Ahoy, George:

Am I glad to hear from you again, George, and I thank you for taking your
time to reply to my meager rumination.  Of course, young queens, as you
put it, “glue” the colony against swarming a whole lot better; in fact,
there is no better joy, I must confess, than watching the vigor of a
colony led by a young queen, come nectar flow in the spring.  It looks as
though there is an aerial conveyer belt, of field bees, that stretches
from the floral sources to the hive, and the whole yard is a-buzz!

In an attempt to channel the inborn nature of bees rather than bending it,
however, I was merely questioning, as you have already read in my previous
postings, the automatic requeening process, as you profess to do.  George,
times do change, as you put it, and so must we.  It would not hurt for us
conscientious beekeepers, regardless of our size, to turn every stone in
the nook and in the book to fight against the VD, the only major enemy in
the south: I can say, on the record, that my bees have never suffered from
Nosema, AFB, Chalbrood, or whatever but VD.

As per your comment regarding the “interracial marriage,” my bees have
been, over the years, changing from Carniolan dark to Italian leather-
yellow, probably because the feral population is almost all Italian.  I
believe Allen, at one point, had observed the same although we seem to
keep both races.  I really appreciated Allen’s balanced observation on
this massive requeening practice.  This sort of discussion, or any
discussion on Bee-L for that matter, tends to pit hobbyists against
commercial operators with few sideliners thrown in between.  Murray’s
point “the might is always right” typifies such diatribe.  When a “Big
Boy” throws in his number (35,000) on the table of bee discussion, the
hobbyists wet their pants.  Not me.  Remember under the Nazis, nearly 100%
Germans believed in one truth and it ain’t right.

As we honor local mentors, I believe localized stocks are better than any
breeder’s stock thousands of miles away.  I first hand observed feral-
capture colonies [Italian] work earlier under colder conditions than
Carnies although Carnies are known for that with longer wing span, being
hardier, coming originally from mountainous regions.  Come next swarm
season, George, ask your students to help you capture a few feral
bees/swarms and set them in an isolated yard and do a little experiment of
every kind in the book.  What are ten colonies of feral bees when you have
a lot more?  Given your scientific background and meticulous record-
keeping, your observations will be invaluable for many, for I know you do
not work for any special interests.  Even better, given your life-long
crusade for good beekeeping and blunt content of character, you would not,
I know, give a damn.

At one point, we all must “unlearn” what we have learned.  Unlearning, I
believe, is the last step in the learning process.  I too challenge you to
help us by keeping a feral yard.

Tonight we had this year’s first snow, as the mercury plunges down to
20’s.  I hope Montgomery County keeps the temp cold for your bees and yet
warm for your comfort, if that is possible.  George, take a good care of
yourself, and keep talking.

Yoon

You are right on the money about the interracial marriage: I should know,
for I married a foreign bride.

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