From: Erik Osterlund <honeybee@elgon.se>
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 21:56:30 +0100
To: BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Food chambers

Hi all

I know of some behives on three or four bodies forgotten some years ago,
before the time of the mite. In southern Sweden, maybe 55° latitude.
Buckfast bees. They had no single flow that gave a lot of honey during any
period in that area. They were found one spring in April very much bigger
in strenght than beekeepers bees in the neighbourhood. But some 10 years
later a little further north, couple of ° latitude, here still before the
time of the mite, the FLOW, late in the season was melitose honey
originating from a certain species of aphis on pine, honeydew. The honey
became concrete rock hard crystals after four days in the comb. The winter
losses were heavy. Pollen plows are always rich late in fall even if not
nectar is, which makes sugar feeding enriched with pollen. Sometimes a
whole box can be full of pollen, bottom one, when time is come for
wintering. So which method is to prefer? Well, still to be found out I
think. Most beekeepers in Sweden complementary feed about two thirds of the
winter food. I have tried the food chamber method with a lot of honey in an
"extra" body on top. Worked well as the first example above (59° latitude),
but when melitose honey came I lost 1/3 of the bees. Should I have gone on
with the survivors? Maybe, I don't know. These last years I've tried this
again after removing more honey for a number of years. Those colonies that
have had a box of honey on top have given a crop exceeding that extra box
oh honey, thus paying me back the honey actually next season. Will it work
with all sizes of bee clusters through winter? Have to be tried out.

Erik