A comment - leads to a thought...

A comment at the WHPA - by Jerry Bromenschenk led me to a thought. He said that he'd been at bee yards ALL ACROSS the United States, etc, etc....and ONE YARD STOOD OUT IN HIS MIND.

How was their operation "different"?

They did ANNUAL BEES. In the fall - they brushed the bees into boxes (he wasn't real specific here)...and shipped them back to California. In Spring - they installed new California bee packages on EQUIPMENT THAT HAD BEEN "DORMANT" and "FROZEN" for 4 or more months.

He said what this did - was BREAK THE CYCLE (mites) 'cause the queen's got a break in laying...and the equipment was FROZEN - so the good old cold weather - "cleansed" it.

MY IMMEDIATE THOUGHT was....could this really be SUSTAINABLE? how many packages can California produce????

MY SECOND THOUGHT WAS....i've got "overwintered" empty equipment now (that i've got a few years in). so - when (if) the hives make it out of winter....WHY NOT TAKE THOSE SMALLER qtys of bees....and MOVE/BRUSH THEM INTO THAT OVERWINTERED equipment???? kinda like installing your OWN PACKAGE???

THUS....I THINK THIS IS 2011's EXPERIMENT. another "plus" i see here is the opportunity to get some "old foundation" out of the mix.

this might be ok for me in my backyard beekeeping situation - LOTSA WORK - for a big operator!!!

I'm now a MEMBER

I was greeted with an opportunity to hitch a ride with one of our members to: THE WISCONSIN HONEY PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION (WHPA) fall/winter convention at Manitowoc (topics as previously noted in blog)

WOW - I'M SOLD - what a GREAT OPPORTUNITY and EDUCATION our chapter offers it's members!!!!!

some TOPICS that stood out to me - 'cause I LIKE all this BIOTECH and BIOLOGY and SCIENCE and RESEARCH stuff.

Jerry Bromenschenk.....honing in on the CAUSE FOR CCD!!!

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0013181

here's a link to his recently published article. the long and the short - it's the deadly combination of a latent virus with nosema...read on! again - it shows that our bees might be able to handle a single factor on it's own...but in combination - it becomes deadly.

another speaker, Dr. Marion Ellis - UN/ Lincoln...repeated the words of Paracelsus (1493 - 1541) over and over again...."The dose makes the poison." Taking an aspirin can help you feel better - taking a BOTTLE will make you feel really bad! (or dead) He talked about all the chemical exposures our bees deal with on a daily basis - from WHAT WE PUT INSIDE the hive and WHAT THEY GET OUTSIDE the hive...and how sometimes it's the COMBINATION (drug interaction) that kills. He touched on the importance of cycling out foundation - as wax is absorptive...and chemicals can be building up in there.

we also had Dr. Marla Spivak down from the Minnesota Bee Lab - updating us on the research going on there.

I was HAPPILY surprised by the QUALITY of the speakers, topics and by the "FORWARD-NESS" (Wisconsin's state motto is FORWARD) of their approach as an orgainization. They've introduced legislature that will impact the LABELING requirements in the state of Wisconsin. The long and the short here is....if it says, "HONEY" - IT BETTER BE HONEY INSIDE...PURE AND UNADULTERATED. (or it can COST you...don't mess around in Wisconsin!)

oh so much to catch up on!

first: catch this author interview - re: honeybee democracy

Monday 11/8/2010 8:00 AM

Joy Cardin - 101108C When faced with tough decisions or life-or-death situations, there's a lot we can learn from them. After eight, Joy Cardin's guest describes the decision-making powers of the Honeybee. How they participate in fact-finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building... and what we can learn from them. Guest: Thomas D. Seeley, Professor of Biology, Cornell University. Beekeeper. Author, "Honeybee Democracy." http://wpr.org/r/?304

http://www.wpr.org/webcasting/audioarchives_display.cfm?Code=jca