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Date: | Sun, 20 Dec 2020 14:03:35 -0500 |
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>Where do we draw the line between animal neglect and "treatment free"
beekeeping?
>for most of us varroa are by far the single biggest issue we deal with in terms of survival.
There is no line! Treatment free = neglect. Treatment free beekeeping is not beekeeping it is bee having, and you won't be having bees long. Some arguments that TF's use.
They are promoting development of resistant strains. Wrong. Only the queens genetics define resistance. Developing resistant queens is a difficult and noble endeavor and should be supported. Some progress is being made but not by hap-hazard neglect. Allowing susceptible colonys to slowly die does nothing to speed that cause, hinders it in fact.
They don't want to use "CHEMICALS". We live in a chemical world. Powdered sugar is a chemical, coumaphos is a chemical. As are water and oxygen. Some are more benign then others and it is the task of the beekeeper to choose an effective treatment that does the least harm. There are mechanical colony management methods that can be effective with diligent effort but they are also treatments and not easy.
My bees don't have mites because I don't see any. Wrong. Your bees do have mites, almost certainly. If you do proper sampling (methods well known and readily available) and find no mites in late summer you are in very select company. Propagate that queen line and win worldwide acclaim with my compliments.
When we talk about treatment free it usually means varroa treatment. For those in the few places in the world not yet infected, count your blessings. Basic animal husbandry by definition requires treatments. Nutrition, housing, population management and healthcare are all treatments and in our case add up to what we call beekeeping. If you do not want to treat don't keep bees, or any other animal for that matter. The world will be better for it.
Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA
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