Nebraska Beekeepers Association: Chemical Free Beekeeping Conference
November 21-23 of 2008 in Lincoln, Nebraska

Well, a week has passed since the heralded event and we have not had a
wrap-up by any of the participants.

* Michael Bush wrote this:

> Ramona Herboldsheimer had a lot of information that we needed to hear about microbes in the hive and so we allocated extra time for her. I had been aware of the concept but only as a few specifically well known (but usually ignored) relationships such as Chalkbrood fungus preventing EFB; stonebrood fungus preventing Nosema; and Yeasts and bacteria helping to digest the pollen. I had always figured the gut microbes helped with things like Nosema. But when she started talking about not only that these things were going on, but illustrating the extent of the importance of them to the day to day functioning of the hive, and not just their relationship to diseases, and the "heritability" of it being passed on to their swarms but how often those same beneficial microbes not being found in the hive next door, I had one of the paradigm shifts that disrupts your view of the world for a while. <snip> I need to get the references now and look up the studies.

* Good luck, I have been asking for them for weeks. I know I should
have been there. Dean told me I had no business talking about Chemical
Free Beekeeping unless I advocated going Cold Turkey, which is their
main thing. I wonder if they insisted that of Mike Palmer:

> This was followed by the down home wisdom and extensive experience of Michael Palmer sharing how he chooses and raises queens. His method of rearing is similar to, but more simplified than some I've heard and, if I get time to think it through and set it up, I'd like to try it this spring. He also reiterated the importance of locally adapted stock that can survive. His knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. Sunday we started the day with Michael Palmer presenting his method of overwintering nucs. It is a blessing to have his years of experiences as a head start to working out how to keep them here in our climate with our equipment. His presentation, as all of his were, was full of little "tips and tricks", down-home beekeeping wisdom and practical advice from out in the field. This was clearly a subject he strongly believes in, is very experienced with and one that Northern beekeepers need to get a grasp of.

* Michael Bush adds

> This was followed by a very compressed version of my "Lazy Beekeeping" presentation which, while not a presentation of my management methods per se, is a presentation of some isolated techniques and changes in equipment I've made, including no chemicals and no artificial feed, that have simplified my life and saved me a lot of work. I really wanted to get the point across that chemical free beekeeping is not harder, it's easier and simpler.

* Incidentally, I know Mike Palmer and I seriously doubt whether he
would call his technique lazy beekeeping. That guy works his tail off,
as do most of the NY and New England beekeepers I know. If they
thought there were an easier way to get things done, I am quite
certain that they would try it.

* I think it's time we all put our heads together and support the
effort to get off chemical treatments. I am all for it, but I don't
need to be instructed by greenhorns, especially ones who go on about
the virtues of "traditions", traditions we old-timers left behind a
long time ago. My point being, let's put our support behind the real
bright lights in Bee Research, like Marla Spivak. In the most recent
ABJ she writes:

 > We are interested in selecting diverse stocks of bees for hygienic
behavior first ... And we are interested in truth in advertising: We
want beekeepers to have some verification that the traits they are
paying for are actually present in the bees.

* My chief point being: I want to see chemical free beekeeping, but
based upon hard work and science, not superstition or laziness.

-- 
Peter L Borst
Danby, NY  USA
www.people.cornell.edu/pages/plb6

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