Hi to all on BEE-L

Kyle wrote:
For those of you working with black bees in southern
Arizona, you can
do an
experiment to comfort us worrywarts.  Take some sealed
brood, and
move the
frame above the queen separator.  An isolated cluster will
form.  The
thelytoky-prone workers may start egg production.  Check
and see if
there
are eggs and new brood above the queen separator.  This
will prove
thelytoky in the presence of a queen.  That could be bad
news to
breeders.
If thelytoky is a real threat, the social order of the hive
will
break down
resulting in the failure of the colony.  This is a simple
experiment,
and
it will reveal the Truth that is Out There.

Reply:
Hi Kyle. Will go you better then that. Take colonies after
the fall solstice and split the strong some with division
screens and some with division boards and some with
excluders, piggyback style.

Then see how many raise queens with most all drones gone.
Then go back and check results and see if hives collapse
and/or can be reunited in the spring and go on with
business as normal.

We did and this is how this whole thing started in the
mid-1980s, amongst other things. Out of season breeding to
beat AHBs before they got here, building spheres of
influence of good dark European bees of another color so we
wouldn't be confused with our stock, and also make our
stock darker for better winter carryover and disease
control.

We then asked to have our stock identified and no one could
do so the same or explain all the different sizes of combs
in all of our colonies. Well things started happening
following that, a contract with the USDA, and it hasn't
stopped since.

Regards,

Dee A. lusby

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