Zachary Lamas

Zachary Lamas

Jan 31, 2017

Group 6 Copy 79
1

California Dreaming

Hey Y'all, 

It's spring here on the coastal plains of North Carolina! About two weeks ago our Red Maples started blooming. And last week we had a nice flow as well, with un-harrowed cotton and sorghum fields near my bee yards in full bloom with hen bit. It has been amazing! 

The experiment is well on its way. It was a bit of prep work getting all of the hives ready, but all said and done the first lab samples were collected, the colonies moved to their appropriate yards and the migratory colonies en route to California. Below is a video of one of the semi trucks loaded and on its way to California for almond pollination. Our colonies are the white boxes in the center! 

And attached is a beekeeper and I meeting for the first time. Beekeepers are a tight knit group, but if you can imagine, we don't get to see each other very often. We are all in our own apiaries respectively, and meet ups can be difficult. So lots of texting and FB to keep connected. Benny here wanted a selfie. I was unloading my colonies that evening as Benny and Jeff Lee were unloading colonies with a forklift. After this it was dinner on the road time. No rest for late night beeks! 

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About This Project

Crop pollination by migratory beekeeping operations presents a highly concentrated convergence of bees where diseases may be transmitted and spread as hives are transported throughout the US. To test if migratory operations contribute to the spread of disease, we propose an experiment where we subject hives to almond pollination in California and compare their disease loads to stationary hives in N. Carolina. Upon the return of the migratory hives, we will measure subsequent disease spread.

Blast off!

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