well, the bees have been taking care of themselves for millions of years......
or,
look at the feral colonies, they are getting by just fine without any intervention......
or,
i'm just letting them sort things out on their own.....
ect., ect.
these points of view are usually offered up as part of the (groan) treatment vs. (groan again) no treatment discussion.
i am interested in your opinion as to how much or how little man keeping bees in a hive affects the colony.
when compared to a feral colony (assume living in a tree), a kept colony (assume the hive gets inspected ocassionally and honey is harvested):
1. has a less insulated space to deal with
2. is torn apart from time to time
3. might have comb, brood, and/or resources taken from it
4. might have increased competition from more hives nearby
5. might have increased exposure to diseases and pests from more hives nearby
6. might have less than optimal nutrition if it is fed
7. might be moved from time to time
8. you get the idea
I have not heard anyone mention powdered sugar rolls to count mites. Could you guys with lots of experience comment on the pros and cons of a sugar roll count?
In my opinion sugar roll
Pro:
Doesn't kill bees
More significant results than mite drops
Con:
Not as convenient as mite drops
Not as accurate or consistent as alcohol or ether wash.
i think i would rather be eaten by a bird or skunk, unless i were a drone, then i would rather die from mission accomplished!
i don't think bees necessarily 'feel' misery in the way we do. but i choose to try not let them succumb to what is the equivelent of ticks and fleas getting under my cloths, sucking my life's blood, and inoculating me with viruses.
but i choose to try not let them succumb to what is the equivelent of ticks and fleas getting under my cloths, sucking my life's blood, and inoculating me with viruses.
I also slide two nucs together during the flows using an excluder and collect close to 100 lbs of honey off them. Sometimes I think they are bringing in honey faster than my production colonies
the traps are the empty deeps that will go on to hive my new colony. i set a out a few of these traps around the property during swarm season this year. they consisted of an empty deep, with a reduced entrance, and a pack of mann lake's swarm lure inside.
next year i will have some brood comb to put in as well.
after catching the swarm, a frame of brood from another colony was added to help anchor them to that box.
ended up with four new colonies this way. a couple of them i know were my bees, and a couple that i'm not sure about, but could be ferals.
many thanks michael. i thought i had read everything on your site, at least twice.
but i didn't remember your 'things we change from nature' page.
you said it best, and i am with you on:
'I would like to see research on the effects, both good and bad, that all of these changes we have made have on natural balance of the colony of bees and their parasites. '
ps: we seem to have a lot of ferals in my area as well.
Walking around my yard this afternoon temp. about 55 bees were out and about, saw a dying bee on a top cover checked it out and saw a live mite leaving the bee, squashed it then picked up the bee to have a good look at it and found another mite clinging to it sqashed that one too. All my hives have been treated with formic acid . so I guess that I am going to struggle with these critters until I can get sufficient genetic change into my hives.
John
I don't consider anything about a kept hive natural. I also think that gaining any benefit from pursuing natural methods has a very long way to go. Here is just one tiny example of why
Studies have been conducted on a queens ability to store sperm dependent on just the temperature she is kept at. Queens kept at 34 degrees C where able to store more sperm that those that where kept at 24 degrees C Note larger colonies are able to maintain proper temperatures.
If just one small factor can have an effect. what could the possible effects of a list like Michael has made be doing?
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