Maybee I'm missing something here but I see no data at all. I do see unfounded opinions and conclusions and some name dropping. I wonder what conclusions Dr. Ericson came to? I wonder why feral colonies that surely build "natural" comb die from infections of AFB, T-mite, and especially varroa mite? I wonder what proof Ms. Lusby has that tracheal mites existed on North America before 1983? I wonder on what data the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 estimate is based on? I wonder who those numbers down at the bottom are suposed to impress? Newbees beware. Robert E Butcher wrote: > > I believe it mite bee easier if I just typed it out, so here goes. > > Robert > > This is from The A BJ pages 837 and 838,test results on small comb 4.9. > > ARIZONA BEEKEEPER BELIEVES SMALLER SIZE CELL DIAMETER IS THE ANSWER TO > MITE PROBLEMS. > On 11Sept. Dr. Eric H. Erickson, the director of theCarl Hayden > Bee Research Facility in Tucson, Arizona, went with us to two bee > locations, in unisolated areas, to test for both tracheal mites and > varroa mites. Samples taken in the center of the brood nest also > contained drones where possible. We choose unisolated locations because > we wanted to show him, to beat the problem, one must be able to > accomplish business as normal in doing bee management within the field. > Please note that beekeepers around us have severely lost bees, as we > ourselves have, to both mites over the years. When taken, several > adjacent yards within 2 miles were being treated, crashing, or being fed > to keep them alive.Our bees were building; and the Carmen yard were very > fast drawing new foundation. > > We began putting the 4.9 cm cell size in hives in May. We did a > second round the end of June and did a third round ending Labor Day. The > Carmen yard we took samples from was worked Labor Day along with the > Knight location. The Carmen yard had been drawing wax and averaged4-8 or > more frames per colony drawn. A few colonies had a full box (10 frames) > drawn.The Knight location had less than 3 frames drawn on average and > most brood laying was on 5.0 cm comb. Both yards still had 2-3 (3-Carmen > 2-Knight) one super hives (nucs) still laying on the larger Durigilt that > refused to change. Note these one super hives are now dead,not having > survived through to mid October. So much for Duragilt(5.44). > > With smaller 4.9 cm comb which is still bigger than the 4.83 cm > comb this country was founded on in the Southern latitudes,(Northern > latitudes were founded on 4.9 cm to 5.0 cm sizes),we are now gettingour > varroa populations down to field tolerant coexistant levels so we can > mimic natural environment living conditions. Tracheal mite levels are > down there also, having regulated the mite back to external Vagan status, > as was the norm conditionaround 1917 in our country, before we > artificially mutated the bee's thorax and breathing tube bigger on the > thorax to create a parasite problem. At 0-6% tracheal mites, bees have > no problem coexisting. At10-11%, varroa mites are on the cuff for > trouble. In Southern ;atitudes in times of plenty they do fine; in times > of dearth the bees do poorly and both requireconstant management to > control secondary diseases.That is on 5.0 cm size comb.At 0-7% varroa > mites, changing to 4.9 cmcomb sizing, bees draw wax well and hives > nolonger require constant management to control secondary > diseases.Business is back to normal for management in the field.We hope > to cut percentages again this coming year 1998 as brood nests are > continued with 4.9 cm comb and all frames converted in our broodnests. > > This shows breeding is not all the solution. We figure comb is > 1/3, diet is 1/3 and breeding is 1/3. Comb must be put in by half (5) to > full boxes to work. > > Dee Lusby > > Tucson Az. > > HONEY BEE PARASITES FROM CARMEN > > VARROA MITES > Colony # # Bees # Varroa # Varroa/100 Bees > A 175 34 > 19.43 > B 186 30 > 16.13 > C 161 39 > 24.22 > D 186 5 > 2.69 > E 157 7 > 4.46 > F 183 13 > 6.99 > G 169 13 > 7.70 > H 148 5 > 3.38 > I 187 2 > 1.07 > J 149 6 > 4.03 > K 185 5 > 2.70 > L 164 7 > 4.27 > M 188 7 > 3.72 > N 156 5 > 3.21 > P 163 8 > 4.91 > Q 179 17 > 9.50 > ____________________________________________ > TRACHEAL MITESIN30 BEES > > Colony # # Tracheal Mites % Tracheal Mites > A 0 > 0.00 > B 0 > 0.00 > C 0 > 0.00 > D 0 > 0.00 > E 1 > 3.33 > F 0 > 0.00 > G 1 > 3.33 > H 0 > 0.00 > I 1 > 3.33 > J 7 > 23.33 > K 0 > 0.00 > L 1 > 3.33 > M 1 > 3.33 > N 1 > 3.33 > P 0 > 0.00 > Q 2 > 6.67 > > _______________________________________________________ > > HONEY BEE PARASITES FROM KNIGHT > > VARROA MITES > Colony # # Bees # Varroa # > Varroa/100Bees > A 165 1 > 0.61 > B 186 15 > 8.06 > C 142 13 > 9.15 > D 177 18 > 10.17 > E 168 21 > 12.50 > F 184 23 > 12.50 > G 171 26 > 15.20 > H 186 9 > 4.84 > I 181 53 > 29.28 > J 200 8 > 4.00 > K 189 19 > 10.05 > L 182 4 > 2.20 > M 175 23 > 13.14 > ______________________________________________________ > TRACHEAL MITES/30 BEES > Colony # # Tracheal Mites % Tracheal Mites > A 2 > 6.67 > B 3 > 10.00 > C 0 > 0.00 > D 0 > 0.00 > E 0 > 0.00 > F 0 > 0.00 > G 5 > 16.67 > H 8 > 26.67 > I 0 > 0.00 > J 4 > 13.33 > K 2 > 6.67 > L 1 > 3.33 > M 1 > 3.33 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > _____________________________________________________________________ > You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. > Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com > Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]