Empire Perennials, Apiary and Icelandic chickens

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Trying a split

August 16, 2015

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Decided to try and do a small split. Took several combs of brood and a comb with two queen cells. I shut the hive completely up for the evening.

I opened only one entrance the next morning.

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Nosema observations

This past year, the Bedford Indiana beekeepers club bought a good microscope with the hopes of being able to help area beekeepers diagnose hives with Nosema infection. A fellow beekeeper and I presented a demonstration at our annual Bee Intensive on how to prepare a sample to look for Nosema. Since the bees used came from a hive with very little to no infection, we were unable to find any spores. On Aug. 24th, I noticed that one of my hives had they typical "spotting" on the hive for Nosema infection. I was delighted, but also dismayed, but now I had a hive that was infected. Due to the weather, etc., I was not able to inspect the hive until Sept. 4th. By then, the spotting was worse. I took a sample of bees and brought them into the lab that I work in. I pulled 4 gut samples and pulverized them in sterile water. I then made several slides. I was able to maybe find a few spores, but will so much other debris, they were hard to find. I then

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