Hello Peter & All,
Peter said:
> It never ceases to amaze me how many bee experts there are among the
> non-beekeeping public. Another in the series of "I told you so"
> stories

I did not care for the "as fact" way she presented the information she
gleaned no doubt from many published sources and did her own interpretation
of the information. At the end I gave the article a five on the scale of
1-10 listed.

Really nothing new in her opinion ( close to my long time friend Dee Lusby's
opinion  in places) but like most of these type articles (as Peter pointed
out) they are "I told you so" and offer no solution to the problems she
points out other than eliminating commercial migratory beekeeping.

 Does Laura Weldon (from her isolated country abode complete with internet
and computer) also think the whole world should quit moving bees to
pollinate our food supply. What about all the workers supported by these
farms. She suggests (not surprisingly) that we should only by local organic>
I have no problem with consumers that want to pay 8-10 bucks a pound for
honey the vender says is organic or pesticide free. However I am the
beekeeper at one of the largest farmers markets in the U.S. and all you have
got is the beekeepers word. Also there is no proof the chain store honey
supply is unsafe or mixed with corn syrup. Three years of buying honey and
testing by the FDA found no problems (honey was placed on a three year watch
by the FDA after contaminated honey ( cloramphenical) was found in bulk
honey from China ) Even the amounts found posed no serious health risk to
the healthy person but zero tolerance in honey makes the product unsalable
in the U.S..

Many of her facts were basically correct and taken no doubt off the net but
in the area of commercial migratory beekeeping little information is
available. I have provided as much of a look into the large migratory
beekeeping world as most likely exists through internet posts. She did not 
get the following from
me and is very inaccurate from the 7th assumption:

"Bees can not regulate the hive temp. when the hive is closed for transport"

First point is hive entrances are NEVER closed on semi's and  bees can
cluster and regulate temps. True hives on the front of the load in cold
weather can be affected by wind chill but we tarp the nose in cold weather .
As long as the cluster is over honey cold is normally not a problem. In hot
weather the scenario changes and will be covered before long (this spring)
in an article on hot weather semi trucking of hives. The main source of the
information comes from an interview with a 50,000 hive southern  migratory
beekeeper which is an expert in moving bees in all weather conditions. Even
I learned many things doing the article.

"Beekeepers commonly kill the queen each year by opening the hive and
crushing her"

This is simply not so with professional beekeepers. You pull an outside
frame first and then go to the middle frame. The above beekeeper I recently
interviewed does not let new beekeepers in his operation wear gloves until
they learn how to work bees without mashing bees. I am not so hard a task
master but I watch new employees carefully until I am sure they understand
the proper way to work bees. I ran a bee inspector off years ago because he
sat the hive lid beside the hive and then tried to mash a few hundred bees
trying to put the lid back down. You always shake the bees from the lid in
front of the entrance and then replace the lid. poor  beekeeping makes for
aggressive bees!

"they introduce an instrumentally inseminated queens (II) that has been
purchased and shipped"

Yes we use II queens for breeder queens but clearly none of us can afford II
production queens nor would those supplying such queens be able to meet
demand. Cells are more often used than mated queens but when beekeepers are
making money more use mated queens and packages. When times were hard for
the industry ( many outfits went bankrupt) cells were the norm.

Almond pollination (through higher fees) has kept many outfits out of
bankruptcy. Only one stop of many for many commercial outfits but without a
doubt the most profitable. The reason for the high prices is for the most
part is  to lure bees in to pollinate almonds. California beekeepers provide 
less than half the bees needed each year and many estimates are less than a 
third.

$30-$40 a hive would not pay
expenses for movement to almonds from the Midwest today but these were the
fees in the late nineties. I have sent bees into almonds from the Midwest
for a fee in the forty dollar range.

Laura's Eighth assumption first part is fairly accurate in my opinion.
However her last part reads like an add for " Super Boost" which is a
product for which the final verdict has not yet been made with most of us.

I am old school and still consider the wisdom of Andy N. when asked about
what to feed bees.

His reply was to feed the bees diesel fumes at a California national meeting
years ago!

Which means for those puzzled is to move the bees to locations of honey
flow and fresh pollen.

I have found bees without a honey flow are like a duck out of water. Sure
some honey and pollens are better than others but bees come alive when the
nets are pulled in Texas or Florida and within minutes you see fresh pollen
on the legs of bees. Always puts a smile on the migratory beekeepers face!
Cooped up in a hive all winter with only the hope of survival is not the
best way for bees to live in my opinion but is natures way for bees kept in
northern climates.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Missouri

 http://www.newstarget.com/022541.html
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