In a message dated 99-02-13 07:58:48 EST, [log in to unmask] (Stefan Stangaciu)
wrote:
 
(blaming sugar feeding)
 
<< most of the industrial beekeepers which loose up to 60% of
 their colonies during wintering?
  (snip)
         Your bees can survive as well with good, natural honey as they did
 in the last 50 millions years. >>
 
     Well the winter losses of the bee trees (before varroa) ran over 60%, and
they didn't have any sugar feeding to blame. The trees are resupplied with
swarms each spring from beekeepers. So the wild population was declining
before varroa; now, for all practical purposes, wild bees just cannot survive
without human help.
 
   The only year I ever had that kind of winter loss was the first year with
tracheal mites.  Most years my loss is much less.
 
   I put my observations and experience up against what Stefan says, and it
just doesn't compute. He's saying that sugar or corn syrup will damage the
bees.
 
   When a novice beekeeper strongly advocates something that goes against all
my previous experience, and that of my friends who have kept bees even longer
than myself, it can only mean that he has a God-like assurance of being right,
or a quite-human arrogance.
 
   On the grounds that maybe God was speaking to me, I went to check some bees
that got a couple gallons of corn syrup last week. I wanted to see if they
were feeble and emaciated (I sure don't want to exploit or abuse my little
charges!).
 
   Well now, they looked strong and healthy. The bees looked clean and smelled
good. They are rapidly filling out the boxes. Some look almost swarmy.
 
    The thing that really got me though was: EVERY BEE WAS SMILING!
 
    It appears to me that a little sugar at the right time, not only prevents
starvation, but actually improves their health!   I know from long experience
that a busy bee is a happy bee, and an idle bee is an ornery bee. Perhaps this
says something about how well they feel. If they stay idle for a long time,
they get greasy looking, and begin to smell sour.
 
    Well, I still could be wrong, according to my observations, so I ran
Sefan's ideas past my banker and some of my creditors, and they all thought it
better that I continue to use the collective wisdom, until Stefan comes up
with more solid proof than his shooting from the hip.
 
    I can't say anything bad about the Master Beekeeper program, but one
commercial beekeeper, whose expertise I greatly respect, thinks it is a joke.
The test of a Master Beekeeper, he says, is to make your living from the bees.
 
   So, Dr. Stefan Stangaciu, I challenge you to show me that your ideas can be
put into a workable, sustainable, profitable, system of gaining your
livelihood from the bees (IN TODAY'S CONDITIONS, not some rosy-colored
memories of a bygone era), then you'll get my attention and a lot more
respect. Right now, you have offered nothing but opinion, and it comes out 180
degrees from the collective experience of those who make their living from the
bees, so it doesn't wash.
 
 
Dave Green   SC  USA
The Pollination Home Page   http://www.pollinator.com
The Pollination Scene   http://members.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
 
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop on the Internet  (honey & beeswax candles)
http://members.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm