Well I went to the annual meeting of the Iowa Honey Producers
Association on Friday. I met quite a few fine beekeepers and also had
the opportunity to meet Allen Dick. He is as powerful, polite and mild
mannered in person as is his presence here and on other lists. It was a
great pleasure to meet him. He mentioned to me that he was going to be
speaking about the Lusby operation at the evening banquet, but
unfortunately I was not able to stay so late since I had a 3 hour drive
home. I hope that perhaps allen can forward me a transcript or recording
of what he talked about. We did have an informal hour to chit chat
though and also talk with my new neighbors here in iowa.

To Allen Dick and Dick Allen. Now that I have met Allen Dick, I will
never ever again get you two confused. Having a real meeting with Allen
provides all the association I need to remember who is who. :)

Some generalities I learned at the meeting were this, and they apply to
things we have discussed here on the list:

Even the usda beelabs aren't necessarily full of facts but as full of
opinions as we are here. USDA beelab experiments seem to be often not as
large scale as people here would like to think. They consist often as
few as 6-12 hives for an experiment. I am certain though this isn't
always the case and that some important or well funded experiments may
consist of several hundred hives.

Africanized Honey Bees are great bees with one and only one drawback.
They are mean as hell. Africanized honey bees also seem to be tempered
by climate. The lower and flatter and more (sub)tropical the area, the
meaner the bees. AHB in Highland areas (such as in the andes mountains),
although genetically are significantly africanized, they exhibit very
EHB like qualities and temperment and even become visibly
indistinguishable to EHB. The flat region of florida is a prime breeding
ground for african genes, and the AHB will likely become the dominant
bee in the region despite any efforts to prevent it. African bees are
too prolific to prevent their spread within suitable climates. It should
also be noted that the usda beelabs maintain some ahb colonies and they
are not treated for varroa at all, and yet remain their strongest and
most productive colonies with 2 or 3 times the production levels of
europeans. The bee labs keep african hives for a ready supply of varroa
mites since the colonies aren't treated and since the colonies remain
strong despite the varroa, they are able to farm clean healthy varroa
from these colonies for whatever they need them for.

Varroa Screens apparently aid the Small Hive Beetle and make it harder
for the bees to defend the hive from them, this could be important to
many people in SHB areas.


Scot Mc Pherson
McPherson Family Honey Farms

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---