How high bees fly

[Lesli St. Clair]

He also mentioned checking for beekeepers around the outlying areas of the forest and, to his knowledge, there weren't any.

He gave a talk on his observation at my club last month, and specifically said that there were beekeepers outside Arnot Forest.

[Lesli St. Clair]

Now, of course, I'm beginning to doubt my own recollection.

[Terri]

The common factor for all beekeepers is that
they would have a hard time without buying
at least a few things now and again, so looking
at customer lists and catalog mailing lists is
perhaps the most accurate count of active
beekeepers possible.

This is why these mailing lists are of such
value to the beekeeping supply houses. They
contain names and addresses that simply cannot
be found elsewhere. They may be the only
accurate way to locate "all hives" in a
certain area short of a house-to-house
search.
....................................

That will show a LOT of the beekeepers, I suppose.

There is a supply house within driving distance to me, and when I am in the area I sometimes stop in. I am NOT on their mailing list: I just pick up a cataloge when I am there. They have never sent me one.

This also gives me the chance to ask the owners questions. They want their customers to be successful and to keep coming back for more stuff, and their advice is pretty good.

I will be going back Mid-May to pick up 2 packages of bees, and I am making up a mental shopping list of things to get while I am there. More foundation, I am sure, and I never DID build those outer covers. If I don't have them built by the time I get the bees I will need to buy new instead.

At any rate, it is possible to keep bees without being on a catalogue list.

[naturebee]

Good info Lesli, this proves that many here did not read the document before going off on a discrediting witch hunt. I knew that the information was in the document and was easy to see, but wanted to see how many here really read manuscripts before judging them. Seeley does clearly state that "there are few, if any, managed hives located just outside the boundaries of the Arnot Forest...". So he does admit to the possibility of error may exist as any good scientist would. And the map clearly shows bee lines in the direction outside the forest. But this in no way proves anything beyond assumptions about the origins of these ferals.

[Lesli St. Clair]

He has also set up bait hives to catch some. He'll transport them to the Cornell yards to test whether they are genetically resistant, or whether the cause is, for instance, frequent swarming (that is, interrupted brood cycle) or something else.

[Ian]

Say Naturebee,

What happened to all your posts to this topic.

They seem to have all been edited and dissapeared,..?? Well, it seems only the posts related to our conversation,..?