It was real hit an miss this year. Some areas gathered so little that
there is insufficient honey to take them through the winter. Others,
such as where I am, had a really good spring crop, although my fall crop
was a bust, and I had to return about 20 pounds of the spring honey back
to them for winter.
Marshall
On 12/19/2013 4:33 PM, Jane MacRoss wrote:
This apiarist tells me hw has had no honey from his bees now for 12
months - he didn't go into details & I wouldn't ask him since I know
nothing & he is the expert ... & said it was due to the weather and
said he is having to feed him for the first time
Jane
Very interesting post. Apparently Australia is pretty much the
last "clean" country, but they reckon it's only a matter of time
before the mite shows up. This was on TV recently.
Which mite, the varroa or tracheal? Anyway, the mite is of no
consequence, as long as one has bees acclimated to the local area,
naturally sized, and with a good genetic makeup. There are
several apiaries around here, and the ones that do this have 0
losses to the varroa, and mine which is the same I never saw one
single mite all year. I do no treatment all at all, not even a
powdered sugar shake.
The others, that have oversized bees, and treat with mitacides had
about a 40% loss last year.
If you want bees that don't require treatment and are not bothered
by mites at all, then let them build their natural sized comb (or
use 4.9 foundation), and get them from a local treatment free
apiary, or better yet, set out swarm traps and catch a free feral
swarm. Make sure that the combs have never been in a hive that
has had mite treatments, the treatments weaken the bees, cause the
queens to fail, strengthen the mites, and lead to CCD, and can
contaminate the comb for decades.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com>
Version: 10.0.1432 / Virus Database: 3658/6434 - Release Date: 12/19/13
