
georgenov2004
Midnite Bee-Beekeeper's: Article
ARTICLES
November 2004
Today is October 21st, and would be my 61st wedding anniversary
if Valerie had not died of cancer two years ago. I am VERY lonely. Nectar flows
are long since OVER. Winter is just around the corner.
Most members are concerned about the Redskins or the Ravens.Wives
are planning Thanksgiving festivities. Kids are thinking about Christmas gifts.
After 5 strokes during these past 14 years and losing my ability
to walk or talk very well, Now in my 80+ years of life and thinking of a new
marriage to my "young" 72 year old Las Vegas "best friend", my thoughts are
"Will I be alive. in Spring 05?"
Have I properly sought PROFESSIONAL knowledge about diseases and
health, or ignored possible death? This makes me think of wintering bees.
UNLIKE the last 397 years, since 1607, in the United States when
there were no MITES, no small hive- beetles, no resistant oul brood, and thousands
of wild, feral bees in every woods in the 48 states, honey bees easily survived
without much help from man; but since the arrival of mites in 1984, bees NEED
the HELP of man to survive!
If you doubt me, show me some live wild bees that have been in
place more than a year. Basically, they are nonexistent anywhere in the U.S.
HONEY BEES NEED YOUR CARE IF THEY ARE TO EXIST! What you CAN do, SHOULD do,
or SHOULD HAVE DONE?
Back on August 15th, during the Montgomery County Fair, you SHOULD,
have treated your bees with MENTHOL to kill all TRACHEAL mites! Since the tracheal
mite is microscopic and NOT visible to the human eye, most beekeepers ASSUME
that there are no tracheal mites, and hence DON'T BOTHER TO TREAT.
If you OPEN a colony on a warm day in January or early February
and find LOTS of honey, a queen, and just a handful of bees your bees were killed
by TRACHEAL mites. Don't give us all that B.S. about a COLD WINTER!
To a knowledgeable beekeeper, such a statement about a COLD WINTER
just tells everybody how UNKNOWLEDGEABLE you are about bees.
Shortly before Dr. Southwick's death about 10 years ago, he subjected
many colonies to temperatures of O,-20 and -40 for periods of 10days, 20-days,
and even 30 consecutive days, and NONE died. COLD does not kill healthy bees!
Have you got at least 12 deep frames, or 18 Illinois 6 5/8" frames,
FULLY CAPPED frames of honey in your colony TODAY? Why not? Why did you NOT
spend $10-$15 per colony for sugar and feed your bees back in September and
October?
Are you going to try and feed them in cold December and January
or just let them starve to death? What a NASTY way to die and YOU could have
prevented it.
If you are wintering in 2 DEEP bodies, the colony should weigh
about 120 lbs now, or wintering in 3 ILLINOIS bodies, the colony should weigh
about 130 lbs now. of 6 lbs. of bees (20-21,000) present if it to get though
the winter.
Bees have to cluster and eat honey to raise the temperature to
91 -96 for the queen to lay eggs in January and February and the bees MUST
keep this brood warm for 21 days, so that requires MANY winter bees to get that
colony successfully through the winter. Why didn't you-COMBINE two weak hives
back in September?
It is easy to get a strong colony through the winter, but very
difficult (maybe impossible) to get two weak colonies through the winter; and
even if you do, how strong are they going to be in April and May for our ONLY
nectar flow?
Did you put Varroa miticide strips, Apistan or CheckMite, in your
colonies BEFORE October 1st? WHY?
I have written and talked ad infinitum about waiting until at
least 10/1 or 10/15 so that there is NO bee larvae present for the female mite
to lay new mite eggs. I have steadfastly informed you to install miticide strips
between 10/1 and 10/15 and ABSOLUTELY remove them on some warm day between 11
/15 and 11/30.
If you find lots of varroa mites in April, it just shows that
you put strips in the colony T00 EARLY to get a good kill of varroa. Lastly,
how well do you work when you are suffering diarrhea?
Bees don't do any better than you when they have the "runs". Why
didn't you spend $2.00 for a dose of Fumadil-B and feed it to your bees beginning
October 15th- November 15th, so your bees will be healthy in the spring? Ending,
FORGET all those writings and stories of the "natural" keeping of bees prior
to 1984, which was the mite arrival in the U.S. Now 24 years later, bees CAN'T
MAKE IT ON THEIR OWN (or Naturally), but MUST HAVE YOUR HELP!
If you are UNwilling to give help to your bees, GIVE UP AND GET
OUT! If you think that I am wrong or too conservative, I BEG you to consult
authorities like Dewey Caron, Jerry Fischer, Bart Smith, Bee Inspectors Bill
Troup or Greg Gochnour, or ANY of the STATE APIARISTS in the surrounding states
of Virginia or Pennsylvania.
Show them this PINK PAGE and ask them if I am right or wrong -
I dare you! I have enjoyed these 20years of converting_beeHAVES into beeKEEPERS,
and particularly enjoyed watching some of my "students" become fine beekeepers
or even MASTER BEEKEEPERS.
However, I admit that so often I feel like a preacher or priest
who delivers a sermon each Sunday and then observes his parishioners IGNORING
every thing that was said for the next 6 days. I am no longer mentally strong
enough to handle this type of refusal to LEARN. For 20 years, I have TAUGHT
good beekeeping practices and techniques FREE of charge, and never wanting any
reward except to witness the perfection of someone to really learn the secrets
of successful beekeeping and its JOYS. .
As long as I am able, I will continue my PINK PAGES still FREE
of charge, but also I will no longer be "quiet" when I see or hear of something
totally wrong, particularly in the Honey Pot. As an ultra conservative, the
lies and negative remarks almost hourly in our presidential election are downright
frightening. Are all politicians so interested in self greed, that our system
of democracy could be destroyed.
Did George Washington, Tom Jefferson, Hamilton, etc. ever draw
a salary from 1776-1789? I remember so well the number of experts that left
their jobs during World War 11 and came to work in Washington for a salary of
$1 /year.
When I worked at Las Alamos in 1945 designing and constructing
our first atomic bombs; I know that some of the scientists worked FREE and "Head
Honshu" Dr. Robert Oppenheimer was paid less than $10,000.
Final thought: GOOD queen breeders are overwhelmed by demand and
just can't supply you a queen in April when you wait until March to place an
order and then you BITCH and malign the queen breeder.
Why don't you order a queen or queens NOW in November to be delivered
by April 15th, and send $10/queen "good faith" money? ADVANCE money TALKS very
loudly. AND ONLY GET A MARKED QUEEN which is BLUE for 2005. Blue is hard to
see, so demand a BRIGHT BLUE.
I have TOLD you what so I don't want to hear any crying or bitching
next April, but trust my knowledge. If YOU really to be a perfectionist requeen
in late August when you can buy far better bred queens, delivered on the exact
date you requested, and allow your new queen and old queen to lay during September
to provide your colony with a "ton" of wintering bees that gives your colony
super extra strength for the April-May nectar flow. See "Imirie's Almost Foolproof
Requeening Method" published many years ago.
"nough Said George Imirie