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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
"Lipscomb, Al" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 17 Jul 2000 10:23:18 -0400
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>-----Original Message-----
>From: Juandefuca [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 1:13 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Screen boards and feeding


>Finally somebody poses the question I have also questions to raise  about.
>When bees swarm in an unsupervised environment ( Millions of years) Did
>someone fed them ??? As anyone can observe , before bees swarm they fill
>their bellies with honey to be able to start anew in the process of
>propagation !. Therefore I do not feed bees when I collect a swarm.



Sure there was nobody around to feed a captured swarm before modern
beekeeping. But then again bees were not living outside their natural range
nor were they producing 150lbs of surplus honey a year.

One could also ask who was building hive bodies, frames and supers millions
of years ago! Feeding a swarm while stacking on supers of foundation is a
great way to have foundation drawn out. It can also be a surprising way to
have a colony explode in size. My largest colony at present was a average
size swarm early this year. After hiving it into a single deep on foundation
I started feeding syrup until they had the first deep drawn and were well
into their first medium (I normaly use only medium supers but I only had a
few empty deeps when the swarm issued). They are now stacked with supers and
boiling over with bees.

Feeding, like any form of manipulation, should be thought of as a way to
manage the bees. In the case of feeding to reduce stress or to promote brood
rearing and comb drawing.

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