Mildwinter

Cheryl, if you are interested in borrowing any equipment approximately where int he city would it be picked up? Kevin

Vote Zoom! :)

Most of the equipment and books are physically located in the east Portland area.

My bees died. :( Could I get someone to come and help me diagnose what happened? I think they just got cold and wet. There's a lot of mold in the hive.

I stopped everyone's video to improve bandwith.

If you have any questions for Dr. Seeley, please ask in chat and I will moderate and ask the questions when he reaches a place where he is ready for questions. He will also take questions at the end.

Dewey, Have there been similar studies in our region?

What is the average lifespan of colonies in the wild?

if you were to attempt Darwinian in urban setting, would you advise in Langstroth with mite testing or in log hives?

Many thanks to Dr. Seeley for his wondrous book "The Lives of Bees" which I only read this past fall.

Could there be anything about or in the tree cavity environment that helps control varroa?

Dennis - no studies of bee lining or finding feral colonies in Oregon.

How to wild colonies compare in size to managed colonies?

Colonies that make significant honey crops can also be in excellent health. Yes?

SO control the varroa?

Right?

There are non-chemical methods of control

1. How would you encourage complete wall coating with propolis, sanding with 40 grit sand paper?

2. What is single largest factor which affects the bees which you compared between managed and natural?

On a managed hive do you recommend reducing brood size in late summer to control varroa?

Is there a reasoned retort to "treating creates strong mites and weak bees?"

Not treating creates mite bombs full of more virulent mites?

Won’t swarms caught in an urban environment like ours be full of non-mite-resistant queens from managed hives?

Did the wild colonies in the small hives swarm each year?

So are you suggesting that having a small environment might encourage better grooming habits?

You use a single, shallow super on your single brood boxes? Any reason not to use larger supers or multiple supers?

If you live in an urban environment with many beekeepers around if you don't treat won't you just bring varroa back to the hive from neighboring "mite bombs"? Would it take a collective approach to achieve your results in an urban setting?

You mention 81% survival, what is the typical survival rate in your area for managed hives?

Is it realistic to believe that people will actually follow-through with the unpleasant task of euthanizing a colony? Of all of the treatment-free/Darwinian beekeepers who I have interacted with, exactly zero of them monitor mite loads. Zero euthanize their colonies before they become mite bombs.

1. What have you seen as the rate of adoption or practice of Darwinian beekeeping? What is the greatest barrier to adoption for most beekeepers?

If you’re not treating or moving frames how often do you go into your hives?

In an urban setting won't the smaller hives result in greater swarming which may not be ideal? Could you achieve the same results with managed splits?

Swarms are a nuisance in urban environments. So isn’t swarm prevention a good thing for our area?

Do you put frames in your bait boxes, and if so are they drawn, foundation, starter strips or a combination?

Aside from swarming not being appropriate for urban beekeeping, what about the lack of control over drones at the DCA? How can Darwinian Beekeeping work in our location when there are so many managed colonies? Darwinian-managed virgin queens would always be mating with drones from managed colonies with Hawaiian and California queens. Correct?

As an alternative to Darwinian Beekeeping, might it be a good idea for us urban beekeepers to instead purchase mite-resistant queens and allow their drones to populate the area to improve the local gene pool?

I know of four other beekeepers within a half a mile of me. More beyond that, of course.

I'm thinking of using 1" stock cedar wood for building boxes. Your thoughts. Thanks for an interesting talk.

I make my hives with 1" stock and it works nicely.

What technique do you use for splitting your hives?

PUB had great talk on splitting from John Edwards in January

sorry

:)

Old Sol Apiaries and StarrFarms both produce resistant stock here in Oregon

Yes StarrFarms is excellent!

Thank you, Dr. Seeley!

Fantastic Talk! Thanks Dr. Seeley

One last question...

How important is it to euthanize colonies before they reach a critical mite load, collapse, and become mite bombs?

This was an amazing! It was so nice to hear from you directly in addition to your books!

Thank you!

Thanks, Cheryl & Tom!

Thank you, very interesting presentation.

thank you !

Thanks Cheryl

thanks!

Thanks Cheryl

thanks