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Offline jomegat

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Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« on: September 27, 2006, 11:35:47 pm »
Hi,

My name is Jim Thomas.  I am a staff member of an international youth club called Pathfinders, which is similar to Boyscouts and Girlscouts.  Like the Scouts, Pathfinders can earn "merit badges" (only we call them "honors").  For the past year I have been working on a book over at wikibooks.org (which is like wikipedia, but for books rather than for encylopedia articles).  A wikibook is an online book that anyone can edit. My book is an answer book for the Pathfinder Honors, and it is intended to help people teach honors.  Several people have contributed chapters to the book, and for that I am very thankful.

The Pathfinder Honor that brings me here is the Beekeeping honor.  I have never kept bees, so all the information I have pulled together from various resources (wikipedia articles, web searches, and this forum) could be all wrong - I don't know.  I would GREATLY appreciate it if someone who knows a thing or two about the subject would give the Beekeeping chapter a look - and please be brutally honest. It is important to me that the book be as accurate as possible.  You can see the beekeeping chapter at
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Adventist_Youth_Honors_Answer_Book/Outdoor_Industries/Beekeeping

Thanks in advance for any help you are willing to give.

-Jim Thomas

Offline pdmattox

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Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2006, 11:57:50 pm »
Nice work, i'll help where i can.

Offline jomegat

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Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2006, 12:08:16 am »
Thank you very much :!:

Offline buzzbee

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« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2006, 09:12:05 pm »
I think the queen may mate with more than one drone although as you stated the drone can only mate once.

Offline jomegat

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Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2006, 05:08:30 pm »
Thanks.  I changed that part.

I talked to a beek friend of mine last night, and he agreed to let me "help" him prepare his hives for winter in November.  I'll also lend him a hand in the spring, and depending on how this goes (and if my SWMBO* allows), I may set one up at my house the following spring.

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Offline Brian D. Bray

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Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2006, 11:38:08 pm »
The queen mates multiple times (as many as twelve maybe more) so it's good you changed that part.  Also Langstroth merits as much or more note in revolutionizing American Beekeeping than A.W. Root, no reference on the history of BK in the USA would be complete w/o his name.

I'll take another look at your work after I get back from vacation on 10/08, making some notes so I can respond more in depth.
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Offline beemaster

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Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2006, 12:03:24 pm »
Jim:

This is Beemaster, the guy who runs the site and one a 1 to 10 scale knows about a 4 on bees - but you have come to the right place and have been given good advice.

Honestly, I'd try to play up the DEATH ANGLE of the drone when mating and it's odd by similar death angle when a worker (females bee - only they can sting) also dies when they sting FLESHY CREATURES LIKE US. Because they are plated (exoskeleton if you choose, workers can sting each other without losing their stingers, thus NOT die - but for every drone who mates, death follows for him and as stated 10 or often more drones mate with a new "virgin queen" during her "maiden flight" the stuff in parentheses are exact terminologies WORTH bookmarking in your project.

The question then becomes, does the drone know he will die after mating, is the urge so strong that he willing gives his life to help the colony survive - or is he clueless and caught off surprise?

Your article content is great - I would grade it a B or B+ - but if I added questions like I mentioned above, I would gladly give you an A or better because it showed you understood the material and went beyond learning or just copying material found from different sources (which I hope you did not do).

It is important for a student to understand that THEY are the first and almost second generations to have such resources available at a keyboard near them. Real encyclopedias, dictionaries and magical pocket sized collections of words, often filled with photo (these strange things we use to call BOOKS) worked for man for a very long time - to run to the net, master hunting out obscure material that would be hard for a teacher to track back DOEN'T make you a good student, it makes you a good researcher. I think you are doing it the right way and bless you for it.

Glad you stopped in for help, PLEASE RETURN to let us know HOW YOU DID, we will all be looking for your response - PLEASE POST IT UNDER THIS ORIGINAL POST OF YOURS. Good work Jim, I hope someday you get to experience beekeeping up close and not just on TV, it is like driving a low budget "smashem' up car game" and then getting behind the wheel of a real sports car on the open road -  You can't compare and no one can ready you for the experience either. Best Wishes.

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Offline Mici

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Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2006, 01:56:49 pm »
nicely done, but woho, you missed a BIG part in the brief history about beekeeping. i think that in egypt, it was developed, for those times.
anyway, i just think it would be nice if you mentioned where modern (movable frames, harvesting honey, without killing bee families) began.
well, it began in central europe, by us, Slovenians. the father of modern beekeeping is Anton Janša 1734-1773
-first beekeeping teacher ever
-introduced movable frames
-just before death described keeping in loading type of hive-LR hives were invented from his description-he based them


there are many things, but then again, you couldn't call it brief, just use some of the info i posted, may i say i'm once again shocked that no one knows of this.

Online Michael Bush

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« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2006, 03:24:33 pm »
I've heard it said many times that Langstroth invented movable comb hives.  He did not.  The greek basket top bar hive has been around for millennia.  I've heard it stated that Langstroth was the first to make a hive with removable wooden frames to which the comb was attached.  He was not.  We know that Huber was doing it almost a hundred years before.  It is often stated that Langstroth discovered beespace.  He did not.  Huber did.  Huber said it was:

"On measuring the interval separating the combs, it will generally be found four lines (4/12th in.=5/16th in.=8.5 mm). " --François Huber 1 October 1791

http://www.bushfarms.com/huber.htm#letter13

So what did Langstroth do?  he was the first to build frames that were suspended in a box and surrounded by beespace.  Many of the previous hives required much prying and work to remove the frames.  His was the first to make them easy to remove.  The greek basket hives (which along with Huber's leaf hive, L.L. Langstroth credits for the discovery) had combs just hanging and were easy enough to remove, but less durable with no frame to protect them.  He left the same space the bees did around the combs and put a frame there.  He aslo did it in a manner that was cheap to manufacture.  So he was the father of modern beekeeping in America.  I'm afraid we never kept up, here, on what was happening in beekeeping in Central Europe.  :)
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Offline nepenthes

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Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2006, 04:44:13 pm »
Bee Pollen?

Theirs Honey, Proplis, and Bee's Wax... no Pollen. I would put something up, but dont know any thing really about Pollen other than IT Is high in protine, and has lots ofo vitamins and other stuff.
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Offline Mici

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Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2006, 05:08:08 pm »
forgot the most importnant, or should i say apreciated royal gel
and of course there is bee venom, also very good

Offline nhbloke

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Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2006, 11:54:48 pm »
Hi I am a new beek so cannot help to much, but there are lots of local clubs around here full of people wanting and willing to share all the info you could ever want or need. John

Offline jomegat

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« Reply #12 on: October 01, 2006, 12:08:07 am »
Thanks a LOT for all your input!  I have taken a stab at incorporating as many of your comments as I was able to understand, including references to JanÅ¡a and Langstroth in the history section.  That was the first section I had put together, and after reading your (collective) comments, it was pretty obvious that this section was sorely lacking.  Which is, of course, why I came here!

Nepenthes, I'm not sure I understand what you were getting at.  I didn't include material on bee pollen, venom, or royal jelly where honey, wax, and proplis are listed because the former are not listed in the official requirements for the honor, while the latter are.  I have no control over the requirements - I'm just trying to put some answers together for the requirements that are already there (though I have editorialized in other chapters if the requirements were outdated).

Beemaster, thanks for your generous grade of a B (no pun intended?).  I don't know if it's up to an A yet or not, so if there is anything else you think of, please let me know.  

Mr Bray, I am very excicted at the possibility of getting more input from you.  It may come as a surprise to you to know that a lot of the material I already added was stuff I gathered from your posts on this forum.  Thank you.

I am really looking forward to getting my hands dirty in November.  I might hafta bring a camera along so I can add some photos to the chapter.  Hopefully, I won't have to add a picture of myself getting my first beeking sting!

Offline Jim134

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Re: Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2015, 12:58:00 pm »
    :beemaster:

   I personally would like to thank the staff and members for helping out the Pathfinders. If you read all the way to the end of the link you will find this acknowledgement. By Jim Thomas who did rewrite a lot of the help notes for a lot of the honors for the Pathfinder club.


Acknowledgements
A big "Thank You" to the people over at Beemaster.com. Your kindness and willingness to dispense knowledge made this chapter possible. - Jim Thomas, 30 Sep, 2006.



http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Adventist_Youth_Honors_Answer_Book/Outdoor_Industries/Beekeeping



       BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :smile:
« Last Edit: March 23, 2015, 04:30:41 pm by Jim 134 »
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Offline beemaster

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Re: Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #14 on: March 24, 2015, 02:30:55 am »
That's really cool Jim, thanks for pointing that out. I was wondering how a 9 year old post came back to life - good find.
 
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Offline Jim134

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Re: Help editing a chapter on beekeeping
« Reply #15 on: March 24, 2015, 03:28:11 pm »
   John Clayton   
    I do realize some people do not realize the influence they have on certain situations and I also realize people do need to be acknowledge especially when they have a positive influence.
   There may be an influx of some young beekeepers here.I am going to promote this form. So the kids can find resources if they would like to. IMHO I also know it will be deeply appreciated because Beemaster is one of the few forms on beekeeping that is family friendly



                    BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :smile:
« Last Edit: March 24, 2015, 03:49:23 pm by Jim 134 »
"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may  remember,involve me and I'll understand"
        Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."
 John F. Kennedy
Franklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

 

anything