Hi Dick, > "Natural nutrition" caught my eye. I presume that to mean no substitute pollen patties. How do you do that? Collect and freeze pollen? Feed it back? > To me natural nutrition means no feeding at all. To some it means no feeding artificial. I feel if a person feeds they are enabling non-acclimated strains of bees and making them dependent on a keeper and his/her methods of feeding. If bees are acclimatized to a region/location their will be plenty of honey and pollen in the hive to start brooding on time in the spring. If there is not then nature will eliminate the bad genetics, or you as a beekeeper can requeen with a more acclimated strain with a queen reared from your own apiary. > I've been reading this and other lists for years.(Only just started talking) I have never in 5 years had a harsh chemical in my hives. Last year I began with O/A. I have followed your opinions and usually like them. I think today though you are throwing the baby out with the bath water. I actually felt the same as you once. I faulted this list for being skeptical of FGMO. After 3 years I am now skeptical also. I wish I had listened. I passed out a lot of small cell this (and last) year. Usually the bees (Packages) drew out drone comb. I'll keep at it. I'm becoming skeptical. > I am not skeptical on using a natural cell size, I now use a combination of frames that use no foundation, starter strips or full sheets of SCF. I am highly skeptical about using these neurotoxins in the hive and other absolutely foreign substances in the hive in a very unnatural fashion. I will stand by my statements I made to Bee-L but will not argue my stance on Bee-L. Even though I may get some positive feed back others will continue to discredit me with their own personal opinions and then the conversation merely degrades. I could not help myself when someone makes a dumb statement like "their bees all died" or "all their bees died" When this is simply not the case. . .. Keith Malone, Chugiak, Alaska USA, http://www.cer.org/, c(((([ , Apiarian, http://takeoff.to/alaskahoney/, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akbeekeepers/ , http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Norlandbeekeepers/ , http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ApiarianBreedersGuild/ :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::