> Dean,  what bothers me are your continued implications that we are causing 
> these new plagues...  I ran my own operation for nearly 20 years without 
> feeding sugar syrup or pollen supplement.

Amen brother!  I spent some time over at BS and thought I'd try some of this 
faith-based, guru-loving easy idiot-friendly beekeeping.  I was ready.

Really ready.  I had nothing to lose.  I was retired and had other things on 
my mind.  I hadn't treated prophylactically for AFB for a few years.  I had 
added some SuperBee stocks (all and every one I could get)  to my outfit.  I 
had not fed sugar for several years.  My cells were "supersized", but, Hey! 
Cut me some slack.  I'm old school.  I have an open mind (and there is 
nothing wrong with that except people keep throwing their garbage into it). 
I know many of the industry and science icons personally and have even 
secretly touched their cloaks (occasionally while these luminaries were 
distracted with important educational duties in the bar. )

Anyhow, after many years of never losing hives to varroa or AFB, I got 
slayed by both.  The losses were never more than I could take, since I kept 
the experiments in sandboxes, but they were enough to prove what we need to 
know.

What did I prove?
1.) All the management and IPM I did in my commercial years saved me a lot 
of grief.
2.) Conventional wisdom and active management works.
3.  BS is BS.

Medhat and the co-operative commercial beekeepers are proving that in 
Alberta and others are taking note.

Ride on. 

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