Beekeepers are always experimenting with new methods and new products, looking to help our honeybees prosper while keeping the workload and expense of beekeeping under control.
As a small beekeeper who was nearly wiped out last winter (2006-07), I’ve decided to make 2008 a season for full-on experimenting — exploring new methods and products that I might not otherwise have ventured to try.
You probably know that a lot of the innovative ideas in apiculture have traditionally from small beekeepers, rather than the commercial outfits. That’s because we “little guys” the ones who are able to devote more individual attention to our colonies.
But a major driving force behind new beekeeping developments, these days, is the need for pollination by crop producers. When so many farmers’ livelihoods depend heavily on honey bees for pollination, and honey bees are in short supply as they have been in recent years, keeping the bees in good health becomes the interest of both government and private sector researchers.
That means there are a lot of new ideas floating around the beekeeping world right now. Some have a good deal of research behind them. Some are still in the early stages of testing. Others have not been scientifically tested, but carry some word-of-mouth clout from beekeepers who have tried those methods. And a lot of the new ideas are pretty controversial…
At this writing, there are 3 main things I plan to try:
- Powdered sugar treatment to control Varroa mites;
- Drone trapping to control Varroa mites;
and - SuperBoost, a 10-component larval brood pheromone product that’s new on the market this year from Pherotech in British Columbia.
As the season goes along, I’ll report back regularly here on the CBA website, to share whatever information I come up with.
Mind you, there’s no way that mine will be “scientific” experiments in any sense — just a matter of one beekeeper trying these techniques on a couple of hives and observing to see what happens. I’m going to be watching the bees as closely as I can, however, and making whatever measurements are possible: changes in the number of frames of brood, for example, or in the 24-hour natural mite drop.
So if you spot anything I’ve missed, or think of new ideas, have questions or suggestions, or have your own experiments to tell us about — please do speak up in the comments!
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