Mel Disselkoen

[Tim Aure]

I asked Mel's thoughts on this side of the lake and this was his response.
I'm going to check out his book

Tim,
Thanks for your questions and interest in the OTS.

OTS works just fine in your area if beekeepers will follow the instructions.

One fellow emailed me a great report as he overwintered 36 out of 39 in Minneaplois/St Paul area from July starts.

When I read your email and description I see several areas that I don't endorse. You never let splits or starts raise queen cell as they look good but most of them will be inferior. Only full strength hives or at least 4 frames of brood strong hives should raise cells and then by feeding as all queen breeders do.

July starts are strong enough to overwinter if fed properly in August and Sept going into winter because they all have young bees and that is what older beekeeper just can't understand. I overwinter in single deep which is not understandable to older beekeeper. The reason is they know nothing about this type of beekeeping.

I am the only one I know of that presented a miticide free system of controlling mites. I don't blame the other method as they never had a choice before. Either they treated or they lost their colonies.

This last winter was brutal but the properly cared for July starts did well. I would like to know how many full strength hives survived in the Madison area. I would think is is about the same as here in Michigan as a lot of beekeepers lost everything. Some of that is due to starvation as the winter cluster couldn't move to honey frames and that is where I save a lot of July starts by using sugar bricks above the clusters so they could get at feed.

I have no problems with beekeepers like you that are novice if they follow directions. They are successful the first years. The problems is they are getting advice from older beekeepers that only know how to manage bees the way they were taught. That is okay with me also but OTS is a complete different way to keep bees as your year starts in July and not in the spring.

The future of beekeeping is how to keep bees alive and very few beekeepers know how to do that in the present situations.

There is also the problem with insecticides in managed landscapes and I don't know how to handle that with moving them to cleaner areas.

Again these are common question and I have addressed most of them in my new book but beekeepers just want to make short cuts. I have tried all the short cut and that is why I stress following directions, my directions.

You cannot make starts from packages as they are not strong enough. You can only OTS in July to get strong varroa free bees to overwinter. Then you may only dispatch the old queen and notch one frame depending on how strong they are.

My book is full of helpful hints like varroa is spread by drones as they can enter any hive at will and uncontested. Most older beekeepers don't know that.
Mel

Sent from my iPhone

[jeanne hansen]

The main point in Mel's position is that queens bred after the solstice (June 22) don't cut back in egg-laying as fall approaches, so his splits have lots of very young bees going into winter.  Plus the mite cycle was interrupted

He is perfectly correct that a big hive makes better queen cells.  Therefore, he takes away the mother queen, (saving her in a small nuc hive,) lets the big monster hive make queen cells, and when they are capped, does the splits using those fat cells

There is nothing magic in his method.  It isn't that different from what Dan's favorite web site does (Isn't it Michael Palmer?)

 

Thanks!

Jeanne Hansen

824 Jacobson Ave

Madison, WI 53714

608-244-5094

---

From: Tim Aure <timoth...@gmail.com>
To: "mad...@googlegroups.com" <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2014 5:41 PM
Subject: [madbees] Mel Disselkoen

--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups madbees group. To post to this group, send email to mad...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to madbees+unsub...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/madbees?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "madbees" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to madbees+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Tim Aure]

Thanks Jeanne, you summarized it pretty concisely. It's still a little foggy but a lot clearer and for me I feel I'm beginning to understand the seasonal process in a way that makes sense.

And yes, Mike Palmer is a strong one for me also, though I don't think I'll start grafting queens. I'm a fixer/builder by profession and understanding....that Aha! moment, when I feel I'm getting traction sure encourages me. I believe it was Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing over & over and expecting different results. Bees may not be mechanical but they have a way of intriguing me that is somewhat addicting ... 

Sent from my iPhone

-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups madbees group. To post to this group, send email to mad...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to madbees+u...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/madbees?hl=en

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "madbees" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to madbees+u...@googlegroups.com.

[Paul Reith]

Timothy-

I pulled the trigger and ordered his book. I'll be happy to share with the group if you'd like to read it when it arrives.

Paul Reith

608.616.0808

[Tim Aure]

Thanks Paul 

I'm ordering one myself

He seems quick to respond

Sent from my iPhone

--

[Marty VanHaren]

Hey Paul, I love to read it when you are done.