Posted on 05/29/2007 8:36:43 AM PDT by cposnarkey
Most of us beekeepers are fighting with the Varroa mites. I'm happy to say my biggest problems are things like trying to get nucs through the winter and coming up with hives that won't hurt my back from lifting or better ways to feed the bees.
This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I've gone to natural sized cells. In case you weren't aware, and I wasn't for a long time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what you would find in a natural hive. I've measured sections of natural worker brood comb that are 4.6mm in diameter. What most people use for worker brood is foundation that is 5.4mm in diameter. If you translate that into three dimensions instead of one, it produces a bee that is about half as large again as is natural. By letting the bees build natural sized cells, I have virtually eliminated my Varroa and Tracheal mite problems. One cause of this is shorter capping times by one day, and shorter post-capping times by one day. This means less Varroa get into the cells, and less Varroa reproduce in the cells.
Who should be surprised that the major media reports forget to tell us that the dying bees are actually hyper-bred varieties that we coax into a larger than normal body size? It sounds just like the beef industry. And, have we here a solution to the vanishing bee problem? Is it one that the CCD Working Group
(Excerpt) Read more at informationliberation.com ...
I have noticed that the occasional honeybee I see hanging around my garden is much smaller that they used to be. I wondered about that.
Sounds like you need to change the size of the supers as well. Hope it works. Mason bees are an alternative, but it sounds like they are not a full season pollinator.
There’s some real pip Lefties having coronaries in the comments section for this article. Don’t miss the spectacle, FReepers.
Very interesting article.
I live on 33 acres with a small orchard surrounded by redwood forests. Twice this spring we have seen huge swarms of bees, many thousands, hovering in the orchard, and then they veer off into the forest. I’m wondering if those are “wild” bees who have a hive nearby.
Welcome to FreeRepublic, by the way.
You know, when these collapse stories came out, the first thing I thought about was the fact that these mega-keepers put these hives in 18 wheel trucks and ship them from one coast to the other, and that can’t be good. Intermingling that many bees, countrywide in the span of a season is not good for their immune systems. They weren’t made for that kind of assault.
Heard about this honeybee industrialization from Richard C. Hoagland a couple weeks ago. That’s right, the Face on Mars guy. He mentioned the exact same cell dimensions as this article.
So Richard Hoagland was right about the cell size? http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/243421/to_bee_or_not_to_bee_that_is_the_question.html
A lot of interesting back and forth on the supposed/proposed solution to the problem in the comments section at the link. IMHO enough insight/information to be worth reading.
Somebody explain to me please why I suddenly have fat, slow, two-inch-long monster wasps or bees or whatever in my house. The Maryland cooperative extension service, which is supposed to know about hymenoptera, denies that this is possible.
I’ve been trying to get some photos of the bee swarm that I get every year. They are much smaller than a honey bee...and louder.
IIRC, beekeepers seem to mostly use the same small number of species, so not much genetic variation available in case of trouble. It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!
The only wild hive I ever saw was in the Golden Gate Recreation Area, which must not be far off from you.
Mrs VS
My suburban home is semi rural and we have lots of natural bees around no shortage for our gardens at all
Hmmm.....I am probably about 70 miles south of that area. Interesting.
Someone explain to me why a knot of four small wasps plummeted from the sky or the trees bounced off my head and into my tea this morning. Ick.
Mrs VS
Is it a hornet? Maybe you have a hornet nest in your walls or chimney.
Are they Carpenter Bees?
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2074.html
Look for 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch round holes in the exterior woodwork on your house. The males who ‘patrol’ the area cannot sting, but the females who stay in the nest can sting when aggravated.
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