Hi to All on BEE-L

Peter Borst wrote:
Could you please explain how you arrived at these figures?
And also, what do you mean by "commercial"? Isn't a
commercial beekeeper anyone who *sells* honey? There are
thousands of such people in the USA.

Reply:
I keep files and figures from the USDA Statistical
Reporting Service and State Departments of Agric and follow
them and their changes trends over the decades.

As for what do I mean by 'commercial'.....Well the
definition for commercial and hobbyist are:

Commercial: One who operates sufficiently large number of
colonies so that his entire time is devoted to beekeeping.

Hobbyist: One who keeps bees for pleasure or occasional
income.

Always thought it was broken out this way for reporting:
Hobbyist 1-49
Sideliner 50-299
Commercial 300 - up

Peter also wrote:
Could you explain what you mean by *complex hybrid*? Then,
perhaps,we can determine if they occur in "nature".

Reply:
Well, like a complex mongrel, they are obtained by the
crossing of three or more strains/races. We need to peel
away the layers, expecially for those combined of more then
4+ and get back to working with simple hybrids as is broken
out in Nature.

Peter wrote:
 In fact, in this area there are no wild honeybees (Apis).

Reply:
I rather doubt that if really looked into for someone
wanting to work bees. I do not believe your blanket
statment is correct IMPOV. Doesn't work that way in the
real world.

Regards,

Dee A. Lusby








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