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almostidaho
Farmgirl in Training
19 Posts
Tami
Richmond
Utah
USA
19 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 09 2006 : 10:23:06 AM
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Nice to see all the other beekeepers out there. I've a few thoughts to add.
About "The Secret Life of Bees:"
Everyone raves about this book. Honestly, it let me down. I felt it was a terribly formulaic 'Women's Book' with all the stock characters and plot devices publishers use to target middleaged women like me. I don't like to be a 'target,' thank you very much. There were even a few bee facts the author included which didn't coincide with my experiences. But since beekeeping is one of those endeavors which is very adaptable to place and climate, I just figured we had had different experiences in beekeeping.
I found Sue Hubbell's "A Book of Bees" to be far better written and satisfying. I've just checked my bookshelf and discovered it's gone - whoever borrowed it must have liked it enough to keep it! Better buy another copy to pass around.
About mites and other nasties which threaten bees:
We're discovering that the greatest threat to our bees is the deadly species H. sapiens. For example, in just ONE WEEK (last Friday thru last night), three of our four property borders have been blasted with insecticides on three separate occasions!! Two have been our county mosquito abatement fogging trucks and one was our neighbors spraying an adjacent field for weevils. None had warned us about their intentions, and, in the case of the county, we have repeatedly requested that they not fog us, both verbally and in writing. AARGH! At least our neighbors gave us heartfelt apologies when we let them know what was going on.
We have also just found out that our other apiary, in another town, is now getting fogged. We suspect that the county has ignored our requests for that area too. It's heartbreaking because we've used this isolated apiary to bring along a hive for the past three years completely untreated with chemicals and antibiotics to see if we can develop a group of bees adapted to local conditions and naturally resistant to mites and foulbrood. This incredible hive even survived nearly being ripped apart this past winter by animals!
My husband and I are so furious with these local boneheads we've agreed that if anything happens to our hives (like dying in the midst of what's been an excellent season so far), we're prepared to take legal action. We don't have any extra money by any means for a step like this, but we've decided it's our line in the sand, so to speak.
So as not to end on a downer, here's some good news from our bees. We were curious to see how our girls had fared in the chemical onslaught, so last night we suited up and visited the three hives in our backyard. The New World Carniolans have dramatically boosted their population in the past month as well as nearly filled one honey super already. We added another honey super. Our new Italian package has also taken off, so we gave them a super loaded up with Ross Rounds cassettes (I'd love to hear of anyone's experiences with those things). Then the split we made last month with a Buckfast queen looks like something out of a beekeeping textbook! We gave them another deep super so they'll have lots of room to expand. We also had planted half our garden with a green manure of buckwheat. It's about to bloom, so we're excited to see what honey we get from that.
With sweet thoughts,
Tami |
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The Secret Life of -Farm Girl - Bee Keepers
