I just signed up on BEE-L today after being away for about 4 years.   I
spent the afternoon in the archives, and I am amazed to see current
discussions of Apistan and other chemical controls so prevalent still.  I
thought this topic was a dead end several years ago.

When I was a kid back in the 50s and 60s we thought chemistry and
technology would soon solve ALL of our problems.  By now we should have
learned that it just ain't so.  We have to learn how to resume our place as
intelligent participants in the natural order.   Among other things, that
means accepting our temporary losses as the cost of adaptation, and being
smart (and patient) about how to participate in that adaptation.

In my case, I have spent a lot of money, time, and energy on resistant
queens and screened bottom boards, and endured many colony losses, but I am
beginning to find that the bees that survive are strong and hardy, even
with background varroa populations present.  I'm also finding a lot of
feral colonies in my area again as well.   I stopped using chemical
treatments for mites about the time I unsubscribed from BEE-L 4 years ago.

  I'm a hobbyist, so it's easier for me to do this than if I had 2000 hives
and a full time income to protect, so I don't want to come off as too
critical of those of you who are trying desperately to make ends meet.  But
for those of you who can afford to take some blows to the chin and get back
up, it will help us all if you contribute to the hardiness of EHB by
striving for resistance rather than subjecting yourselves and your bees to
short-term fixes that ultimately only compromise your bees and strengthen
the mites.   As hobbyists, we have a unique opportunity to contribute to
this adaptive effort because we are not so much under the gun as the
commercial guys.
Michael
Cambria, California

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