ROY NETTLEBECK:  Some time ago you wrote about having poor queens, etc.
 What percentage of poor queens have you had to-date - since April 6,
1996 in purchased vs home raised?
 
In reply to your post Dave Green said that brood with holes in them are
not more than 20% behind solid brood patterns.  I wonder where he got
this information or data?
 
Your question was is the spotty pattern only caused by inbreeding?  Are
there other accompanying behaviors?  My answer is yes, indeed!
 
Poor brood patterns can be caused by anything from the quality of the
eggs, not all eggs hatch according to the books.  Also anything which
causes or may cause prolonged interruptions in brood feeding cycles,
quality of food, amount of food, age of nurse bee, and I think genetics
and the quantity of queen pheromone available in the colony.
 
I also wonder what percentage of the colonies (purchased vs raise) were
noisy?
 
 
ALLEN DICK:  Some time ago you responded to my message on pollen tube
growth.  My reply apparantly didn't leave my computer.
 
The almond pollen when used to artificially pollinate cherry blossoms
results in deformed pollen tube growth.  Also the tubes abort before
they reach the ovary, thus no fertilization takes place and no fruit of
course.
 
 
WHITNEY CRANSHAW:  Asked how long do Varroa live.  I've read that they
live for four days off a host bee and ten days on a dead host.  However,
a beekeeper here put a comb of brood from an infested colony into his
warehouse where he uncapped brood over time to see how long he might
find live Varroa.  I talked with him at the three week point and he was
still getting live Varroa crawling out of cells he opened.   We could
reasonably ask whether these were capable of reproducing.
 
I have suggested to beekeepers here that there may be times when it
would be better if they do not make up splits from hives of unknown
Varroa levels but that they only use adult bees.  That way they can
treat all the adult bees with Apistan and kill the mites over a very
short period of time perhaps even in five days.
 
Of course this means that they perhaps make fewer splits if the number
of adults per comb of brood is quite low in the parent colony.  This is
especially true sometimes in the spring.
 
 
AARON MORRIS:  You talked about using Pam on your frame nails.  Were you
aware that the brown coating on the nails is a material (like an epoxy)
which heats up with the friction of your driving the nail into the wood?
 This heat causes the wood to bond with the nail holding the frame
together much better.  I think your Pam eliminates this gluing action
intended by the manufacturer.
 
Sorry, its better to get a few bent nails than to loose the frame
integrity and durable longevity from the epoxy coating.
 
 
MITE SOLUTION:  Kerry Clark was correct in his brief discussion of this
product recently on Bee-L.  The product is not registered at this time
and it is not likely to receive registration until more work is done to
show its effectiveness.
 
When I first saw the advertized labels for Mite Solution I approached
the manufacturer to ascertain information about his testing procedures
and the data he had compiled.  I wanted to be able to support his
registration request through the EPA process and to get a useful tool
into the hands of beekeepers as soon as possible.  That is, if the
product could indeed be proven to have a debilitating effect on mites.
We had several conversations about my concern with his scientific
techniques and the apparant lack of reliable supporting data.  I regret
to have to inform you that his technique and his data do not support his
claim that the solution kills mites.
 
I don't think that this is the place or time to fully analyze his
product and technique so I will not go into detail.
 
Suffice it to say that EPA has not granted a registration for the
product and is requiring more testing be done or the product will not be
labeled.  I have recommended to the manufacturer that he have other
scientists recognized in the bee research community do studies on the
product.  I've been told that he has approached two scientists on this
issue but he will not give them the information they require to conduct
the tests.
 
 
STEVE PHILLIPS:  You wrote about bees plugging the brood nest with honey
and pollen when you had empty supers on the hive.  You asked:  Why has
this happened?  and Is there a reason for concern?  The replies you
received may not be adequate responses to your questions.
 
It would be helpful to know more about the size of the colony/hive, age
of the queen, the external environment of the colony, ie. possible
pesticide damage, HBTM and Varroa mite levels, and some observations
about bee behaviors.
 
In my many years of experience bees store honey in the brood nest for at
least three reasons:  a.) The hive is too crowded during the honey flow.
 b.)  A failing one year or more old queen.  Bees store honey and large
amounts of pollen close to the brood rearing area.  c.)  A genetically
poor queen.
 
Of the queens I've introduced to nucs, and top splits over the past ten
years, many have exhibited the behavior you describe.  I have also seen
and heard about this problem from numerous beekeepers.
 
Currently, I believe the problem to be caused by poor queen genetics
resulting in low levels of queen pheromones in the colony and hive.
Such colonies become "noisy" when you manipulate the hive parts.  The
workers do a lot of scent fanning causing the noise.  The bees do not
form a retinue around the queen, do not pay much attention to her, and
in many cases act like the colony is queenless.  Beekeepers look at such
a colony, find the queen and assume everything is alright.  But the
noise goes on each time the manipulate the hive.  These colonies quite
often produce a good crop of honey, but they put much of it close to the
queen in responce to the low pheromone level.  This behavior reduces the
number of young bees produced, and results in the colony dying in late
fall.
 
In addition, these colonies do not cluster properly at low temperatures,
apparently abscond during over a short period of time (two weeks)
resulting in ten to fifteen frames of bees in September dissappearing by
 late October and November.  Beekeepers come out in the spring to find
an empty hive with six or seven deep combs of honey.  These colonies
also tend to store large amounts of pollen immediately above the brood
nest.
 
If you have taken care to prevent a.) and b.) is not the problem, and if
you know what your mite levels are, then I suspect c.) to be the
problem.
 
bye for now
 
James C. Bach
WA State Apiarist
PO Box 42560
Olympia WA 98504-2560
 
Ph.: 360 902 2068
fax: 360 902 2094
email: [log in to unmask]