Hi Jerry, I am a first-year beekeeper. I have two hives, one Italian and one Carniolan. I have found that the Carniolan is a lot less aggressive and would like to start keeping more of them next year. I have been reading the ABJ Classroom for about a year now and think it is great.

I have learned a lot from it and I hope it keeps going for many years to come. My question is: Can you tell me any secrets on how to keep bees from swarming so badly? Is adding supers enough or is there something else I can do? Also can you tell me if buying bees from the north is safer than the south due to the African bees?

Tom, I am glad that you are exploring the world of beekeeping, experimenting with different stocks and thinking ahead. You are doing all the right things. Thank you for the Classroom compliment. I learn a lot every day from people like you.

Swarming has been a topic of discussion amongst beekeepers since they first started “managing” honey bees. The interesting thing is that for a very long time before movable frame beekeeping, swarming was a good thing. That is how one increased colony numbers so colonies that swarmed were helped along, so they could survive and swarm more. When movable frame hives were accepted and the biology of the honey bee was better understood, colony increase methods changed. Controlling swarming became important, but they now had honey bees that had been bred for hundreds of years to swarm. Swarming is a genetically based survival trait that is hard to override in many bees. It becomes a matter of understanding this trait and making artificial swarms by dividing or splitting at the correct time. This allows increase of colony numbers, you don’t lose swarms and you can select from colonies that are easily managed and don’t exhibit this trait as strongly as others.

Adding supers is important, but keeping an open brood nest that is not wall to wall brood is perhaps more important to keeping the swarming instinct reduced. This requires checking colonies in spring conscientiously and moving capped brood out of where the queen is and replacing with empty comb. The colony does not feel crowded and yet with added room, the population is growing to harvest a bumper crop.

Does this work all the time? Yes, it does if you can keep ahead of the bees when they are expanding so quickly in the spring. Is it easy? No. However, with less than a dozen colonies you can be successful. I would not purchase queens from areas in the southwest that have a dominant AHB feral population and from queen producers there who are open-mating their queens.

Hello Jerry, Robert and I are preparing to treat our bees for tracheal mites and have some questions...Can we make our menthol paper towels using Mite-a-thol that is available in most bee supply catalogs? Also, is it true that this approach is not dependent on outside temperature to be effective? We really want to get this one right, and feel confident of your expert advice.

Good morning, I have not checked the label, but I don’t think that those are the directions. Here in my world of Apiary Regulation and working with Pesticide Licensing, the absolute rule is that the “label is the Law”. And for good reason because a lot of data, time, effort and money was needed to get a label written that would be acceptable to the EPA/FDA for the safe efficacious use of this chemical. And no, it is false that if this method is used, it is not temperature dependent. Yes, it increases the surface area, but the cooler it gets, the less it evaporates and becomes less effective.

My advice is to follow label directions and don’t do like so many basically intelligent beekeepers who turn into “garage chemists” because they think they know better that the scientists and companies who developed the product for beekeeping use. It may be fun to toy with off-label uses of these products, but it could also be dangerous to you and your bees.

Good morning Jerry, thanks for your reply. We wanted you to know that we got this idea from “Beekeeping for Dummies”. The idea/instructions are on pages 185-186. It says in a caption under a photo of the menthol crystals, “The so-called paper towel method is an effective menthol treatment that isn’t temperature dependent–it can be used year round (except when honey for human consumption is on the hive.)” It also goes on to say, “I suggest that you make this treatment part of your annual preventative plan (regardless of whether you see indications of having tracheal mites).” They do indicate, “Prepackaged bags containing 1.8 ounces of menthol crystals are available from your beekeeping supplier.” So...do you think this information in inaccurate? We certainly do not want to be “garage chemists.” Thanks for your sound advice!

Many people use products at home, on the job and in agriculture that are not labeled or licensed for use or, in the particular way that they are being used. As a public servant, I cannot nor will I encourage misuse of chemicals in and around honey bees. We have an annoying habit in agriculture that if a pint of control chemicals are good, then a quart is better. It is my opinion that we have all the chemical control materials we need or will ever need; it is just a question of using them correctly in an intelligent IPM strategy. Because we are dealing with a living creature that depends on a bee-made material called beeswax, which is a chemical sponge, I always feel that the label instructions are the most efficacious method of use and application. If we start using things off label, then we can cause problems for our neighbors, our industry and ourselves. Let me be politically incorrect and perhaps even rude and say maybe that is why it is called “Beekeeping for Dummies”.

Hi Jerry, I posted the following question to Bee-L, and got no answer.

I’m experimenting with powdered sugar. I’ve read Fakhimzadeh’s 2000 paper, Aliano and Ellis’s 2005 papers, and searched the archives. But, I’m not finding a paper that details the efficacy (in percent) of mite removal by brushing a cup (more than Fakhimzadeh used) of sugar over the top bars (Aliano put bees in a cage). A simple test–does anyone know of someone who has done it? If I had a few collapsing colonies to sacrifice, I’d do the counts myself, but (knock on wood) my bees are finally looking pretty good! Are there any references out there? Do you or Dowda have any data on the efficacy of a single in-hive powdered sugar dusting? Thanks.

Randy, our data is simply based on survival. We have kept colonies alive and seemingly vigorous for going on six years now with the powdered sugar method. It knocks off hundreds of mites when you first do this once a week for 4-6 weeks and then we back off to once a month, with fewer mites on our collection board. Nothing to publish for sure, but it works for us.

Hi Jerry, I’m looking for guidelines on keeping bees and horses in the same pasture. Can it be done? Thanks.

Mark, unfortunately, honey bees and horses have never gotten along. You can go back into history and find many accounts of horses and bees getting together and it not turning out very well. Honey Bees are odor driven and directed. There is something about the odor of a horse and especially a sweaty horse that honey bees do not like. For gentle manageable honey bee colonies, keeping some distance and a good fence between the two is a good idea. From my perspective of being swept along with our transition to African Bees (AHB) in Florida, my recommendation for anyone in and AHB-infested state is to separate by at least 1/4 mile with trees, a hedge, and a fence between known AHB colonies, their hybrids and people or livestock. We have had the death of a 900-pound horse from AHB. During the autopsy the veterinarian found 3 to 4 lbs. of bees in the horse’s stomach, lungs, nasal passages, etc. It is just not worth the risk to have AHB or other honey bees in close proximity to horses.


	The Classroom (cont.) by Jerry Hayes Please send your questions to Jerry Hayes, 17505 NW Hwy 335, Williston, FL 32696 Email: gwhayes54@yahoo.com

		from the March 2007 American Bee Journal Q Keep The Girls Happy! Hi Jerry, I am a first-year beekeeper. I have two hives, one Italian and one Carniolan. I have found that the Carniolan is a lot less aggressive and would like to start keeping more of them next year. I have been reading the ABJ Classroom for about a year now and think it is great. I have learned a lot from it and I hope it keeps going for many years to come. My question is: Can you tell me any secrets on how to keep bees from swarming so badly? Is adding supers enough or is there something else I can do? Also can you tell me if buying bees from the north is safer than the south due to the African bees? Tom Bequette A Tom, I am glad that you are exploring the world of beekeeping, experimenting with different stocks and thinking ahead. You are doing all the right things. Thank you for the Classroom compliment. I learn a lot every day from people like you. Swarming has been a topic of discussion amongst beekeepers since they first started “managing” honey bees. The interesting thing is that for a very long time before movable frame beekeeping, swarming was a good thing. That is how one increased colony numbers so colonies that swarmed were helped along, so they could survive and swarm more. When movable frame hives were accepted and the biology of the honey bee was better understood, colony increase methods changed. Controlling swarming became important, but they now had honey bees that had been bred for hundreds of years to swarm. Swarming is a genetically based survival trait that is hard to override in many bees. It becomes a matter of understanding this trait and making artificial swarms by dividing or splitting at the correct time. This allows increase of colony numbers, you don’t lose swarms and you can select from colonies that are easily managed and don’t exhibit this trait as strongly as others. Adding supers is important, but keeping an open brood nest that is not wall to wall brood is perhaps more important to keeping the swarming instinct reduced. This requires checking colonies in spring conscientiously and moving capped brood out of where the queen is and replacing with empty comb. The colony does not feel crowded and yet with added room, the population is growing to harvest a bumper crop. Does this work all the time? Yes, it does if you can keep ahead of the bees when they are expanding so quickly in the spring. Is it easy? No. However, with less than a dozen colonies you can be successful. I would not purchase queens from areas in the southwest that have a dominant AHB feral population and from queen producers there who are open-mating their queens. Q Hello Jerry, Robert and I are preparing to treat our bees for tracheal mites and have some questions...Can we make our menthol paper towels using Mite-a-thol that is available in most bee supply catalogs? Also, is it true that this approach is not dependent on outside temperature to be effective? We really want to get this one right, and feel confident of your expert advice. Linda Maureen and Robert. A Good morning, I have not checked the label, but I don’t think that those are the directions. Here in my world of Apiary Regulation and working with Pesticide Licensing, the absolute rule is that the “label is the Law”. And for good reason because a lot of data, time, effort and money was needed to get a label written that would be acceptable to the EPA/FDA for the safe efficacious use of this chemical. And no, it is false that if this method is used, it is not temperature dependent. Yes, it increases the surface area, but the cooler it gets, the less it evaporates and becomes less effective. My advice is to follow label directions and don’t do like so many basically intelligent beekeepers who turn into “garage chemists” because they think they know better that the scientists and companies who developed the product for beekeeping use. It may be fun to toy with off-label uses of these products, but it could also be dangerous to you and your bees. Q Maureen Answers Good morning Jerry, thanks for your reply. We wanted you to know that we got this idea from “Beekeeping for Dummies”. The idea/instructions are on pages 185-186. It says in a caption under a photo of the menthol crystals, “The so-called paper towel method is an effective menthol treatment that isn’t temperature dependent–it can be used year round (except when honey for human consumption is on the hive.)” It also goes on to say, “I suggest that you make this treatment part of your annual preventative plan (regardless of whether you see indications of having tracheal mites).” They do indicate, “Prepackaged bags containing 1.8 ounces of menthol crystals are available from your beekeeping supplier.” So...do you think this information in inaccurate? We certainly do not want to be “garage chemists.” Thanks for your sound advice! Linda Maureen and Robert A Many people use products at home, on the job and in agriculture that are not labeled or licensed for use or, in the particular way that they are being used. As a public servant, I cannot nor will I encourage misuse of chemicals in and around honey bees. We have an annoying habit in agriculture that if a pint of control chemicals are good, then a quart is better. It is my opinion that we have all the chemical control materials we need or will ever need; it is just a question of using them correctly in an intelligent IPM strategy. Because we are dealing with a living creature that depends on a bee-made material called beeswax, which is a chemical sponge, I always feel that the label instructions are the most efficacious method of use and application. If we start using things off label, then we can cause problems for our neighbors, our industry and ourselves. Let me be politically incorrect and perhaps even rude and say maybe that is why it is called “Beekeeping for Dummies”. Q Percentages? Hi Jerry, I posted the following question to Bee-L, and got no answer. I’m experimenting with powdered sugar. I’ve read Fakhimzadeh’s 2000 paper, Aliano and Ellis’s 2005 papers, and searched the archives. But, I’m not finding a paper that details the efficacy (in percent) of mite removal by brushing a cup (more than Fakhimzadeh used) of sugar over the top bars (Aliano put bees in a cage). A simple test–does anyone know of someone who has done it? If I had a few collapsing colonies to sacrifice, I’d do the counts myself, but (knock on wood) my bees are finally looking pretty good! Are there any references out there? Do you or Dowda have any data on the efficacy of a single in-hive powdered sugar dusting? Thanks. Randy Oliver A Randy, our data is simply based on survival. We have kept colonies alive and seemingly vigorous for going on six years now with the powdered sugar method. It knocks off hundreds of mites when you first do this once a week for 4-6 weeks and then we back off to once a month, with fewer mites on our collection board. Nothing to publish for sure, but it works for us. Q Don’t Horse Around With Bees Hi Jerry, I’m looking for guidelines on keeping bees and horses in the same pasture. Can it be done? Thanks. Mark A Mark, unfortunately, honey bees and horses have never gotten along. You can go back into history and find many accounts of horses and bees getting together and it not turning out very well. Honey Bees are odor driven and directed. There is something about the odor of a horse and especially a sweaty horse that honey bees do not like. For gentle manageable honey bee colonies, keeping some distance and a good fence between the two is a good idea. From my perspective of being swept along with our transition to African Bees (AHB) in Florida, my recommendation for anyone in and AHB-infested state is to separate by at least 1/4 mile with trees, a hedge, and a fence between known AHB colonies, their hybrids and people or livestock. We have had the death of a 900-pound horse from AHB. During the autopsy the veterinarian found 3 to 4 lbs. of bees in the horse’s stomach, lungs, nasal passages, etc. It is just not worth the risk to have AHB or other honey bees in close proximity to horses.

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