# Crowd-Funding Migratory Study with UVM



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

This sounds like something interesting to study and know about. Best wishes.


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## Sunday Farmer (Nov 13, 2013)

sqkcrk said:


> This sounds like something interesting to study and know about. Best wishes.


Thanks Mark. A lot of these hives are ending up in blueberries in NC. I think just north of you.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Looks like it could be an interesting study. I look forward to hearing about the results. If you or someone else would like to present the results of the study to Beekeepers in NY, let me know and I'll see if I can get a time slot at the next Fall Meeting of the Empire State Honey Producers Association.

I noticed the endorsement by Michael Palmer. He's a great beekeeper. I like him a lot, for what that's worth.


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## Sunday Farmer (Nov 13, 2013)

Mike speaks highly of Samantha in the endorsement. Her field and experimental research is great. Her or I would be happy to present at the Empire fall meeting. 
As we are doing this we are seeking side funding to catch and assay bumbles from isolated areas and directly off pollination fields since her research straddles viral transmission between honey bees and bumbles.


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

Not sure how much good this is going to do. Highly doubt there is more than a colony or two left in the US that has sat isolated farther than 5 miles away from any "unaffected" colonies or packages that has not been influenced within the last 5 years. Good luck!!!!


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## Sunday Farmer (Nov 13, 2013)

Honey-4-All said:


> Not sure how much good this is going to do. Highly doubt there is more than a colony or two left in the US that has sat isolated farther than 5 miles away from any "unaffected" colonies or packages that has not been influenced within the last 5 years. Good luck!!!!


Hey Honey,

I hear you. It would be extremely difficult to find yards isolated more than 5 miles from other yards. Samantha does the National Honey Bee Survey for Vermont. We have great background data on viral composition and loads for both stationary and migratory colonies. Fortunately how she does PCR viral analysis, we can quantify viral loads, not just wether they are present. Since so many packages and nucleus colonies are sold to the hobbyist market after Almonds, this project does have the potential to do a lot of good; both as preliminary data for future research and as an assessment of transference after the largest pollination event in the world.


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## Sunday Farmer (Nov 13, 2013)

Just an update. We recently were backed by the New Hampahire Beekeepers Association and the Vermont Beekeepers Association. The owners of Betterbee were also supportive and backed the project! 
We have 22 days left with the crowd funding to meet our goal. In about a month I'll start pollen sub and prepping hives for California. We're psyched to get donations even at the $5 and $10 level.


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