>Susan Nielsen writes:
>
>>    Beekeeping should be, in my opinion, not an excessive "industry", but
a
>>harmonious, scientifically based  "cooperation" between us and Nature.
>
>I think it is more than clear that if we fail to accommodate the bees,
>the bees will decline to accommodate us.
 
 
    The bees will be probably always "wild" things even if we like to think
that they are "domesticated".
 
    To "accommodate" the bees, if we want maximum "cooperation" and crops
from them we need to play under THEIR rules and not to:
 
    * "rob" them in excess of their so hardly obtained reserves (honey,
pollen, propolis etc.);
 
    * "poison" them, with or without our direct will; there are already
thousands of different pesticides, the air ad water is so polluted and what
are we doing? How do we help our bees to detox? By giving them more toxins
through aggressive medications, through smokers and so on...
 
    * "exploit" excessively their bodies through extra-biochemical works:
sugar processing, medications processing a.s.o.
 
    * "experiment" on them by mixing bees and queens from all over the world
in our apiary; remember how these human "gentle" experiments have brought to
us the "killer" bees; it is probably OK to read in the books, or see on TV
people killed by the feral AHB, but how will you think about these
experiments when, let's say you will have these colonies nesting in your
back yard?
 
    I am still of the opinion that we, human beings, are not yet so "mature"
to play with other living beings as we would like.
 
    Yes, I agree that we learn from mistakes, but these mistakes should be
done only by researchers, on small scales, and not by thousands of
beekeepers which thinks mainly to their pocket and not to their bees.
 
    "Bee-keeping" should not mean "bee-robing", "bee-poisoning",
"bee-exploiting", "bee-experimenting", isn't it my friends?
 
 
Stefan.