> I know you are on record as a proponent of annual (or biannual) prophylactic antibiotic application...

This is false. I don't do this and I don't recommend it to anyone unless they are having a problem with AFB in their apiary or there are cases in the immediate vicinity. 

I understand the objection to using antibiotics, respect that objection and encourage close monitoring and eradication as the alternative. 

On the other hand, there is anecdotal evidence that the feeding of terramycin to colonies has a stimulating effect, so I understand the motivation in wanting to improve the well being of colonies in this way, if it works. 



> and you are also on record as not wanting to be responsible for anything you said more than a week or a month ago.  

This is a discussion group. We are not writing the Gospel here. Even the Gospel varies from book to book. What we are trying to get at here is the Big Picture. I encourage multiple points of view, diverging perspectives, etc in others and also, in myself. It is easy to sit at a fixed vantage point and describe the world from there. It's harder to maintain a more "universal" POV. 



> To quote Tom Robbins, "What is it you think you know?"

Now, this could take a long time, but instead I will be brief. There are multiple ways of knowing and I will describe three. 

One, we know our own unique world, since everything we think we know is assembled by our brain using our sensory inputs and nervous system. Each person will perceive the world entirely differently, as has been borne out by studying the reports of eye witnesses, who rarely see anything exactly the same. 

Two, we have the assembled knowledge which we share, and each of us knows to some extent. That is the main thing I attempt to share in this forum, what we know now, collectively, as the human race. Thus changes constantly and is not the same as it was a week or a month ago. 

Three, what we know how to do. You may know about a piano, know how it works, etc., but pretty quickly we can tell if you know how to play it. This cannot be gotten from watching, listening, reading, etc. You have to learn how to do it, by doing it.



> With that said, as of today, how would you "handle" the hive microbial culture differently (or better) than the bees and the microbes would? 

This is a non-starter. I wouldn't handle it better, nor differently. As a matter of fact, I have raised the issue of the microbial composition and pheromonal structure of the hive repeatedly, and have warned against putting things in the hive without knowing what they actually do, especially so called essential oils and other GRAS products.

In the past few years I have applied nothing to my colonies except thymol and then only when I was trying to save colonies from excessive mites. In some cases, it failed as I was already too late. I am working just as hard as anyone on a treatment free approach to beekeeping, I am just not adamant about it. 

To me, IPM is inspired by a chemical free approach but incorporates the available tools as needed to avoid economic losses. IPM is not something you learn and then "know", it changes constantly so the recommendations are *not the same* today as they were a week or a month ago. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Peter Loring Borst
128 Lieb Road
Spencer, NY  14883
607 280 4253
peterloringborst.com

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