> Not to be argumentative, BUT (you knew there would be a 'but') -- if we
> accept that we have fired off all out best shots and the harshest, 
> nastiest chemicals are only marginally effective now, AND we note that 
> people are still trucking, could we not attribute some of that at least to 
> better bees?

Absolutely!

 Killing off the *dinks* is the best management tool going. Everybody on the 
list seems to think breeding from the best is the solution when since the 
start of commercial beekeeping commercial beekeepers always eliminate the 
*dinks*.

Once a *dink* always a *dink* my commercial beekeeping mentor used to say.

I have wanted to say the above for over a decade but felt giving away our 
utmost secret might cause hard feelings from my peers!

A hobby beekeeper keeps bees for pleasure and not profit. He can name each 
queen and keep a queen around for years.

To me each hive is a unit which costs me X amount of dollars a year to keep 
around. My sucrose feed costs per gallon are around 3.50 a gallon now. Meds, 
labor and trucking etc. all add in . The price of a queen is not the highest 
expense when considering the cost of maintaining a hive.

Tracheal mites when arrived culled the weak to the tune of half the bees in 
the U.S.

Varroa when arrived culled another half again.

commercial beeks have culled more hives over the last 20 years than both 
mites.

Hobby beeks rarely cull a hive. ( I mean no disrespect to the hobby 
beekeeper but only wish to point out the way beekeepers which make a living 
from bees look at bees, queens and hives)

bob 

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