I once ran a study of mites in bees, sampled every month for 48 months, 16
colonies per location, multiple locations, all in varying compass
directions around a smelter in East Helena, MT. Results were that mites took out
the colonies faster, at the locations nearest the smelter.
The point is, we had to open and sample bees every month. We'd pop the
lid, pull the frame closest to the outside of the cluster, vacuum up bees
from outside of cluster to look for tracheal and varroa mites. Colonies
farthest from smelter latest for a full two years, also had fewest mites.
Obviously our distant control were not harmed by the intrusions. We tried to
avoid cold wind, but we opened these in below freezing weather, many times.
We did our best to not break the cluster. But we pulled lids, pulled
frames, sucked up bees - all in winter conditions, snow on ground, etc. Hives
were wrapped in black roofing felt, and we always tried to work about
mid-day. Rule was to never open them near end of day - we wanted to give bees
some time to recover before nightfall.
Jerry
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L
|