permaculture

["Michelle Maggiore" <mmaggior@mindspring.com>]

I have kept bees off and on in the past several years, and we had something 
strange happen a couple weeks ago with a newly installed hive- we found the 
queen on the ground after what looked like a light swarming movement (with no 
cluster of bees anywhere in sight, like a normal swarm). When we opened the 
hive later that day, there were no bees in there ANYWHERE, except for an 
inch-thick layer of dead bees.Not only were they dead, but every last one was 
also decapitated. I couldn't find reference to this in the few bee books I 
have, but searching the web, I came across the site of someone that  
mentioned decapitated bees are the work of carnivorous wasps. It was quite 
disheartening. I know this was a pretty rare situation (I hope) and not CCD, 
but I am curious if anyone else has had this happen? The hive next to it is 
fine, and strong.

Is anyone using top bar hives on this list in the Southeast (U.S.)? It sounds 
intriguing.

Aditionally, I would like to recommend "A Book of Bees" by Sue Hubbell. It is 
a yearly journal so its good for referencing what you should be thinking of 
doing, and when I first read it, my impression was that this woman just has 
the best job in the world and loves it! Very inspiring and relaxing to read, 
and accessible for all levels of beekeeping.

One positive side effect of this CCD problem.....I did a beekeeping 
presentation for some 4H kids a few weeks ago, and they were all very 
concerned and expressed  great interest in learning to keep bees, because of 
it. I only wished we would have scheduled the presentation for earlier in the 
year, when they still could have ordered package bees, but theres always 
swarms and nucs, I suppose. 

Have fun! Michelle in Virginia
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