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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:06:31 -0500
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> does anyone else (besides dee) have a "bounce back" story from ccd 
> (repopulating deadout equipment from survivors without fumigating or 
> treating, and getting a good honey crop the same year...in the desert)? 
> if so, how come we aren't hearing about them?

I think that it is crucial to make it clear that
Dee never had "CCD", and never claimed she saw any
CCD-like symptoms.  What she had was more mundane 
losses from a massive, undetected, untreated
Nosema ceranae infestation.  What she reported
was a confusion set of symptoms, but not CCD-like
symptoms.

Dean ("Deknow") knows all this very well, so I don't 
know why he would suddenly characterize Dee's losses 
as "CCD". If nothing else, I mentioned those losses 
here on Bee-L on July 23rd as being caused by Nosema 
ceranae based upon clear lab results Dee had sent me.
As I recall Jerry B ordered the lab tests for her.

As far as a "sustainable" commercial model, I pointed 
out a while ago that the whole "migratory" approach 
to profitable beekeeping has been around since at least 
3,000 BC, which makes it among the most "sustainable" 
things man has ever attempted to sustain.  Back then,
all one was getting was a honey crop, and no one
paid for pollination, but the bees were still moved
between blooming crops.

I'll quote from my contribution to the Dec 2007 
"Pimping Bees" thread:

>> An entertaining story can be found in the collection of
>> papers called "The Bureaucracy of Ptolemaic Egypt" (found
>> at Columbia U, copies elsewhere), where a group of beekeepers 
>> petition a local official for the return of their donkeys, 
>> conscripted for some unnamed public works project.  They 
>> point out that they had loaned their donkeys for 10 days,
>> and 18 days had passed without their return.  The growers
>> were waiting impatiently for the beekeepers to move their 
>> hives, as the growers wanted to burn the weeds and brush 
>> and then flood the fields.  The farmers were hinting that
>> they would set the fires by some deadline, hives moved or 
>> not, so the beekeepers pointed out that their loss of hives 
>> would reduce the taxes that could be paid to the king.
>>
>> Sound familiar?  Growers anxious to do their pest control
>> and fertilization, wanting the hives out NOW.  Beekeepers
>> forced to beg for even minimal attention from the government. 
>> Some things never change.

And all that has happened in the 5,000 years since is that 
the ride has gotten smoother for the bees.  I'd hate to have 
to do anything with a hive that spent the day before bouncing 
around on a donkey!  ^.^

So if anyone is going to call any aspect of beekeeping
"unsustainable", they need to explain how we've managed
to muddle through for 5,000 years without all the dogma 
about "sustainability.

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