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Date: | Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:48:24 GMT |
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>>Looks worse than it is, unless the problem in Tracheal mite. I
understand from some beekeepers, that Tracheal has made a comeback
this winter.
Honestly, I've never checked for tracheal mites and assumed my bees
were resistant.
>>Waldemar...how many bees are dropping in the snow?
The bees stood out in the snow but the numbers were not huge. I keep
3 hives at the house and there must have been some 3 dozen bees on
the ground. I would collect a handful, warm them up, and most would
fly out of my hand - some back to the hives, some away from the
hives, some into the snow. The sight of bees in the snow looked
worse than the sheer numbers. [The colonies have 5-8 frames of bees
at this time.] Still, it seemed like a waste.
My uncle from Poland suggested the bees tend to fly out in the late
winter to collect water to dilute the stored honey in order to feed
the increasing brood. He always supplies water in division board
feeders so they don't have to fly on marginal days. He does seem to
have a point - plus he's a consistanly successful beekeeper - since I
don't see bees in the snow on marginal days from November until late
February. I think I'll supply my bees with water, too.
I also remember reading somewhere that a comparison of hives supplied
with just water vs. hives supplied with thin sugar syrup, indicated
that the water-supplied colonies developed at a faster rate in the
spring. Perhaps they lost fewer bees to the cold weather and snow?
I made a mental note to see how feral bees behave under the same
conditions... Since I remove feral colonies, I'll have to leave a
couple colonies alone to make observations...
Waldemar
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