Personally, I like seeing the beekeeper traffic on BEE-L, but that is no big
suprise, as I am a hobby beekeeper, and not a research scientist.  As I have
mentioned on this list before, I think one of the big advantages of BEE-L is
the "cross-pollination" between the beekeepers and the researchers.  However,
if the traffic level really justifies it, then maybe the list should split in
two - one for the beekeepers, and one for the scientists.  I suspect that the
recent increase in traffic is primarily related to the season (more new
beekeepers discovering things that aren't in the books!)  I myself have
just discovered an unusual situation in my apiary - a noticable number of
wingless bees in a recently obtained nuc, with many bees dieing as they
emerge.  My first guess was that the deformation was due to varroa infestation,
but I was unable to find any by visual inspection of drone brood......
Any thoughts, comments would be   welcome!
 
Rick Hough, a hobby beekeeper (3 years, 10 hives)
Hamilton, MA, (just a bit NE of Boston)
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