From: Julia Graham <jlg7001@humboldt.edu>
Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2002 08:29:25 -0800
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: slugs again...

Robert says:
You really do have a nasty wet climate! I thought I was badly off last
winter when I had to leave the digging for three months due to waterlogging.
How strong are your colonies? Could they be too weak to keep the slugs at
bay? I've had the odd one or two in a hive when I used solid bottom boards;
have you tried OMF's?

me here...
Yes, we do have a nasty wet climate. :) I did actually use copper tape
(thanks to others for the suggestions) around the ENTIRE hive box (on the
bottom) but I still had a lot of slugs when I peered into the box. I
suspect that they came from eggs laid by earlier denizens that I tossed
out. So until all those puppies are gone, I'll probably have a slug problem.

As to the strength of my hive, unfortunately, this is the hive that will
likely not survive the winter. They lost the queen in mid-Fall, too late
to order another, and I made the beginning beekeeper's mistake of only
having ONE hive. I will not do that again, I assure you! But suffice it
to say, they're weak. Though they're doing better than I thought they
would! I figured by now, they'd all be dead. But there's still a number
of bees in the upper chamber and they come out to forage when it's not
raining and/or windy.

OMF's? I admit to not remembering what that acronym stands for. Oh,
wait. Open mesh floor? (called screened bottom boards on this side of the
pond, if I recall correctly). Not yet. But I do have them to put on the
hives. I just ordered them. I hate to disrupt the bees when the weather
is so nasty, but we're forecast for some clearer drier weather tomorrow
through the weekend, and perhaps I'll put the screened board on then.

I guess this really is my year to learn many of the things to contend with
in having hives! Good to ponder in setting up my new bee yard in the spring.

thanks,
Julia