With about 14 years active in the Long Island Beekeeper's Club, I've met
a few bee-havers rather than bee-keepers.  Many quit when mites came through.
How knowledgable _must_ you be to be a bee-haver.  Let me relate a story, true.
A couple contacted the club.  They had collected no honey from their bees
that year where they had always gotten two supers for at least ten years.
The bees were gone.  There was a terrible mess, wax moth had destroyed
everything. (not their conclusion, they didn't know what a wax moth was.)
What had led up to this failure ?  What treatments had they been using?
 
They had bought the house about ten years earlier.  A colony of bees were
out back.  The old owners told them - Here is the equipment.  Every April
take these two boxes out and put them on the hive.  (bee suits and veils
provided in the box) Every November, go out an dtake the boxes off.  Here is
the extractor. Just scratch off the cappings, extract the honey, and put
the boxes in the unheated garage until april.  Repeat each year.  They had
done this successfully for ten years until that November, there was no honey.
 
Their questions: Would new bees move in by next year?  Should they plant more
more flowers?  Why did they die?
 
The bee-havers come and go.  The bee-keepeers work, study, plan, and
struggle to provide an edge for their bees to hang on against the latest
threat, natural or economic.  These insects are truely amazing but, as
with any pet or farm animal, if we are keeping it, we have a responsibility
to _take_care_of_it.  We see TV coverage of the terrible conditions used
to produce the meat we eat and the animal rights people are up in arms.
Maybe we beekeepers should watch out.  The next 20/20 may be on beekeepers
who expose their bees to dangerous deseases with _no_protection_ or care.
 
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+    Raymond J. Lackey, EAS Master Beekeeper, VP LIBA      +
+    Twelve years exper with 25 colonies on Long Island, NY+
+    INTERNET: [log in to unmask]                       +
+    Mail: 1260 Walnut Avenue, Bohemia NY 11617-2176       +
+    Home Phone: 516-567-1936  FAX: 516-262-8053           +
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