As a hobbyist I hesitated to post but this one really got to me.

Although I have read and admired Dr. Seeley's work, I am nettled that his observations have been labeled "a natural, non-treatment solution".

His observations (that colonies allowed to free swarm can have at least some success in some biozones in outrunning Varroa mite infestations) are not a solution. 

What bothers me in particular is the implication that running small, frequently swarming colonies spaced widely throughout the landscape is our *only* solution.

This puzzles me. We have oxalic and formic acids available as effective and relatively non-toxic remedies for Varroa infestation. And, with the promise of gene editing tools, we can aspire not only to short-circuiting the life cycle of Varroa, but of eradicating Varroa entirely (at least in honey bee colonies).

This is no time to give up and let Nature have her way. 

Quite apart from making almost all beekeeping expensive if not impossible, leaving the bees to work out their own fate in the wild would risk the entire bee genome: in most parts of Canada, the Great Frozen North, there are few if any feral colonies out there, certainly few enough that the long term survival of honey bees would be imperiled. 

We have some effective tools at hand to keep bees healthy and alive. We have more tools coming that may change the beekeeping landscape for the better. Let us keep working at that task, and keep working the bees.

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