Other side.

[Marty VanHaren]

[Jeff Steinhauer]

Hello Marty,
What are you charging per frame of brood?
Thank you,
Jeff S.

[Marty VanHaren]

Had not thought of selling individual frames for brood. Is there a suggested price?

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[Matt H]

This time of the year, I would say $4-8/frame for a good brood frame (leaning closer to $4-5). Higher on the range for frames that have seen recent mite treatments otherwise they could be a big mite bomb for the purchaser.

[marvin]

I remember a time not long ago when exchanging drawn frames (i.e. without bees!) was considered suicidal for your apiary.  And exchanging bees and brood between apiaries?  Well that was insanity.  My how times have changed.  We're really spinning our wheels, now aren't we folks?

[Marty VanHaren]

I think I’ll leave them be for now. If they make it through the winter they will make a good start for a new beekeeper. 

Sent from my iPhone

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[Marty VanHaren]

Also they are untreated so may have high mite load. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 14, 2018, at 10:16 PM, marvin <marvin...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Greg V]

+1 to marvin.

Last year I TOO liberally exchanged capped brood frames within my own operation (trying to "boost" weaker colonies as I thought then).

Not doing it again.

It was a terrible idea.

Pretty sure, instead of "helping out", I actually doomed some good nucs by inoculating them with excessive mite loads.

There are other ways to boost colonies (open brood; feeding; pre-built combs, etc).

Taking in capped brood from external sources in the current context is the last thing to consider (after everything else has been ruled out and things are desperate).

I'd rather do my best feeding/insulating a worthy nuc but not give them any brood from outside.

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[Matt H]

I think times have changed. These days a very large number of hobbiests (I would even go so far as saying the majority) buy packages or nucs every year. Maybe not for every hive, but for every apiary. That right there is just as much of a risk for EFB/AFB as anything as once the spores are in your hive/apiary they are there for good. How many packages/nucs has a single hive seen after a couple years? Every nuc/package you buy or swarm you catch is another roll of the disease dice. Sure there are few people who operate "closed" apiaries but not many.

Personally I see little risk exchanging frames within my own apiary. I've inspected them and see no evidence of brood disease. Could they have a mite borne disease that I'm not seeing, sure, but those diseases can easily spread due to drifting. Exchanging with other people does come at a risk and you should know who you're buying it from and their experience in inspecting hives for brood diseases.

[Jeff Steinhauer]

As a roll of the dice, I did purchase brood frames to install into my troubled swarm.  This is the last intervention for this colony to try and build the numbers into the winter.  This colony is one week into a six week treatment using Apivar for mites.  

If they don't make it, if they don't make it.  

Some people may not like this approach, but it is what I chose to do knowing there maybe other issues because if it.  

I'm willing to take that chance.

[marvin]

Ya, it is a kinda circular argument.  No question that purchased nucs and packages can be a rapid introduction of bad things to an apiary.  And we do that all the time.  Routine drift can be too.  You kind of hope a reasonably healthy hive can overcome that challenge.  With a whole frame, the numerical challenge escalates.  So ya, its a gamble.  With empty comb,  it would be nice if drawn comb could be sterilized prior to introduction into new hives.  The technology exists, whether its financially feasible or whether beekeepers would accept chemical or radioactive sterilization is another question.  Nuclear sterilization of hamburger certainly didn't catch on.

[Joseph Bessetti]

Nucs and packages (and migratory colonies) introduce pests and diseases.  Routine drift disperses them.  There is very little chance that any colonies are ever isolated from these problems.  Just look at the rapid spread of Varroa destructor across the country and into every colony in existence in a very short time after it was introduced. 

In the cases of mites or small hive beetles, yes, a reasonably healthy hive with the ability to manage the problem (i.e. mite resistance or timely and effective treatment) will usually be ok unless the pest levels are simply overwhelming. 

However, with viruses in particular, a reasonably healthy hive may never have been exposed to a virus or virus variant that gets trafficked into our region, and high mortality can occur.  The recent spread of VDV-1 virus is such an example.  Higher than normal mortality rates over a given time period are often related to the introduction and dispersal of these kinds of agents.  Once a new virus gets into a colony, even if by Varroa mites, it can often be passed from bee-to-bee directly and cause harm even if mites are kept at low levels.

Joe

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From: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of marvin <marvin...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2018 10:19 PM
To: madbees
Subject: [madbees] Re: Other side.