(And I am not talking about climate change).

>> Show me your 10,000+ plus hive operations travelling thousands of
>> miles and I will begin to consider the UK as a beekeeping model...

> In New Zealand there are several thousand hive operations that do
> manage to keep AFB to below 1% without antibiotic use.

I was challenging the UK, not NZ.  NZ is an interesting special case
that as it happens is not comparable politically, culturally or
geographically to the USA, and it was the USA that was being lectured in
the original post from the (tiny) UK.

But the comments are most welcome as I am not saying that any specific
management method will not work for someone, somewhere.

What gets my goat is where someone tries to promote some limited
experience to suggest that _everyone_ _everywhere_ should follow the
example.  Moreover the example could be bogus.

I am not even saying that any model is unworkable in context, but as
most models held out as examples, the hidden fallacy is that the example
may indeed be genuine, but its application may rely on special
conditions that limit the feasibility or economics (there is that word
again) so that trying to apply them outside that limited domain may be
impractical or uneconomical.

In beekeeping, we often hear, "I did it" (or "I heard of someone doing
it"), so everyone, everywhere can -- and should.

Only suckers fall for that sort of talk.  (Confession: I did and that is
why I am here to warn the unwary).

Beekeeping in any area in any operation is a complex system with many
interdependent components and parameters.  Changing any one can have
far-reaching consequences, and a wise operator looks at risk and
calculates constantly.

It is interesting how often employees and bystanders think the boss is
daft for a decision made which makes an immediate sacrifice as they do
not understand critical path, risk management, weather prediction, flow
probabilities, delivery logistics, time value of money and all the other
little considerations that are part of the daily juggling act for a
large operator.

> One thing not mentioned in this discussion  is the practical
> considerations of a commercial beekeeper regarding dealing with a
> hive found with AFB in the daytime.  You are not likely to go back to
> the yard (it could be a long distance away).  If the hive is weak it
> can't be left because it is going to get robbed.  So we dust the
> hives on either side of it (I personally will judiciously use
> antibiotics, just not in feed to all the hives).  Then we close up
> the hive and take it away and burn the frames, or maybe just the
> brood frames.  Some bees left are going to drift in with the other
> hives which is why we treat them.

Yeah. Smart beekeepers all reach the same conclusion.

> But if the hive is strong then we shake the bees onto foundation and
> take the boxes away. This prevents the bees from drifting in the
> adjacent hives and is very effective in my experience in cleaning up
> the problem if the hive is strong enough and it is early enough in
> the season.

Wise words.

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