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  • From: Chris and Lisa Laudeman <chrisandlisa AT laudeman.com>
  • To: Lori Kroothoep <zoeteke AT me.com>
  • Cc: OCBA <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Sugar shake
  • Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2016 09:58:58 -0400

Hey Lori,

No regrets. You've done your first solo sugar shake. Good news is that they aren't varroa! They look like nymphal roaches. Yea for digital photography. At the resolution limit, I only saw one thing that might be a mite.

Do you have a beekeeping buddy to look over your shoulder and lend moral support (if nothing else)?.  I have my sugar shake jar marked with indelible ink at the 100 mL level.

We could go back and forth about how many bees you sampled, but you didn't find a bunch of mites in the sample (maybe none), so you can probably relax a bit. If you had a serious infestation, you would have found mites. Wait 'til it warms up and try again.

C

On Mon, Apr 4, 2016 at 1:48 PM, Lori Kroothoep <zoeteke AT me.com> wrote:
I'm hoping some of you can relate to this. Remember that first time you tried to do your a sugar shake alone without anybody else there... after only watching it one time?

Well it reminds me of learning to play golf. The first time you swing the club you miss the ball completely, too high. The next time you swing the club you Divet the grass and missed the ball completely, but do a lot of damage, too low. The third time swing the club, you swing with more force (thinking that will help) hit the ball just a little bit, enough to make it whiz through the grass, going only 5 feet so you take one more swing. The ball whizzes 10 or 20 feet in front of you on the grass and then you give up and decide to try another day.

Yep that was my morning! Feeling lucky I got out without any stings. Feeling certain I sacrificed way more bees than was necessary. Also feeling pretty sure that the amount of bees I did get are not but a third of what we would like to have, I think.

So I am wondering how long I should wait before I stick my nose in there again? Any chance they will remember my smell (not likely, but I feel bad)?

Is it possible these are something other than mites? Seems like an awful lot for so few bees in the shaker.




Regretfully,
Lori



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