Brian asks:
Maybe someone can explain to me why we need to import bees from outside the
USA to replenish our dead outs?

Good question! One I believe I answererd in the April & May issues of the
American Bee journal but here goes the simple version on the Australian
import.

Commercial beekeepers are having trouble keeping hive numbers up right now
for almond pollination in California.  NO U.S. queen producer can provide
packages in *February*.

Kona Queen in Hawaii only sells queens and could gear up to do packages but
declined.

Canada has a similar problem due to cold weather Canada queens /packages
early are simply not possible so they import packages/queens. Have been for
over two decades from Australia without a problem except they did have a
chalkbrood problem in queens which seems to have been resolved by the
Australians through the use of new IMPORT INTO AUSTRALIA  BREEDER QUEENS.

Yes Canada got varroa & tracheal mites over the last two decades BUT NOT
from Australian imports! Australia remains varroa & tracheal mite free!

All the doom & gloom predicted for us because of the import did not happen
to the Canadians! Twenty years without a problem should be enough time to
trump the gloom & doomers!

The package bees we receive from Australia are not already infested with
varroa & tracheal mites like *some* are now in the U.S..

The end difference is a newly packaged hive which is below treatment
threshold in August. The other side of the coin is a U.S. package which is
over threshold and will not make it through the winter.

Brian said:
Perhaps I am missing some information but whats wrong with the
notion that the bee industry in  the USA  be focusd on fixing our own
problems rather then looking for a new supplier of packages and queens?

This has nothing to do with the bee industry. It is about commercial
beekeepers looking to keep the almond pollination going and bees in hives.
The import was the brainchild of a single beekeeper and his lawyer. A few
beekeepers had the guts to do the first import which proved its worth. Now
others are wanting onboard. Even the largest almond broker Joe Trayner.

Brian said:
For example I have been purchasing new world carniolan bees from a large
west coast breeder for years.

There is no change for the small beekeeper. Keep on buying your queens!

> However they are highly dependent on treatment for varorra. The breeders
website and bee journal ads mention little about any credible program or
research they are doing to propogate mite resistant bees.

I only know of three people doing serious research on a varroa tolerant bee.
Only one is a USDA lab (Baton Rouge).

I would like to quote from the final sentance on page 199 of the book "queen
rearing & Bee Breeding" by Laidlaw & page

" Instututional breeding programs at universities, and the USDA ,have never
succeded due,at least in part, to the failure of the bee industry to  adopt
the stocks they produced. If the beekeeping industry is not willing to pay
higher prices for selected stocks and/or is not willing to support stocks
produced by instututional stock improvement programs , THEN THE ONLY
ALTERNATIVE FOR THE FUTURE IS THE CONTINUED USE OF DANGEROUS AND EXPENSIVE
CHEMICALS"

The beekeeping industry reminds me of a drug addict. In 1987 they said they
would never put a chemical in a beehive! Now they think they can not survive
without a chemical in the beehive!

Brian said:
Maybe what we need instead of imports is a higher ethic or a
regulation requiring queen breeders selling in the USA to be doing
something about the mite problem instead of putting a queen in a
queen cage and charging $12.

Most sellers of queens are queen producers. They produce queens. If she lays
an egg in the cage she goes. You get what you pay for!

 The queen is the most important insect in the hive and you are crying about
spending twelve dollars? Probabbly what you would charge for a couple two
pound jars of honey!

Almond growers cry over the cost of a hive of bees for pollination but that
single hive will produce thousands of pounds of almonds . Top grade almonds
bring six dollars a pound over the internet! Without the hive for
pollination you get the in  red zone.

Do the math folks!

Brian said:
It appears to me that the solutions to the mite problem are within
reach but takes a regimented commitment to doing the work and
selectvely breeding a mite resistant bee.

We have got the bee already but the industry wants a new chemical! Sadly the
industry will have to settle for a 70% effective treatment. In a couple
years the use of a 70% treatment will become apparnet.

Brian said:
Of course this require a lot more effort then just shipping a queen to pay
the bills or importing bees to profit on the current situation.

All the queen producer has to do is buy the varroa tolerant breeder queens.
Raise queens and raise their prices to pay for the change. In business you
have to pass the new costs on to the consumer to be sustainable. Are you
willing to pay a higher price for a varroa tolerant queen? Queen producers
sell all they can produce now. Why switch?

Those importing are doing so for their own needs. Most care little about
what the rest of the industry thinks. I have tried to present an honest look
at the import in my articles. I will continue to do so in the next two
articles.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

Author of the two articles in the April & May American Bee Journal on the
import of Australian package bees into the U.S.

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