Hi Christina,

Speaking of crazy,

In the debate over the safety of neonics, anecdotal evidence from beekeepers is generally dismissed when it can’t be verified by scientific experiments. However, the anecdotal evidence can be quite compelling. For example, a couple of years ago I talked to a second generation beekeeper who had lost 400 of his 1200 hives during the winter. The only variable he could think of to explain this loss was the 400 dead hives had pollinated a vegetable crop treated with neonics the previous summer. On the other hand, I’ve also talked to beekeepers who used their hives to pollinate hybrid canola treated with neonics - with no ill effects.

The internet is an obvious tool where large numbers of beekeepers could compare notes on this topic in a formal way. If  there was a webpage that allowed individuals to list their management practises including mite levels, treatment schedules etc, I think we would be able to glean some useful information. Has any beekeeping organization/state/country tried something like this?  I guess as Lennard points out, the hard part would be to get beekeepers to participate. But as it is, most anecdotal evidence is simply dismissed as hearsay. 

Discussions like these on bee-l are educational, but I find there is a real trend for people to take a position and then defend it despite any evidence to the contrary. ie ‘No, you’re wrong, and furthermore your mother was a hamster.’

Thinking beekeepers all have nice mothers,

Ted   

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