On 13 Jun 2003 at 8:21, Lloyd Spear wrote:

> Why do almost all commercial operations still use terra.
> prophylactically?  Because they are afraid of being infected by 'someone
> else'?  Get real...the 'someone else' is themselves!  By using terra.
> prophylactically the disease has been masked (not cured) but is still
> widespread.

   When did you see scale in a commercial operation?  Betcha it
was a few years back. Is the outfit still in business?

   I could easily name a dozen outfits that HAD scale that they
overrode with sulfa and terra in the past. But thy aren't in business
today.  And I know a couple that finally realized that to survive,
they must burn scale, so they did...and they survived.

   I AM real, Lloyd. I'm also up-to-date.  To find scale in a current
migratory operation would be the exception.  Go visit some of the
migratories TODAY, Lloyd.

>Before I get accused of anything further, let me reiterate:

   You were the one making accusations, Lloyd. I hate that smaller
beekeepers find migratories a convenient target. And many of
them are so busy that they don't have time to go to a lot of bee
meetings, so they don't have much defense against the nonsense
that is thrown around.

  I personally know many of the US east coast migratories and they
are among the best beekeepers in the world. -And with the cleanest
operations.  Most of them don't like the migratory life, but find that
it is necessary to make their beekeeping a viable business. Many
of them bend over backwards to help hobby beekeepers, and do all
they can to keep from stepping on other beekeepers' toes, yet
every problem beekeeping has, somehow winds up being the fault
of the migratories.

>1.  I have personally seen considerable scale in hives belong to
>commercial beekeepers and was told "we can't quarantine/burn all
>hives with scale or we would put commercial beekeepers out of
>business".

>2.  I do not have sufficient exposure to large numbers of
>commercial beekeepers to let me form an opinion of whether the
>preceding quote is accurate.

   So why did you make the ridiculous accusation?  Let's stop this.
We all need each other.


Dave Green,  SC  USA
The Pollination Home Page:  http://pollinator.com

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::