>I am wondering if there are particular factors that set him apart from

> other beekeepers, such as relative isolation, management approach, climate,
> ???
>

 
I recently spoke with Doug Vincent, a beekeeper with 150 hives in the same area of the northern CA coast who has learned from Serge Labesque and does not treat for mites.  I asked him to describe his success and how the hives are managed.

Here I will summarize the main things that I gleaned from his explanations.  In addition to good bee husbandry:

1.  Isolation from commercial italian overwintering yards, but not from other small scale beekeepers.

2.  Using queens derived from feral stock in the area of northern coastal California.  The most important aspect of this is that these lines of bees naturally overwinter on only two to four frames.  Like cariolans or russians they build up rapidly in spring and swarm (and/or get divided by the beekeeper), which cuts down on mite buildup during this time.  In late summer they respond the the pollen dearth in the area by going nearly broodless, which also cuts down on mite buildup in fall.  

3.  The climate on the rural northern CA coast:  Mid-November through January it is cold and rainy, so the bees remain clustered.  They may even have a brief broodless clustering period.  Since most hives go down from mites during November and December, I theorize that lack of flight during this time would help decrease mite influx to healthy hives.


Doug experiences about 30% winter loss, but attributes most of it to queen failure rather than mites.  The hives are not large enough in Feb to go to almonds but do succeed in producing honey during the main flow, which is in May.  

In summary, this is definitely not a "super bee".  It is just the proper type of bee in the proper climate.

--Jeremy Rose
San Luis Obispo, CA

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