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Thread: IWF.de

  1. #11
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Calum View Post
    according to our regional state beekeeping expert, 3-5 generations of queen selection are enough to breed peaceful slow to swarm bees.
    I am sure that's true. Breed from the best and more importantly, cull any queens which head colonies showings signs of aggression.
    Roger Patterson said he was able to make a massive improvement in the local stock in Sussex in just a couple of years.
    The problem is, you can not do this on your own and it involves getting together with the other local beekeepers.

    Germany seems to be very well organised about continuous improvement of the Carnica race whereas in most parts of the UK it is a free for all.

    The demonstrator in the videos is a really good handler and works quickly but without any sudden movements.
    The advice of 'don't try this at home' probably applies re. the lack of a veil.
    A couple of years ago I opened a colony and had a couple of frames out when I got stung on the nose.
    That was the point I realised that my veil was still sitting on the lid of the hive next door so I got it on pretty sharpish.

    Some of the Galtee AMM bees are very docile as seen by the safety gear of the demonstrator here.

    opening-up..jpg

  2. #12
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    I only work with gloves and a veil when a colony is really aggressive and I have to get something done.
    Wear it maybe twice a season. Avoid bee stings to the face by chewing propolis while you work. Masks your breath... They like my ears or fingertips, but I never have cold ears or hands... Will have to try that on the wifes feet....

    Mating queens in our area is ok, they tend to be ok as we all have carnica (so letting them mate with local drones is ok), it is easy to get good quality queens and many beekeepers are proficient in raising queens, so no need to make to with poor quality stock. Usually at some point one or another beekeeper has so many queens they give them away - raising batches of 30 bees in an incubator has such a low loss rate you tend to get overrun at some point....

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