[BarbieandKen]

My friend just went to her beekeeping club's meeting on winter and spring care of the hive. A master beekeeper made the presentation and said he doesn't recommend using screened bottom boards - they are unnecessary if you use FumiB spring and fall and treat the mites with Api or Formic Acid. She was wild that a bee club would present such outdated information. He also said you can't do any treatments of top bar hives....she asked me to post this here to see what other people think....for me it says Master Beekeepers aren't always the ones I want to follow....

 

[NewbeeNnc]

Wow. Many are trending away from treating and looking for IPM methods and then a respected person is pushing treating. Amazing.

 

[BEES4U]

Your answers will vary according to geographical location and years of experience.
I am sure that others will chime in to give you their thoughts and experiences.
Ernie

 

[Merlyn Votaw]

Moon Phases

I would like to see someone do a study on the moon phases and the beehive.The moon phases effects many different things and who knows what might happenn if a study was done over about 2 OR 3 YEAR period or more.The moon phases the weening of cattle,planting of crops,harvesting of crops breeding of cattle . I know this sounds a little crazy but I would like to see it done and I don't think I will be around long enough to do it plus I don'tt know as much about bees . I am 72 years old so I feel a younger person would be better.Even a college or university.After all I wouldn't cost as much as AIG or some of the other things and maybe we could all benefit.Going to outer space ain't cheap

 

[Cedar Hill]

Re: Moon Phases

An internet search of "moon phases honeybees" presented a surprising number of sources of previously done research on this topic.

Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research - Worker ...
It has been shown that the flight activity of honeybees is correlated with the phases of the moon (1). This observation is supported by the finding of a ...

www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100... - Similar
[PDF]Worker honeybee hemolymph lipid composit...
Table 1 - Statistical parameters (stat.) of moon phase dependence of body weight and hemolymph concentrations of various lipid classes in worker honeybees. ...

www.scielo.br/pdf/bjmbr/v30n2/2485c.pdf - Similar
Honeybees and Climate Change
Oct 15, 2009 ... Video: Honeybees and Climate Change. ... Sunset. 5:03 P.M.. Today's Moon Phase ... Is honeybee pollination moving earlier each year? ...

www.almanac.com/video/honeybees-and-climate-change - Similar
Lunar phase influence on the glycemia of worker honeybees.
Lunar phase influence on the glycemia of worker honeybees. ... for both carbohydrates at full moon and at new moon, and also a minor peak at last quarter. ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2226048 - Similar
[PDF]Lunar Periodicity in Flight Activity of Honey Bees
To analyse the activity of honey bees, the departure and arrival data was partitioned according to the phases of the moon. Original data is presented in ...

www.informaworld.com/index/902753188.pdf - Similar
Lunar periodicity in flight activity of honey bees - ...
Honey bees entering and leaving their hive were registered with ... the observed rhythm of activity could be attributed to the phases of the moon. ...

www.informaworld.com/smpp/431930883-8714796/content... - Similar
What's New at Honeybee Robotics
Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corporation has received a Phase I NASA SBIR ... to planetary body surface operations on the moon, Mars and Venus. ...

www.honeybeerobotics.com/news.html - Similar
How the Honey bee could destroy America - Shannon Moon - Open ...
Sep 11, 2009 ... Humans done in by the honey bees? Well, anyways, I took a Master Gardening class (through Penn State) last year and was supposed to turn ...

open.salon.com/blog/shannon_moon/2009/09/11/how_the_h... - Similar
Half Moon Disorder or Half Moon Syndrome, in Honey Bees
Half Moon Disorder or Half Moon Syndrome, is attributed to a lack of adequate nutrition of the young queen prior to mating. It manifests itself with the ...

www.dave-cushman.net/bee/halfmoondisorder.html - Similar

 

[BEES4U]

Re: Moon Phases

Off Tupic

I would like to see someone do a study on the moon phases and the beehive.

Some of my worst moving experiences were on warm full moon nights.
Ernie

 

[Flyer Jim]

Re: Moon Phases

Off Tupic

Some of my worst moving experiences were on warm full moon nights.
Ernie

Some of my most moving experiences were on warm full moon nights.

But that was in a land far far away and a long time ago.
Jim

 

[sqkcrk]

Re: Moon Phases

Off Tupic

Some of my worst moving experiences were on warm full moon nights.
Ernie

That's funny, cause some of my MOST moving experiences were on warm full moon nights.

 

[StevenG]

Amazing, that kind of information coming from a Master Beekeeper. I read somewhere, and I'm kicking myself for not remembering, the idea that "A person who stops learning, dies." One thing about beekeeping is that if we ever stop learning, our bees die. And we become irrelevant. I also read in a study of Alzheimer's, that older adults who keep challenging their brains with new things, rarely develop Alzheimer's. One thing about keeping bees, they continually challenge our brains!
Regards,
Steven

 

[ACBEES]

The title Master Beekeeper means a person has completed a course of study and met the requirements to earn the title. Successful bee keeping is an exercise in continuing education.....if one has an open mind and the desire to be continually educated.

 

[sqkcrk]

My mentors often remind me of the advice that they gave which I didn't act on. The way I see things, one should listen to what those they admire say and watch what they do and then take a course of action that fits oneself and ones own way of doing things.

If I did what others did, in the same way that they did them, I would have to pick one person to emulate. Otherwise my management would be schizophrenic.

 

[kbfarms]

Full moon has an effect in a lot of areas. If you work mental health or emergency rooms (ancendotal observations) your mental health patients spike in their abnormal behaivor and ERs are crazy busy on full moons. There are probably some studies out there on this, just haven't looked.

 

[11x]

if you want to talk about weither the full moon has an affect on people let me know, i work in a jail

 

[Ardilla]

The title Master Beekeeper means a person has completed a course of study and met the requirements to earn the title. Successful bee keeping is an exercise in continuing education.....if one has an open mind and the desire to be continually educated.

I agree. Just because someone has completed some courses doesn't prevent them from being a knucklehead. Learn what you can from multiple sources and do what makes sense. To me prophylactic use of chemicals doesn't make sense.

 

[Stonefly7]

B&K,

Remember,remember,remember, take what you "hear", with a grain of salt. Take what you "see", as more factual. There is a good article in Dec issue of Bee Culture, on this subject. You can see it on line, do a search for Dec.

It discusses old beeks and new beeks. Good advice, we can all glean from each other on certain issues. But, as mentioned above, you do what works best for you and your management techniques.

I manage with SBB for several reasons, one being soft management control. (Conrad) I have a friend in up state NY who uses reg BB for his reasons. Just because someone takes a course to become a MBK, doesn't necessarily make them an expert.

Kind regards

 

[hapinen]

I have SBBs and, even though this past year was my first, I had a HUGE mite drop using formic acid (flash method) it seemed to work like a charm.

 

[chillardbee]

The title Master Beekeeper means a person has completed a course of study and met the requirements to earn the title. Successful bee keeping is an exercise in continuing education.....if one has an open mind and the desire to be continually educated.

Very well siad.

 

[HAB]

Very well siad.

Guarantee if you keep Bees for more than a season you will be continually educated!!

 

[giant pumpkin peep]

Just because someone dosnt use SBB dosnt mean there wrong or whatever. Its just their prefrence. Always remember, you ask 5 beeks a quistion, you get 7 different answers. Maybe he just perfers Solid BB. Nothing wrong with it. I bought some equitment from a beek and got a set since I started at the last minute I have a Solid BB. My bees are still alive, didnt have many mites last fall. I will probly try some SBB eventully.

 

[Countryboy]

It sounds like the game of telephone is at work again.

From your description, it sounds as though the master beekeeper is opposed to using SBB to control pests/diseases.

Which is good advice. A SBB is not a magic bullet or panacea. Don't throw a SBB under your hive and think it will solve your mites and diseases.

While it might (still inconclusive) provide some benefits to lessening phoretic mite load, it does have other benefits like improved ventilation.