I love the Bee-List. It keeps me up to date with what's going on in your part of the world and you can't help but learn from such a great group of people.

I think you are being harsh on Dave Hackenberg. We call this the tall poppy syndrome where the first to stick their head up gets it cut off.  He has a high profile and perhaps is an easy target.  Dave's is putting his head on the line to fight for all beekeepers. He's perhaps seeing the big picture, while most of us have our nose to the ground working.

Foraging conditions may be different for an apiary of a dozen hives compared to apiaries of 50 plus hives that are just there to get winter stores.  In a small apiary without competition the bees can choose the best nectar and pollen sources.  In an apiary where there's competition, the bees cannot be so selective and will go for everything if they are hungry. Dave is blaming neonics for his losses but the cause may have come from an earlier pollination.

We are seeing this in New Zealand now. Where I would put 16 hives, the new commercial operators put 40-60 and they are putting them in places where I wouldn't dream of putting hives as there are no supporting pollen or nectar sources nearby.  They factory farm them supplying pollen substitute and sugar syrup to build bees then chase manuka as a main crop.

We have "dead zones" in the North Island. One is around Gisborne where tomatoes, pumpkin/squash and corn are grown.  Bee hives put in there just dwindle to nothing and die. 
A PHD student is researching this area with donated hives to see if it's a poison problem or just a lack of pollen. The hives died as beekeepers had predicted.  We also use coated seeds.  

Maize over here is grown as a fodder crop for cattle and diary farms and it's cut for silage. Hives next to maize crops dwindle after it's cut yet no problems are seen when its cut and the remaining storks and roots are immediately hoed under.  It's believed the bees feeding on the sap from the cut stems could be doing the damage but this has still to be proved.  Beekeepers move hives away from maize paddocks.

While Christina may not be seeing anything wrong with her bees at the moment and hopefully won't, Dave moved his hive to the south so anything wrong would show up.

Dave is a broker of pollination hives.  This is a normal progression for older beekeepers.  You get smart around 60-65. You can't keep up doing hard manual work, 12 hours a day, day after day. I put a lifter on my small truck so I could keep working.  Dave has used his years of knowledge and contacts to broker hives.  I'm sure if he had them he would use his own hives first as there is a better return. 

Its all very well showing that Dave has been receiving grant money for the last three years, but perhaps he used the system to fund the up coming court case.  He's a smart business man with extensive records; (mine are written on hive lids).  A decision to pursue a law suit is not taken lightly and was perhaps a planned thing.  Ironic if he is using govt funds to sue the govt.

You get a better background to this if you listen to recent podcasts on the organic view website under the on air section - neonicotinoids  http://www.theorganicview.com/uncategorized/epa-sued-again-how-many-law-suits-will-it-take/

I've just spent a lovely summers day painting polly nuc boxes and it take a boring job to let the mind wonder.

Frank Lindsay 
NZ

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