With about 14 years active in the Long Island Beekeeper's Club, I've met a few bee-havers rather than bee-keepers. Many quit when mites came through. How knowledgable _must_ you be to be a bee-haver. Let me relate a story, true. A couple contacted the club. They had collected no honey from their bees that year where they had always gotten two supers for at least ten years. The bees were gone. There was a terrible mess, wax moth had destroyed everything. (not their conclusion, they didn't know what a wax moth was.) What had led up to this failure ? What treatments had they been using? They had bought the house about ten years earlier. A colony of bees were out back. The old owners told them - Here is the equipment. Every April take these two boxes out and put them on the hive. (bee suits and veils provided in the box) Every November, go out an dtake the boxes off. Here is the extractor. Just scratch off the cappings, extract the honey, and put the boxes in the unheated garage until april. Repeat each year. They had done this successfully for ten years until that November, there was no honey. Their questions: Would new bees move in by next year? Should they plant more more flowers? Why did they die? The bee-havers come and go. The bee-keepeers work, study, plan, and struggle to provide an edge for their bees to hang on against the latest threat, natural or economic. These insects are truely amazing but, as with any pet or farm animal, if we are keeping it, we have a responsibility to _take_care_of_it. We see TV coverage of the terrible conditions used to produce the meat we eat and the animal rights people are up in arms. Maybe we beekeepers should watch out. The next 20/20 may be on beekeepers who expose their bees to dangerous deseases with _no_protection_ or care. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Raymond J. Lackey, EAS Master Beekeeper, VP LIBA + + Twelve years exper with 25 colonies on Long Island, NY+ + INTERNET: [log in to unmask] + + Mail: 1260 Walnut Avenue, Bohemia NY 11617-2176 + + Home Phone: 516-567-1936 FAX: 516-262-8053 + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++