In a message dated 07/01/2010 15:56:26 GMT Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> Beekeepers must learn the cardinal rule of husbandry: put best to best
and
> eliminate the weak. Selective breeding must occur in every generation,
or
> increasing weakness will continue. The 'medical' model of beekeeping is
> quite simply misbegotten, unviable.
>
>>I would contend that there is a big difference between growing your own
at
home and moving bees from place to place for pollination. You can practice
good husbandry in both fields but success will only come from keeping your
bees isolated, hence you will have problems with pollination even if all
are
great at adapting their bees to their location, which, with commercial
pollinators can be from just about anywhere in the US.
So you can have perfect adaptation and healthy bees that die off at the
drop of a hat when exposed
to all those from away "adapted" bees.
[...]
This is true for most systems, so we can have a continual discussion about
how healthy our bees are in our back yard, but have no idea how they will
do
out "in the real world" of commercial pollination and multiple pathogens.<<
[...]
I agree with much of this, but... bees that have no defence against i.e.
varroa will be vulnerable wherever they are, and will spread their
vulnerable genes wherever they go. All else being equal, keepers of well-bred bees
will have a definite advantage wherever they are and wherever they go.
Those people who do not move their bees around can take full advantage of
selective husbandry to strengthen their bees against all the local varieties
of pests and diseases - and most of that will also work in other places.
>>You cannot adapt to everything, otherwise we would be hip deep in
dinosaurs.<<
Not knee deep, but the birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs, and they
are still around. And bees have survived a long long time. If we stopped
actively undermining their normally very effective natural
health-maintenance system they'd be in a lot better shape.
You may not know... here in the UK we look at your large scale migratory
practices with disbelief. It might be profitable, but from our point of
view its far from natural and pretty much invites regular disaster. Your
'real world' is unreal for us. The general sense of horror seems to be shared
by a lot of your fellow citizens. Bees are built for a local environment,
and very slow migration, and lots of artificial movement, and the
management systems required are deeply unnatural, and certainly a large part of
your (greater) problem.
Mike Bispham
UK
Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine
http://www.suttonjoinery.co.uk/CCD/
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