Randy >I'd be bothered by beekeepers who purchase commercial bee stock and then neglect them, flooding my healthy colonies with their mites.<

My bad for making sweeping statements.  Some weeks ago, I responded to the assertion that TF was declining in the USA.  
Most of us aspire to TF, but in production agriculture, we need some combination of BMPs and IPM.  Somehow, the pest management has lost 'Integrated'.   Randy may be TF, but he's using BPMs and IPM.   It's the rise of local and regional associations that are preaching unmanaged TF and NB, and who often (mistakenly, I think), cite Tom Seeley as their source of information, that I object to.

The rise of Tom Seeley among the TF and Natural Beekeepers (NB)  is based, in my opinion, on several misinterpretations of his work.  I highly respect Seeley and his work.  Unfortunately, his papers seem to have spurred a new cult of TF people who personify the approach that bothers Randy and myself.   That attitude is a factor driving people to our UM Online Beekeeping program - local associations preaching unmanaged beekeeping under the guise of TF or NB.   This is so much a problem, that beekeepers who want a more informed approach, are hungry for courses and mentors who follow fact-based and practical experience-based bee management.

 As Bill said, if asked whether his feral bees in the Arnold Forest will survive elsewhere, Seeley will likely say no.

Scott Debnam at UM, has worked for me for over 20 years, is a co-instructor for our Online Beekeeping courses, and is in his final year of finishing his Ph.D. at UM.   Scott decided that if TF and NB folks are to succeed, that they should have some guidance.  TF doesn't mean unmonitored nor unmanaged bees.

Scott decided to offer a Natural Beekeeping course.  I was happy to let him do so. 

I don't have the patience for this.

Like Randy, I aspire to TF; I am from an agricultural background.   Profit margins are small, pollination requirements for critical crops are huge, and the idea that I keep encountering among many TF and NB beekeepers is - Save the Bees (that don't need saving), Buy bees (from anyone, anywhere), Put them in a box (Natural is an oxymoron unless you are keeping them in natural tree hollows), FEED, FEED, FEED, until they Swarm, and the swarms will re-populate the world with bees!!! 

I'm not making this up.  I can cite associations, individuals, who advocate this approach.  Not only do they advocate it, but they shout down anyone in their local associations who disagrees.  Some of these zealots feel like they need to tell me how wrong-headed I am.  For example, a new beekeeper buys a package of bees.  It rains for several weeks after hiving the package.  The bees are starving.  The beekeeper asks on social media - what should I do?  I mistakenly say - feed them.  And the TF and NB folks come out enmass to declare that any feeding is bad!!!   So I'm to assume, that if we let the bees starve, that if this happens enough times, we will end up with bees that don't need food?

It's like the old farmer who decided to wean his horse off of food.  Each day, he fed it a little less.  At the local diner, he was bragging about his approach,  that he had finally managed to stop feeding the horse.  Of course, everyone was astonished, congratulated him on his success.  He happily accepted their praise.  Then, he looked a bit sad and said:  Yep, I no longer had to feed him.  Unfortunately, he died before I could breed anymore.

About the time that Scott was considering putting togeter a NB course, Tom Seeley visited UM.  Tom was generous with his time and expertise, helping Scott to develop a syllabus and the course.

This course appears to be immensely popular.   It's been an eye-opener to me.  There are TF and NB folks who actually want to manage their bees, improve their health, and not flood the world with swarms carrying mites and bee diseases!  I can support that approach, but I do not have Scott's patience for dealing with the 'let bees be bees' at all costs.


Frankly, I'm am an old dog.  I started my career in Environmental Studies, pollution monitoring; so I'm all for reducing chemicals in the environment, my food, our beehives, etc. But, as an Entomologist, I was trained in IPM.  When things go south, what are you going to do?  

Jerry
In the UM course, 

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