4th set of Readings

Salmon Farms Quarantined

Three salmon farms in BC have recently been quarantined due to the discovery of the IHN virus

The fish are still going to be sold to people because the virus does not negatively affect humans

It was very interesting to read about this because one of my friends whose dad is a fisherman (he works on his dads boat) was called in with his dad to help with this. I'm not sure what it was he was doing but he was definitely there


Pesticides Turn Bees Into Picky Eaters

Pesticides are turning bees into "picky eaters" who ignore perfectly good nectar and collect only the sweetest nectar

These pesticides could be a major contributor to colony collapse disorder


Syngenta Settles Herbicide Lawsuit


When it rains atrazine is washed into lakes and rivers which supply many people with drinking water. The chemical can cause low birthweight, birth defects, and reproductive problems


52 million people may have been affected by this chemical


To me this is extremely scary and makes me think that all herbicides, pesticides and insecticides should be completely banned wether there is research proving that they are bad or not.

3rd set of Readings

1. Starting Queen Cells

This article talks about the Skep, Miller, comb, and Alley methods of starting queen cells

2. Clipping and Marking Bees

This article talks about the different tools and methods people use to clip bee's wings and to mark the bees for identification. These tools/methods include putting a baldock cage over a queen for clipping/marking

3. Finishing Queen Cells

If there are more than one or two frames with queen cells on them. The queen cells may not get completely finished as the hive cant feed all of the cells

4. Using Queen Cells

If there are leftover queens you can freeze them, then drop them in alcohol, where they ferment. The liquid created by this process can be used to lure hives into swarming

2nd set of Readings

A Guide to Queen Rearing

This video shows how to do a method of Queen Rearing that is apparently cheap, easy and effective

This video was very clear on what to do when using this method, and how to do it. However I'm not entirely sure why this method works. Why does doing this cause the bees to make queens? Also why does he crush the cells every inch? 

Splitting a Hive

A split is usually done for one of two reasons. One is that you have an overcrowded hive and are trying to prevent a swarm from happening. Splitting a hive doesn't always stop a hive from swarming, but it greatly decreases the chances. The other reason is that you wan't to have more hives in your apiary.

The old hive is left without a queen but has the capability to make a new one. If you were to put a new queen in you should wait a few days to do it, otherwise the other bees might smell the new queen's hormones and kill her.

How to Perform an Artificial Swarm

The idea behind this is to make the bees think they have already swarmed by separating the queen from the brood

It always amazes me how smart bees are and how they work as a team. It is almost like a hive is an organism itself and each bee is a cell

1st Set of Readings

#3

This article is about how hospitals in York, Ontario are trying to improve the food they serve and how this is greatly improving the patient's stay

I found it very cool that 80% of the food comes from Canada, of that 62% comes from Ontario. I wonder what percentage of my diet comes from BC and Canada as a whole

#37
This article/report from the UN blames various factors for messing up local food habits and for causing a public health disaster. These factors include urbanization, the spread of Western Lifestyle through out the world, and the rise of supermarkets.

I found it very interesting that in Hungary and in some US states there is a tax put on junk food (pop chips etc.). Also in Hungary the money collected from the junk food taxes is being put into the healthcare system