Bill Truesdell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Since the Formic Acid issue seems to be "harm to the bee", I can only say 
that if Formic kills some bees (it
>does) harms some drone (it does) but does so in the less than 10% range 

Hello Bill,

Not to get involved here, but Just thought I’d express some of my thoughts 
on the matter.

When following assessments of feral swarms from ‘colony initiation’, 
till ‘colony maturity’. (Setting aside for a moment, the obvious duds and 
failure to thrive);  I am seeing perhaps a level of performance differing 
as little as 5%, is usually all that separates the keepers from the 
colonies that need culled, OR winter survivors from winter mortalities.

When you consider a colony performing 5% better ‘at all levels’ from 
colony initiation in May.  And you factor in the all ‘compounding 
interest’ (so to speak) across all levels of colony functions.   A colony 
performing at 5% higher than others, IMO, could easily be twice as strong 
as the colony performing only a few percentage points lower by the end of 
the season, this especially noticeable during poor seasons.   

So in short, it is of my belief, that you need NOT do "harm to the 
bee",  “kill bees”, or be able to detect any noticeable harm, in order to 
cause mortality.  

All that is needed, is to hinder the colonies ability to perform less than 
what it is capable of, and the potential is there to cause colony death 
when an environmental stress or two are added.  
My two cents.

Best Wishes,
Joe

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