Dick and Tim:

The brood pattern, mostly in a pyramid formation at the center, stretching
up to two to three deeps, was packed, though smaller than in the spring,
which is normal at this time of the year, but no holes.  As I posted
earlier, nevertheless, I have never seen my bees being more vigorous
during fall flow than during spring; they are hardly at equal strength,
though vigorous.

Yes, if I were to medicate, I would use Apistan, not CheckMite, this time
around, and I know it will work without any possibility of creating
resistance.  Reading many suggestions from the list, however, I get the
impression that I have no clue about medicating.  I am, to the contrary,
well aware of the myriad chemical, hard or soft, treatments, including
FGMO and oxalic acid as well as paper-towel-peppermint-canola emersion
method.  They are all fine as a *stop-gap measure,* the typical knee-jerk
emotive reaction, but I must refuse to be myopic.  I am looking at a long-
term solution; besides, I came this far without treating.   Not treating
has been the most difficult part in my beekeeping: it demands an iron will.

I emailed a bee-researcher about a possible experiment using hot-pepper
dust, which might, at the right dosage, during a broodless period in
dearth or in winter, not only dislodge the VD but also kill it at contact;
garlic and hot pepper are well known to gardeners about their insect-
repelling/killing properties.  In fact, I wondered about the equivalent
form of oxalic acid from pepper, such as the stuff found in a pepper
spray.  Do you know any such stuff?  Mites, clever enough to attack the
most vulnerable parts of exoskeleton, are relatively stupid animal; hence
a low-tech approach, such as dusting, should be adequate controlling their
numbers.  Using a highly sophisticated nerve agent to kill a dumb VD is
like killing a fly with a cannon ball, making the pest a moving target,
resulting in a hit and miss, and worse, a daring resistance.

Not to pontificate my “religious” dogma, Tim, I just cannot stand the
thought that kept bees are dying while feral bees are not.  You have to
agree that something is wrong with that picture.  I, in fact, would call
myself a blooming beehaver if I own a million colonies that will all
perish, left untreated, overnight.  Coming from such a bee farmer, the
claim of “Organic Honey” rings thunderously hollow.  And I do not think it
is the bees’ fault that they are sick.  Imagine that it is possible for
all of us to stop treating altogether, period—-I  know, I know—-there
will, it is not impossible, emerge a decent stock, given time.

*If mites can be resistant, on their own, so should honey bees*.

Oklahoma, according to my last check, is just one county away
(southwesterly) from a quarantined Texas county.  As the AHB’s are on the
move, averaging 200 miles per year, they will eventually throw another
curve ball in the equation since their shorter brood period will disallow
VD incubation, just as they are doing to Arid Zona.  The good thing about
their invasion is that they don’t seem to pay a whole lot of attention
about national border, state line, and the very quarantine the bee experts
impose.

In order to free our honey bees from drug-addiction, we must first free
ourselves from drug-pushing.


Yoon

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