On Sat, 29 Jan 2000, Rex Boys wrote:  ... You must all have realised by
now that as a geriatric I am instinctively against computers and
prejudiced in favour of a replacement for the apidictor which was designed
by my friend and colleague, Eddie Woods...

Hi Rex:

I am not that keen on them myself. A practical tool for working beekeepers
would undoubtably be a small, cheap, rugged instrument like the apidictor.

The spectrum analyser is more a research tool to find out more about the
sounds made by hives and their interpretation. It is quite possible that
bees make sounds above the range of human hearing; these could be
discovered with a spectrum analysis and then, if significant, incorporated
in a simple handheld device.

I don't believe that a device whose only purpose is swarm prediction is
really very useful. I don't worry too much about swarms; my
problems are more getting good apiary sites, getting good help for
harvesting and extracting and getting good queens in early spring. I
suppose that I soon will be concerned with Varroa too.


Best regards,

Donald Aitken
Edmonton Alberta Canada