UF Bee College

It has been a few weeks since the University of Florida Bee College and being delinquent with the updates, I figure I'm over due.

The bullet points of the Bee College that caught my attention:

Moving Bees
Dark overalls are a must for moving bees at night, along with a headlight using red light.

Practical Experience with Cordovans in Florida
David Westervelt was reporting Cordovan queens would lay upwards of 2,000 eggs a day even in a dearth so keep 15 frames of honey on so they will successfully over winter in Florida.

New Beekeeping Supply Company
There is brand new company that's producing locally (North Florida) milled pine boxes at list prices well below Dadant and superior quality to Groeb. The North American Bee Hive Company has price breaks at 5, 100, 250, and 500 allowing for a small operation to get more for their money. In speaking with the representative, he says their shipping rates are the best they can get and are pretty accurate on the site. Below is a list of their prices for Commercial Mediums:

Quantity	Amount
1 to 4	$9.00
5 to 99	$7.25
100 to 249	$6.75
250 to 499	$6.50

Come fall of this year, I'll be making my way up to see them.

Trick for Installing Packages
Something I hadn't seen before was that it's a good idea to use powdered sugar on a new package. The recommendation was to turn the package on a screened side a couple of inches off the ground, so that enough powdered sugar can be sifted over the bees to make them "ghost bees". The bees should then bee left to clean themselves up for a couple hours, which will help remove any varroa mites. The space between the package and the ground is to prevent the mites from crawling back up into the package.