Waldemar:

I thought AHB produced more drones earlier in the season
and,therefore, predominated but I suppose AHB drones could
be faster as well.

Reply:
All smaller type bee (all those regressed down to small
cell natural sizing or still naturally occurring in
original homelands) races/strains on natural comb, exhibit
earlier drones in the season, and carry them longer in the
fall, and sporadically throughout the winter.

Waldemar:
Do you replace the queen from an overly aggressive hive
with a queen produced from your known gentle stock?

Reply:
Can do this, or absorb it by dequeening and putting the
brood into 2-3 other colonies that are strong & queenright.
Old rule of thumb being: If too hot then on  requeening it
can only go gentler. But hardly see this, though did for
awhile when beekeepers were told in this area to import
queens (patented) and everyone bought different types.

 For it is known in animals, that each layer of
hybridization can/might/could increase the degree of
aggressiveness,so for bees, just like in cattle, and then
add chemicals on top of this for treatment to our bees,
known to trigger aggressiveness (organo types), or having
just simply sick bees from secondary diseases, and you can
create a problem for orchestration.

 Lucky for us, many in the area got out of beekeeping, and
those left decided enough was enough,and washed hands, and
went back to just doing bees again. Though pesticide
applicators in our area and others, still promote AHB as a
way of getting money from swarm cutouts associated with
structures, like fire ants, and termites that may,
might/could bring a house down in 1-2 months, etc.

Respectfully submitted,

Dee A. Lusby
Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper
Moyza, Arizona
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/





__________________________________
Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005
http://mail.yahoo.com

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---