Posted on 03/07/2014 12:44:57 PM PST by nickcarraway
“A local beekeeper once told me that Africanized bees have a warning behavior of flying into you, so if you notice bees bumping into you, go the other way. “
Interesting. Never heard that before. Thanks for the tip.
Sad to hear it. Hive mortality has been bad but I think folks have taken the tack that it is what it is and just split hives like crazy. If you’re gonna lose a third, double your hives and you’ll end up with what you had or a litttle better. Since I’ve not kept bees before varroa I have nothing to compare it to.
So far this year all my hives are alive or at least they were a week ago so its looking good. I think the bees are developing something of a tolerance for the mites and with the relatively soft treatments there is less reason to shy away from treating. We’ll see how it goes but I’m optimistic.....
....and then some other dread disease or pest will come in. Exploding brood? Self immolating drones?
One big change that I’m seeing evolve is the aversion to package bees. People are doing nucs.
Oh and we’re just the barely tolerated staff sent to serve the colony.
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