Peter Dillon wrote:

> As a group of individuals, we are good at forming groups for this, that
> and the other - why not medication practice.

Peter,
One other problem is we really do not know everyone in an area who keeps
bees. You are supposed to register your bees, but in Maine it is
estimated that there were two to five times the number of beekeepers
than those registered. So you can have a program but not include
everyone anyway. (That number is probably closer to two or three now.)

Plus, we have over 60,000 hives visit us every summer bringing all the
new and exciting problems from around the country. And they do swarm.

From a practical point of view, nature has a way of fixing the problem.
Many beekeepers in my area no longer keep bees because they lost them to
Varroa or other problems and it became a chore and not a "no effort"
hobby. So natural selection is at work with both beekeepers and bees.
And those of us who are left tend to treat about the same time anyway.
So with no program we have a program.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine