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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 9 Dec 2011 09:12:32 -0500
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> Since Peter posted an atypical review of our book from Amazon, I hope that I'll be allowed to post one that is more typical...written by Michael Bush

In all fairness to Dean, I admit I did post the most negative review. However, the writer independently put into very clear words what I have been saying all along. You are viewing the world of beekeeping through an ideological bias, a doctrine that was produced by the Lusby's using africanized bees out in the desert. 

Anyone who has read about beekeeping in Africa sees the very clear parallels between her observations and those of typical beekeeping practices in Africa. The bees take care of themselves, they fend off parasites, they swarm all the time and readily move back into empty equipment, etc etc. Perfect for beekeepers that don't know or don't want to know much about the care of honey bees. Just keep catching swarms and stealing the honey. Nothing to it.

Meanwhile, many of us are keeping European honeybees in heavily populated areas where there is a very high reinfestation rate. While I formerly attributed a lot of this to drifting, I now think that it is far more likely due to robbing. I think that colonies preying upon the weak may go on a lot more than we know. So far as I know, no one has really looked into this, although it has been alluded to in the older literature; they call it progressive robbing. 

If the better colonies continually prey on the weaker, they would be expected to pick up all sorts of pathogens this way. Working as a bee inspector, we often found that the best colonies in the yard had the most mites per bee; to find AFB you look at the ones that are almost dead first, and then look at the tall boys.

PLB

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