Another day of working on the curriculum. 

I was about burned out this afternoon and ready for a break, when Medhat called and said he was coming by with some Apistan®.   Apparently the bee samples we took the other day have shown increased levels of varroa since the treatment.  When we considered the data, we discovered that the hives (except for one) that have higher levels are in expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) boxes.

Maybe this is a coincidence, and  maybe not, but it is not a huge stretch to conclude -- tentatively -- that these hives raise brood earlier and later than the others, and thus incubate more varroa.  Also we can conclude that these hives still had lots of brood when Medhat treated them, and that the increase in mite population had come out with emerging bees since the treatment!  We have no measure of the other hives that had low levels, since we did not sample them.  I suppose we could, now, but we would not be able to compare, except roughly, to the ones we sampled a second time a while ago (in the red cells below), since time has passed.

I present here the same chart that I presented earlier, this time marking the polystyrene hives and showing the increase in mite load. (see red cells). The wooden hives have not yet been wrapped. 

I have always been of the opinion that one should wait until mid-October to wrap, and that the bees need to feel some cool weather and cut back.  Others think that early wrapping is best.  One thing for sure; I can see that people who rushed to apply oxalic before November are making a mistake.  The broodless period does not start until about then.  If what we think we see is true, hives that are warm -- insulated like the styro hives -- raise brood longer and need to be treated even later.  We see bees cleaning floors often in December and January, and for oxalic evaporation, temps around 2 to 5 degrees C are ideal.  We gets lots of days like that in Winter.  Seems to me that there is no rush.  Comments?

The hives in grey boxes are this year's Australian packages and have never been treated. 

Those in pink are overwintered hives that have not been treated since the spring before this past one.  At that time, they got one strip of Apistan®. 

Today : Sunny with cloudy periods. Wind becoming south 20 km/h this morning. High 7. / Tonight : Cloudy periods. Low minus 2. / Normals for the period : Low minus 5. High 8.

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Tuesday 2 November 2004 Selected Topics | HoneyBeeWorld Forum | For Sale | Write me Today's events in 2003  2002  2001  2000	A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance -- Anatole France

 I updated up my formic and oxalic page a bit.  Anyone have any good pages that should be mentioned there? Write me, and let me know.

A question via the web form... I read your web site about infestation levels compared between wood and styro hives. I wonder what is the source of the statement "for oxalic evaporation, temps around 2 to 5 degrees C are ideal". I use this product so I am interested in it. I also have wood and styro hives, wrapped early last 2 years but latter this year (mid-October I think). From http://www.mellifera.de , (specifically http://www.mellifera.de/engl2.htm ) Allen's Link of the Day: Oxalic Acid Evaporator "The apiarists recorded the temperature during the treatments. Thus, it could be determined that the efficacy of the vaporisation of oxalic acid is almost the same for temperatures between 2 and 16 °C (fig. 8). This means that with this vaporisation method, the apiarist is widely independent of the weather, a great advantage over the spraying and trickling method with oxalic acid. In cold months too, it is possible to start treatment early in the morning. Within one day, an apiarist can treat 70 to 100 colonies perfectly with the vaporiser. With large apiaries, one person can use three vaporisers at the same time and can, therefore, carry out more treatments. The colonies do not have to be opened and the top does not have to be removed".

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This link might also account for the higher mite counts. http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/64133000/PDFFiles/504-Rinderer.pdf Charlie Harper's Honey Farm labeeman@russianbreeder.com Ph# 337 298 6261

Today is Chris' 30th birthday, so El & I went to Chris and Jeans' for supper.

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Wednesday 3 November 2004 Selected Topics | HoneyBeeWorld Forum | For Sale | Write me Today's events in 2003  2002  2001  2000	All you get from a circular argument is dizzy -- Darrin Bell

Another day working on the curriculum.  I got a lot accomplished.

Time to start thinking about the upcoming 2005 US national conventions.   January 2005 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5     AHPA Tucson, AZ ABF Reno, NV       The American Honey Producers Association  meets January 4-8 at the Holiday Inn Palo Verde  in Tucson, Arizona Map The American Beekeeping Federation  meets Jan. 12-15 at John Ascuaga’s Nugget Casino Resort Hotel in Sparks (Reno), Nevada Map Cut off date for reservations is 12/27/04 - Room rates are $84.00 which includes breakfast buffet. Call 520-746-1161 Cut off date for reservations is Dec. 10,2004. The ABF group rate is $89.00 single/double Call 1-800-648-1177 Convention Information Convention Program Convention Outline Tentative Program

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Today : Sunny. High 5. / Tonight : Clear. Wind west 20 km/h becoming light this evening. Low minus 11. / Normals for the period : Low minus 6. High 7.

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Thursday 4 November 2004 Selected Topics | HoneyBeeWorld Forum | For Sale | Write me Today's events in 2003  2002  2001  2000	Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theatre -- Gail Godwin

Another day at the desk.

We've been discussing oxalic treatments quite a bit lately, and some of us think that the evaporation methods show the most promise.  Some consider manual methods like the Varrox® evaporator to be too slow and difficult to use, and have built devices to speed up application. Of course, we are all wondering what works best, and if there are possibilities of damaging the bees.

On the left is an oxalic machine in action. Click the picture to enlarge

Here are a couple of very good oxalic links: Not all Oxalic Acid Evaporation Devices are very effective! Bee tolerance of different winter Varroa treatments Also check out selected topics

Today : Sunny with cloudy periods. Wind southwest 20 km/h. High 12. / Tonight : A few clouds. Wind becoming south 20 km/h overnight. Low minus 2. / Normals for the period : Low minus 6. High 6.

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Friday 5 November 2004 Selected Topics | HoneyBeeWorld Forum | For Sale | Write me Today's events in 2003  2002  2001  2000	It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated -- Alec Bourne

Another day of working on the curriculum.  It should actually be finished by now, but, as a project like this gets bigger, progress slows, since remembering what already has been covered and exactly where it is gets difficult.  MS Word is good for this kind of work and the advanced features that most of us never use come in handy.

Apparently MS Publisher is used in  the final publication of these curricula, not Word, and apparently, although Publisher can read MS Word files, other MS programs cannot read Publisher's native file format.  That has made getting access to some of the material slow, as well.  I've considered purchasing a copy of Publisher, but have not been sure if it is worth it.

We went to the Mill for supper.  It turned out that P-Ss have Publisher 2002 on their computer, and I just happened to have a copy of my work on the 256 MB data key in my pocket, so I loaded it up.  I played with it for a while, but came to the conclusion that Publisher is crippled - compared to Word.

Today : Sunny with cloudy periods. Wind becoming southwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 this morning. High 14. / Tonight : Cloudy periods. Wind southwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 becoming light this evening. Low minus 4. / Normals for the period : Low minus 6. High 6.

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Saturday 6 November 2004 Selected Topics | HoneyBeeWorld Forum | For Sale | Write me Today's events in 2003  2002  2001  2000	You can't have everything. Where would you put it? -- Steven Wright

Another day of writing and correcting.  I want to get this curriculum job sewed up by Sunday night, when I plan to be at the Fantasyland Hotel.  The ABA convention starts Monday morning, and I see that Monday breakfast is included. 

Allen's Link of the Day: Another oxalic machine A good explanation of IPM Bears and Beehives

I added a picture to the oxalic links on Thursday's comments (above).

Today : Cloudy with sunny periods. 40 percent chance of flurries this morning. High 4 with temperature falling to minus 3 this afternoon. / Tonight : Cloudy. Low minus 8. / / Normals for the period : Low minus 6. High 6.
 

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Sunday 7 November 2004 Selected Topics | HoneyBeeWorld Forum | For Sale | Write me Today's events in 2003  2002  2001  2000	Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity. -- Albert Camus

The ABA convention starts tomorrow. Click here for some general Edmonton and West Edmonton Mall info.

Don't forget the US meetings coming up in January.

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I planned to work on the curriculum all morning and head up to the convention mid-afternoon. There are some loose ends to tie up and I figured to get quite a bit done. Yesterday was quite productive. That didn't work out. First, Bert came over for a beehive wrap, then Grant and Shirley showed up to talk furnaces. I visited a bit, then got back to work.

While I was working, rain and snow starting to fall, and wondered if I should head out early. I checked the forecasts, and they seemed to indicate that, although the South was getting weather warnings, my route to the North would be okay, and I stuck to my plan. I was just finishing up, when MS Word aborted a save and I lost the day's work, since it was saving over top of the previous copy. I keep quite a series of backups, and am glad I did, but I did lose a few hours. Not my best day.

I left at 3 PM drove to Edmonton. I was wary about the driving conditions and had remarked, before leaving, that the bridges might be slippery. Sure enough, the one at Equity was, and the car wandered a bit, but straightened out. The Merc is rear wheel drive, and the van is FWD, so I have to remember which I'm driving. The response to a skid is different - opposite - between RWD and FWD. Along the way there were cars in the ditch and ambulances and police everywhere. I guess I should have driven up in the morning.

Anyhow, I arrived and settled in. Turns out there is free high speed here, but it is unencrypted. I wonder how big a risk that is.

Hello, I am a commercial beek in New Zealand operating 1400 hives in the South Island. I have an 18 year old son keen to further his experiences in the beekeeping fraternity. He is investigating the possibility of going to Canada or America next year to 'work a season or two'. Allen's Link of the Day: THE THERMOLOGY OF WINTERING HONEY BEE COLONIES I understand that you are now retired - didn't think beeks did that! I assume you will know many beekeepers in your part of the world who employ guys by the season. As in this part of the world I expect some are great employers whilst others may not be quite so good. I am wondering if you would be in a position to suggest some likely businesses for me to make contact with. It is a little difficult from this part of the globe to seek the 'better' employers. Canada seems to be an attraction for young Kiwi beekeepers wanting to spread their wings. Will be waiting your reply with interest. I enjoy your comments on BEE-L. Seems there are quite a few Hobbyists prepared to share their wisdom. Kind regards South Island New Zealand Write me if you are interested and I'll pass your request to him

Today : Cloudy. 30 percent chance of flurries this morning. Wind becoming southeast 20 km/h this morning. High 2. / Tonight : Clearing this evening. Low minus 8. / Normals for the period : Low minus 7. High plus 5.

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Monday 8 November 2004 Selected Topics | HoneyBeeWorld Forum | For Sale | Write me Today's events in 2003  2002  2001  2000	A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything -- Samuel Johnson

The convention is well-attended, and it is good to see everyone.

I'll be writing something on this when I have the time.

Today: Sunny with cloudy periods. High 12. / Tonight : Cloudy periods. Wind southwest 20 km/h becoming light this evening. Low minus 2. / Normals for the period : Low minus 7. High plus 5.

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Tuesday 9 November 2004 Selected Topics | HoneyBeeWorld Forum | For Sale | Write me Today's events in 2003  2002  2001  2000	I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents -- Sir Winston Churchill