Suggestions for research

[Wilco]

The supermarket honey testing one would be a great one for a lab, proving the source via a pollen search using a simple centrifuge, how cool would that be

Edit poor spelling

I have a feeling I overcomplicate things... that's a wonderfully simple way to do it! Don't even need a full lab for that. Results might be affected if honey is filtered rather than strained though?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do you use a mixture of 4'', 3'' and 10mm ones yourself? Asking because I'd ideally want to do repeats of each within and across apiaries so this would escalate the number of hives to significantly more than I have.

I use 4x2" CLS for all my floor sides although I do have a few with 3" sides basically I use 4" because I like them there's not much difference between the two really. A floor with only a 10mm high 'lobby' would always have me worrying about it getting blocked although I can see great benefits if you had an apiary that was constantly getting hammered by wasps

 

[Newbeeneil]

I use 4x2" CLS for all my floor sides although I do have a few with 3" sides basically I use 4" because I like them there's not much difference between the two really. A floor with only a 10mm high 'lobby' would always have me worrying about it getting blocked although I can see great benefits if you had an apiary that was constantly getting hammered by wasps

I used to have shallow lobbies but now I taper their depth from full depth to about 8mm to prevent it getting blocked so easily. It seems to work better.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I used to have shallow lobbies but now I taper their depth from full depth to about 8mm to prevent it getting blocked so easily. It seems to work better.

I have engineered an L shaped piece of wire from a coat hanger. All it needs is for @pargyle to fit a nicely turned handle and we have a winter unblocker

 

[bobba]

I heard there are still at least 87 undiscovered bee genders - perhaps some research in this area could be valuable to humanity.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I heard there are still at least 87 undiscovered bee genders - perhaps some research in this area could be valuable to humanity.

Genders?

 

[Newbeeneil]

I have engineered an L shaped piece of wire from a coat hanger. All it needs is for @pargyle to fit a nicely turned handle and we have a winter unblocker

I've got one of those as well!

 

[Wilco]

I use 4x2" CLS for all my floor sides although I do have a few with 3" sides basically I use 4" because I like them there's not much difference between the two really. A floor with only a 10mm high 'lobby' would always have me worrying about it getting blocked although I can see great benefits if you had an apiary that was constantly getting hammered by wasps

I noticed that, struck me as quite wide sides and back but obviously it's the principle with the dimensions. I suppose the blockage risk is a 'discussion' section point.

 

[Wilco]

I used to have shallow lobbies but now I taper their depth from full depth to about 8mm to prevent it getting blocked so easily. It seems to work better.

So many variations!

 

[Wilco]

I heard there are still at least 87 undiscovered bee genders - perhaps some research in this area could be valuable to humanity.

If they are undiscovered, how do we know there are at least 87?

 

[Wilco]

I have engineered an L shaped piece of wire from a coat hanger. All it needs is for @pargyle to fit a nicely turned handle and we have a winter unblocker

I've got one of those as well!

So a research project into how to convince @pargyle to create handles for hopeful forum members?

 

[pargyle]

So a research project into how to convince @pargyle to create handles for hopeful forum members?

I'll be rich one day ! Another gadget to make .. entrance scrapers... everyone must must need them ... I think I'm getting quite a nice portfolio of useless gadgets for discerning beekeepers !

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'll be rich one day ! Another gadget to make .. entrance scrapers... everyone must must need them ... I think I'm getting quite a nice portfolio of useless gadgets for discerning beekeepers !

I look forward to your first catalogue

 

[Apiarist]

I have a feeling I overcomplicate things... that's a wonderfully simple way to do it! Don't even need a full lab for that. Results might be affected if honey is filtered rather than strained though?

Would be nice to do a search for AFB and EFB in that imported honey as well, seem to remember reading a paper that (I think) the majority of honey coming from a particular country had AFB spores.

 

[Apiarist]

These are quite interesting. The former may be doable if I chat with some of the lab/path teams...

The latter may not be possible within budget although would be good to do... wonder if one of the electronics depts may be able to assist. I'd be interested to know if this applies here and how mongrel genetics might interfere with this. Do you have a reference to back up the queens mating with brothers being more aggressive (ignoring the standard aggressive vs defensive discussion).

Hi Thanks for the reply; sorry mine is so late!

Here is a link to the article that discusses the research into how inbreeding affects the characteristics of the colony, called Inbreeding effects of queen and workers on colony traits in the honey bee, stating "Inbreeding of workers leads to calmer and less aggressive colony behaviour, whereas inbreeding of queens has the opposite effect."
https://www.academia.edu/26878215/I...and_workers_on_colony_traits_in_the_honey_bee

 

[Apiarist]

You could go all in and, dare I say, complete Bailey's research into the Isle Of Wight Disease, and quite possibly settle the debate once and for all (I saw K wings in one of my hives for the first time this year, a symptom of CBPV, so it's fresh in my mind).

Idea, 3. the relationship, if any, between Acarapis woodi mites and CBPV.
Take bees which are confirmed (as much as one can) to be CBPV free. Then add CBPV to their food (or environment, you could experiment with different infection methods), from memory a lot needs to be added for them to become infected; you could measure the length of time it takes for a certain level of infection, for a certain concentrate in their food, etc: THEN repeat (or perform at the same time) the experiment, BUT ensure that the other set of bees HAVE Acarapis woodi present (members of the Bee Disease department here in NI have told me they only see Acarapis woodi mites nowadays in hives that are not treated for varroa, so treating your first set of bees with the right varroa treatment will ensure they are free of any mites)... this experiment could also look at different infestation levels. What you would find out is, does the presence of Acarapis woodi mite affect infection levels, many suspect so, or maybe you would provide information to refute this belief. A third experiment could also be run, in which bees are confirmed to be free of CBPV and then Acarapis woodi is added... if the bees then later test positive for CBPV this would suggest that Acarapis woodi is causing CBPV similar to the way varroa mites cause DWV (colonies have been observed to have DWV without varroa, but it's not long lasting nor common I believe, in other-words varroa is a vector for DWV).

 

[Apiarist]

The latter may not be possible within budget although would be good to do... wonder if one of the electronics depts may be able to assist. I'd be interested to know if this applies here and how mongrel genetics might interfere with this.

In relation to my idea "Measure the mating heights of Queens and Drones of A. m. mellifera", you would possibly be able to shed light on the belief amongst many A. m. mellifera enthusiasts about "Apiary Vicinity Mating" - basically they maintain that the mellfera bee mates closer to their home apiary than other bees, the claim is that this gives them an advantage as they can mate quicker. Research in Germany, I think (and therefore maybe more skewed towards A. m. carnicas), found that the Queen flies to the next nearest Drone Congregation Area to mate 80% of the time (and the nearest 20% of the time). I have my doubts about AVM, but I'm not willing to dismiss it, as many respected beeks (especially here in Ireland) claim they have often seen their queens return very quickly after leaving the mating nuc...

 

[Wilco]

So mini-update/hiccup with interim findings which have not been statistically analysed yet...

One of the student projects involves looking at the amount of pollen in shop bought honey vs. local honey (in this case mine). Thus far, there is pollen in the shop bought honey, even the cheap one, and lots in the heather honey but my summer multifloral honey from two different sites seems not to have any in it...

Which is a bit odd.

I have a hypothesis for the difference but it's not proven...
1. Pollen and nectar are usually collected using different apparatus, stored separately and levels of stored pollen will generally be lower in supers than brood areas, so should we expect much pollen in honey?
2. Nectar/honey will spin out of comb but pollen won't so there is likely to be less pollen in the honey with this method
3. When extracting heather honey I crush the comb, press it and strain it, which would effectively mix in any cells of stored pollen, hence higher amounts in the heather sample.

I will be giving/selling (there is a project budget) the student some ivy honey to repeat this with as it was extracted similarly to the heather stuff.

However, this does not explain why the shop bought honeys have more pollen than my honey... especially the cheap runny one which has presumably been extracted by spinning, ultrafiltered to stop crystallisation and possibly pasteurised. Surely this would start with similar levels of pollen to mine and have those levels reduced, not end up with more.

Does make me wonder about the whole 'fake honey' situation and potential for pollen to be added to make it look real. However, I believe one of the samples the student procured was a supermarket 'premium' type set honey produced in the UK, and this has more pollen than mine too.

As I said, a bit odd. Suggestions here may be relayed on to the student for consideration.

TL,DR: Is there a chance a couple of people might want to sell me a jar of summer honey to add into the mix for the student to investigate? I'd particularly be interested in any from a batch which has been sent off for pollen analysis elsewhere, so we'll know there should be some pollen in it, but anything will do.

 

[Prof]

So mini-update/hiccup with interim findings which have not been statistically analysed yet...

One of the student projects involves looking at the amount of pollen in shop bought honey vs. local honey (in this case mine). Thus far, there is pollen in the shop bought honey, even the cheap one, and lots in the heather honey but my summer multifloral honey from two different sites seems not to have any in it...

Which is a bit odd.

I have a hypothesis for the difference but it's not proven...
1. Pollen and nectar are usually collected using different apparatus, stored separately and levels of stored pollen will generally be lower in supers than brood areas, so should we expect much pollen in honey?
2. Nectar/honey will spin out of comb but pollen won't so there is likely to be less pollen in the honey with this method
3. When extracting heather honey I crush the comb, press it and strain it, which would effectively mix in any cells of stored pollen, hence higher amounts in the heather sample.

I will be giving/selling (there is a project budget) the student some ivy honey to repeat this with as it was extracted similarly to the heather stuff.

However, this does not explain why the shop bought honeys have more pollen than my honey... especially the cheap runny one which has presumably been extracted by spinning, ultrafiltered to stop crystallisation and possibly pasteurised. Surely this would start with similar levels of pollen to mine and have those levels reduced, not end up with more.

Does make me wonder about the whole 'fake honey' situation and potential for pollen to be added to make it look real. However, I believe one of the samples the student procured was a supermarket 'premium' type set honey produced in the UK, and this has more pollen than mine too.

As I said, a bit odd. Suggestions here may be relayed on to the student for consideration.

TL,DR: Is there a chance a couple of people might want to sell me a jar of summer honey to add into the mix for the student to investigate? I'd particularly be interested in any from a batch which has been sent off for pollen analysis elsewhere, so we'll know there should be some pollen in it, but anything will do.

Did the same student(s) prepare allthe samples? Worth a repeat analysis by another group? If there were differences in viscosity, did they dilute the honeys adequately before centrifugation? Just some thoughts, not meant to be crticisms at all.

 

[Wilco]

Did the same student(s) prepare allthe samples? Worth a repeat analysis by another group? If there were differences in viscosity, did they dilute the honeys adequately before centrifugation? Just some thoughts, not meant to be crticisms at all.

Thank you.

Same student. All honey prepared in the same way using method tested in published peer reviewed literature.