>I would add that I have seen many apiaries where bees survived for two or
three years without treatment, but then died from Varroa. All depends on
when Varroa shows up.

A no treatment bee is just that - set and forget.<

Treated or treatment free, what % of hives are truly the same group of bees after 12 months other than the boxes and comb? There is a lot of management applied both ways to keep a box of bees going year to year. Re-Queening making up nucs etc...


Sitting static and treatment free is a bad strategy to keep your bees alive for any length of time. But I agree anything that beekeepers put into the hive that the bees don't take in on their own should be mentioned.

I have posted this on another tread that I have gone treatment free four years starting with a couple of packages and now have a dozen. Two of these being outside additions. I do feed pollen patties and syrup when necessary, allow the bees to produce all the drones they desire and do not pull drone comb. After four years I'm just starting to get a handle on the possibility that maybe I can continue down this path.  The biggest hurdle I have found is the lack of treatment free keepers to draw knowledge of management practices which will keep you with bees. The biggest help for me came from Mel Disselkoen's web site.

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