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Just as an FYI, Marla Spivak tested the honey production, Varroa levels, chalkbrood and AFB levels of her MN hygienic line against a non-selected line. The produced significantly more honey, and had...

I am posting a letter about a project that really has potential to help beekeepers correlate colony health with management practices. The more beekeepers that participate, the more help it can be! So...

I've talked to a few queen producers, and they are all about a week behind due to the weather. It has just been atrocious out here for mating flights. As one said, they are 100% dependent on the...

You're right, Ted. Both the haplotypes (Korea/Russia and Japan/Thailand, with the Korea/Russia one being more virulent) are here in the States, which suggests multiple introductions to the country. I...

Glad I misunderstood you, Ted. I was hoping that was the case.

I do think we were bound to get Varroa. We could have held out longer, but we are connected to too many countries. Varroa was in S....

Let's say a grad student did find a Varroa mite in Maryland in '84. Are you suggesting the USDA did a survey, found mites but said they did not, and were able to keep it under wraps until '87? This...

I can only comment on #2, but it is not known that the Aussies have Tropilaelaps. There were of course all the swarms of Apis cerana found (of which Tropilaelaps is a parasite), but no one ever...

I love that way of looking at it. Clearly it isn't a cheap service, but they are doing what they can to make it more affordable.

And these are the instructions:

Instructions for submitting samples for Pesticide Analysis of Honey Bee Colony Matrices (honey, wax, pollen, bees, brood, etc.)

The following matrices can be...

You can send it to Penn State, but it is $142 per sample for the full screen of 171 pesticides. This is the letter from Dr Frazier:

Cost-sharing Program for Pesticide Analysis of Honey Bee Colony...

Of course that sounds okay! Do whatever you think is best. I totally understand not wanting to sell her progeny and to see what her daughters are like in your own colonies. My point was that if you...

I wouldn't treat at 2-5 mites either and 20 I would defiantly take some action. 20 mites isn't that strange of a number to have and the colony to still be alive. It would be strange, however, to not...

Is that at least somewhat clearer, Mike? Thanks for bearing with me. I am trying to get better at explaining things. I skipped lots of details which I find I have a hard time doing.

Katie

Oh, you want to be told what number to treat at. Well, as Dr. Huang said in the MI link, it depends on where you are. It also depends on time of year, how stressed your colonies are, and what kind of...

Do you know if Paula is still in bee research? She really had an impact. I think Nick still is...

I think I combined Nick and Paula's names in my head. Sorry, Paula if you are out there!

I don't want to get too into this since it is getting a little too, um, hot for me, but I think Honey-4-All didn't mean that every single loss is in MI is due to beekeeper error. Only that since all...

Sorry for the delayed response. I’ve been swamped. That is a great answer, Tom! What they generally teach is stats class is the dart board analogy. Getting close to the bull’s-eye is accurate and...

First: how accurate is the sugar roll?
The guy that developed the method (Macedo) found that the PS dropped 92.9% of the mites in the sample.
I sampled 72 colonies first with PS, then washed them...

Tourist, I'm the Lee part of that, so let me know if you have any questions. Also, if you do end up using the method, let me know how it works for you. I would love to get some practical feedback.

I talked to some people at Mann Lake and some of the beekeepers that used it, and from what I understand HopGuard works best in damper, cooler weather (I am not exactly sure what that means) and it...

The chain Airgas has the cheapest N2 I could find. You are supposed to use 10oz of N2 per test, but since some will evaporate off (or you may spill some) you may only be able to do about 10-12 tests....

Get a transparency (one of those clear plastic sheets used with the old-school over-head projectors - they sell them at office stores), two thumb tacks, and a sharpie. Put the transparency over the...

The guy, Macedo, who figured out powdered sugar works to dislodge mites also tried talcum powder. You can find the pdf online:
...