Hello Allen & All,
 Allen said:
> I read an article by a wise old farmer in a farm paper once.  He said, 
> given a choice between a number of options including extremes, pick the 
> one in the middle every time.  You seldom go wrong that way.  Makes sense 
> to me.

The above might work in farming but in beekeeping when considering going to 
IPM and all you have to go on is claims made by the sellers I would suggest 
the beekeeper do as I have always done ( maybe on a much smaller scale than 
a 100 queens at a time)  and test the number of hives you can afford to 
lose.

I also NEVER by queens from only a single source. Even the most reliable 
queen producer can send you a batch of *dink* queens. Shipping is high for 
you buying a small number but go together with others in your club and each 
of you use a few from several queen producers.

I like to test the queens for which the claims are being made but for making 
money I will take a reasonable priced queen which is very prolific and 
hoards honey like crazy. Let me worry about the tracheal mites ( as my 
treatment costs run fifty cents a hive for T. mites) and controlling varroa.

Most commercial beekeepers ( except maybe Randy Oliver) buys whatever the 
latest fad queen is and still treats his/her bees.

I treat my bees. If I find sick or high mite load bees i treat and when I 
find a non productive Hive I put a hive tool to the queen and requeen with a 
productive hive.

My personal opinion:
I like Wootens , Heitkams and Wilbanks queens for three as the queens are 
prolific and produce barrels of honey.  All three select their breeder 
queens from the best production hives in their production yards of 4-6 
thousand hives. I might add that all three Italian lines  will need checking 
and treatment for varroa and all but possibly heitkams Italians need 
treatment for tracheal mites.

I certainly appreciate all the work which is being done on mite resistant 
bees etc. but If you plan on controlling problems why risk production?

I realize many will not agree but I honestly believe those commercial beeks 
on the list are nodding their heads in approval of what I said.

bob
 

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned 
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html