>I have to say, from where I sit, that you are exactly right.  A good
>beekeeper serves the bees and in turn they serve him/her. 

From where I sit, I see just the opposite. A good beekeeper makes sure the
bees serve him/her. That is, if he's trying to make a living out of it. (If
you are just keeping them as pets, you can skip this.) This is the whole
idea behind pollinating, migrating, moving to good locations, etc.

Otherwise, why would anyone load up 500 or 3000 hives and drive them across
the country? Obviously, this is very hard on the colonies AND the beekeeper.
Having bees moving all over the place is bad for the health of the whole
industry, too. But this is the modern world: your problem is my problem!

One of my best friends used to move his bees four or five times a year, the
whole 1000 hives. If he thought there was a good crop to be made in another
county, up they went. In the final analysis, better forage means better
bees, so the two are not separate: both the bees and the beekeeper need to
prosper. 

pb

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---