain a correspondingly high degree of breeding until the
end of the summer which guarantees a maximum colony strength of young bees
for wintering and spring build-up." Unqoute
. .. Keith Malone, Chugiak, Alaska USA, http://www.cer.org/,
c(((([ , Apiarian, http://takeoff.to/alaskahoney/,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akbeekeepers/ ,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Norlandbeekeepers/ ,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ApiarianBreedersGuild/
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