> This is almost surreal and makes me wonder if the authors have ever even tried to keep a single hive of bees.  

That is exactly what I thought. It reads as a compilation of everything they could possibly find out by reading. But one of the authors, Claudia Garrido, has an interesting resume, so I went to her website. She has a blog and discusses DARWINIAN BEEKEEPING. She says, among other things ...

To be honest, I was somewhat disappointed and at moments really shocked while listening to Tom Seeley’s keynote at the 46th Apimondia at Montreal.  ... what made me nearly jump up from my chair was the recommendation not to treat against the varroa mite. No. Big NO. Let me explain. First of all, this may come from my European background: here we have an obligation to treat against Varroa destructor. Of course, also in Europe, not all beekeepers do so and I spent a huge portion of the past 25 years to explain them why they should. 

To be fair, Seeley also recommends to kill or treat heavily infested colonies to avoid what he calls “mite bombs”. But this isn’t enough. Something I tell beekeepers over and over again is “when you see the varroa mite, it’s too late!”. This is because of the exponential increase of the infestation over time: when you see mites on the worker bees, the infestation is already extremely high. At that point, stronger colonies already robbed them.

This was the part that shocked me: Seeley is American, honey bees aren’t native there. On the other hand, the USA has a large diversity of native bees which could be at risk by Darwinian beekeeping. I find this quite short-sighted, to be honest. This isn’t Darwinian, it’s arbitrarily choosing some traits that are convenient for beekeepers. In the end, human interest wins, not natural selection. 

Beekeeping isn’t natural, even in areas where honey bees are native. Beekeepers manipulate the colonies, they have to. Speaking of honey bee health we have to include all beekeepers, those who just want a few jars of honey for themselves and those who live from their colonies. We achieve this by establishing good management practices, by developing standards for honey bee welfare and by including managed honey bees in the One Health concept. Darwinian beekeeping, in my modest opinion, isn’t the way to go.

https://www.bee-safe.eu/articles/bee-thoughts/darwinian-beekeeping-welfare/

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