In a message dated 96-04-06 09:41:00 EST, you write:
 
 
>From:  [log in to unmask] (Timothy Cote)
 
>Hello there--
>
>Recently there was an article in Bee Culture about raising Northern bees
>using an alternative approach; overwintering mininucs with laying queens
>directly above a more established colony.  Because here in Maryland
>beekeeping is, well, frankly pretty boring after our 6-8 week honey flow
>(which is about to begin), I'm thinking about trying to raise a few queens
>this summer/fall and overwintering them.
>
>The author of the Bee Culture article wrote, with literary swagger, that
>perhaps the North will soon export packages and queens to the South.  I
>expect that much of this is puffery but wonder if anyone else has tried it
>and met his claims of <30% loss (a real advantage, he says, as the natural
>selection of winter culls the weaklings from superior stock).
>
>I'm attracted to the idea but skeptical--is anyone else?
>
 
   I wish the author every success, but I am also skeptical.  And I have
worked both north and south.
 
   Some of the best beekeepers I know have had heavy losses in the north this
year. (I'm curious what the author's were.  I suspect he'll get caught too,
if not this year, then another.)
 
   I feel certain that the southern connection will always be necessary for
northern beekeepers.  If  you could see how many truckloads of bees run up
the interstate for northeastern fruit....
 
    A true pollinator has the bees built up FOR apples; he doesn't try to
build them up ON apples.
 
   The north might be able to maintain honey production, with home raised
queens, but I seriously doubt that spring fruit pollination would have the
necessary bees. This year I'm sure a higher percentage of pollination bees
will be southern, than ever.  Most commercial beekeepers I know could not
make it on honey alone, or on pollination alone.  A true pollinator has the
bees built up FOR apples; he doesn't try to build them up ON apples.
 
   You are somewhat in the middle, so I can't speak specifically to your
situation.  I overwinter some nucs most years.  It's easiest to do with
double screens over strong colonies.  I've also done it by giving frames of
honey whenever they get light.
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave Green,  PO Box 1200,  Hemingway,  SC  29554
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