We had an interesting meeting of the Maine Beekeepers.

I searched for someone who did not treat and whose bees survive and could
not find anyone. One of the speakers, Mike Bush, said he did not treat and
it was because of 4.9 cell size. I believe he is in Nebraska and did
acknowledge that AHB were released in the west. Everyone else treated.

One thing that came out of listening to both the speakers and comments on
this list is an underlying reason that some have success that is not tied
to the bee itself (which always has been the solution to varroa control).
Splits and making nucs breaks the brood cycle and stops varroa from
reproducing. One speaker, who is a commercial pollinator, nuc seller and
migratory beekeeper noted that his colonies were in the same location as
another but his losses were less than 5% while the others colonies which
were right by his, were greater than 30%. During that time he was splitting
and making nucs to sell in Maine. Both treated but his colonies were much
more successful.

He is an exceptional beekeeper. I purchased bees from him and they are
excellent, so the reason for his success could be nothing but that he is
great beekeeper and breeds great bees (all races).

But there were posts on the list about non-treatment beekeepers who sell
nucs, which means breaks in the brood cycle and control of varroa. So is
their success because of splits and nucs? One wonders what will happen with
the bees if the recipients also do not treat?

The Carniolan bees I purchased had almost no varroa, and I did treat with
formic in August when the levels started a steep rise. Up to then the
levels were consistently low.

I do have a non-treatment beekeeper in the area who has never successfully
overwinter their bees but preaches natural beekeeping.

Tom Seeley attended our meeting. I asked him if he had ever looked into
investigating non-treatment operations to see what was going on, especially
if there were any common threads. He was interested in the idea. My guess
is that real success comes from the bee, as shown by Russians, but my guess
is that even the Russians would eventually fail with varroa, nosema and
virus pressure. Most successful non-treatment operations seem to be
isolated.

The biggest problem I have with non-treatment beekeeping is certifying the
truth of the statements. Anyone can say anything on the internet or even
books and be truthful or not. I know people who have visited the apiaries
of non-treatment beekeepers and they bring back a much different picture
than the claims on their websites. That has colored my view as I have seen
it personally.

Nothing much here, just observations from someone who really would like
never to treat. BTDT and it becomes expensive.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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