Hallsberg bees in 2024 Hallsberg municipality has many treatment-free bees. In the first emerging center in the municipality, most bee colonies have been treatment-free for many years. The last ones became treatment-free a few years ago. At my center, the
Selection and no chemicals but a too close to treatment bees In 2019, Sibylle and Wolfgang bought 3 Elgon colonies from me. They were all treated for varroa with half a dose of thymol that year. Since then, they have
Finally! No treatment! One loss! I have had a long journey to achieve treatment-free bees. I’m obviously thinking of the varroa mite. In 1989, breeding material was retrieved in Kenya: https://www.beesource.com/threads/exploring-monticola-efforts-to-find-an-acceptable-varroa-resistant-honey-bee.365571/#post-1843973 It took until 2007 before the varroa mite was
Courses with speakers are a good activity for beekeeping associations. Some time ago I lectured in a small town in eastern Sweden. I meet many nice people and personal stories. For example, the best coffee I’ve been having for a
Bees can develop rapidly in spring, or slowly, or in between. Carnica bees (Carniolans) are usually known to develop rapidly in spring, while black bees (A. m. mellifera, AMM) usually develops slowly. If the bees are developing quickly, they eat
Picture 1. A good colony that has cleansed somewhat after winter. Yesterday and today I checked 140 colonies of mine. I couldn’t reach one apiary with 6 colonies due to muddy roads. It was freezing in the morning but 50°F
Karin is a new beekeeper. She got a split from me with a daughter of the swarm that came from the wall of one of her houses, an unheated older, kind of summerhouse. http://www.elgon.es/diary/?p=515 At the end of last summer,
A month ago I did the first food control after winter. Spring was then still cold then in the beginning of March. A number of dead colonies were brought home. I divided the combs in three groups, food combs, empty
Up till now anyway, this colony of bees (and their ancestors forming this colony’s ancestor colonies) that has lived in a wall since several colony generations, has never been treated with any kind of chemicals ever, against Varroa mites or
The second Sunday in March the temperature, wind and sun, together with filled intestines of the bees that had produced the heat for the winter cluster took these bees out to meet the sun. The main cleansing flight took place.