In a message dated 07/01/2010 15:56:26 GMT Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > Beekeepers must learn the cardinal rule of husbandry: put best to best and > eliminate the weak. Selective breeding must occur in every generation, or > increasing weakness will continue. The 'medical' model of beekeeping is > quite simply misbegotten, unviable. > >>I would contend that there is a big difference between growing your own at home and moving bees from place to place for pollination. You can practice good husbandry in both fields but success will only come from keeping your bees isolated, hence you will have problems with pollination even if all are great at adapting their bees to their location, which, with commercial pollinators can be from just about anywhere in the US. So you can have perfect adaptation and healthy bees that die off at the drop of a hat when exposed to all those from away "adapted" bees. [...] This is true for most systems, so we can have a continual discussion about how healthy our bees are in our back yard, but have no idea how they will do out "in the real world" of commercial pollination and multiple pathogens.<< [...] I agree with much of this, but... bees that have no defence against i.e. varroa will be vulnerable wherever they are, and will spread their vulnerable genes wherever they go. All else being equal, keepers of well-bred bees will have a definite advantage wherever they are and wherever they go. Those people who do not move their bees around can take full advantage of selective husbandry to strengthen their bees against all the local varieties of pests and diseases - and most of that will also work in other places. >>You cannot adapt to everything, otherwise we would be hip deep in dinosaurs.<< Not knee deep, but the birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs, and they are still around. And bees have survived a long long time. If we stopped actively undermining their normally very effective natural health-maintenance system they'd be in a lot better shape. You may not know... here in the UK we look at your large scale migratory practices with disbelief. It might be profitable, but from our point of view its far from natural and pretty much invites regular disaster. Your 'real world' is unreal for us. The general sense of horror seems to be shared by a lot of your fellow citizens. Bees are built for a local environment, and very slow migration, and lots of artificial movement, and the management systems required are deeply unnatural, and certainly a large part of your (greater) problem. Mike Bispham UK Bill Truesdell Bath, Maine http://www.suttonjoinery.co.uk/CCD/ *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Access BEE-L directly at: http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L