Trevor posted: > Seeley (1978) reported that 79% of queens survived for one year in
unmanaged colonies, 26% for 2 years, and no queen survived 3 years.
Randy posted: >Queens 1982. Queens from better stocks exhibited over 80% survival for 16 months (two
full seasons).
My comment: I've been in this for over 30 years. It's obvious to my that queens and bees in general don't live as long or winter as well as they did before all the mite and virus pressure. Oh, and add the stress factor with moving bees if you do so.
That gets me thinking about how different beeks approach requeening. Some requeen most hives, some only the duds, and some not at all. We requeen duds and won't kill a queen that performs well (including offspring) unless she's dragging a leg, etc. In my mind I think about our gene pool, as we make cells at our southern operation and mating is with our own surviving gene pool of drones. We buy thousands of laying queens and try to mix it up with 3 different suppiers (one of which uses many different stocks purposely to avoid potential disasters of poor choices in breeding stock). We rely on the queen breeders to make wise choices on breeders, but don't have a clue on how they pick their stock. We prefer Italians because they make us money. We're talking nice winter clusters, good populations for pollinating, and the ability to readily stimulate with patties and syrup to make nucs for hive replacement and/or increase. Of course we get some darker stock
with purchased queens which is ok with me.
Randy commented in a post on wintering: In my part of the data set (200 hives), the "acute" viruses appeared to be the number one problem.
Right on Randy. My wife had a group of hives (about 25) that she ran with only soft controls(formic, oxalic, hopguard, sugar dusting). They almost all died from virus infections. You'll have to just trust my empirical observations and experience on this statement. Sharon and I discussed this at length and we concluded that she should have been treating more often and earlier in the spring than she did to reduce mite populations. Understand that she and her students did sugar rolls and sticky boards and they showed mites, but not an extreme amount. (I've seen much worse). Once the hives start going downhill, it can take a couple months to turn them around. If you start seeing it in the late summer or fall, you're generally sunk.
On wintering ventilation:
I can walk away from the ongoing discussion of wintering knowing that bees need ventilation, from the bottom, the top, or a combination of both, depending on where and how you run your bees. Each beekeeper needs to find a way that works for them by careful observation. I can see that most beeks agree that it good for the cluster health to keep moisture from condensing right above the cluster by a method that works, whether it's straw, newspaper, pillows, reflectix, or whatever. Just find a way that works for your beekeeping style and climate.
Kirk Jones
Sleeping Bear Farms beekeepers making honey...
St. Ambrose Meadery/Winery- sister business of Sleeping Bear
Benzie Playboys cajun and zydeco band........
Beekeeping Journal Blog thoughts on beekeeping
Facebook for Kirk
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