> Is 30% then considered acceptable loss in any size operation?  Is this
annually or average over a certain number of years?

This is an interesting question, and depends upon your source of income
from bees.  In my case, my main income has been from almond pollination,
and for 30 years, I have gone in on  frame-strength contracts, in which I
get paid proportional to how strong the colony average is.  Therefore, it
was not cost effective for me to haul 4 or 5-framers to the orchards.

Long before the arrival of varroa, I bred my own excellent and sustainable
stock.  Yet I still planned to combine down each fall at a ratio of about 3
to 2--for every 3 colonies, I would typically combine the weakest one with
a medium-strength one.  This ensured very low winter losses and strong
colonies for pollination.

As with most other beekeepers with non Africanized stock, my winter losses
increased somewhat after the arrival of varroa and Nosema ceranae.

Re this discussion, I fully support the efforts of the organic beekeepers,
although I feel that there is no need for them to denigrate other
beekeepers in order to make their case.  Success speaks for itself.

If one's definition of "success" is that one manages to keep a proportion
of colonies alive without some arbitrarily-determined forms of husbandry,
then we can all understand that.

However, if "success" and "sustainable" means that beekeepers are actually
running profitable businesses , then it is fair to ask for actual financial
numbers.  Unless the beekeeping operation operates in the black, one's sons
or daughters are unlikely to take it over (this aspect is something with
which I am personally acutely aware).

Beekeeping is a form of farming, and as such very much dependent upon the
weather and the markets for profitability.  There are years when we barely
break even, and have had years when the bee business took a loss (I'm not
yet sure about this year, since our main honey flow tanked; but as Bob
suggests, we quickly diversified, and at least will cover our labor).

Re the purported unreliability of the "soft" treatments.  I simply do not
see this to be the case.  We haven't used a synthetic miticide since 2000
(although I would use Amitraz in a heartbeat if I found it to be necessary
to save my operation).  We find that selective breeding, careful
monitoring, splitting of colonies, and timely treatments with thymol and
organic acids allows us to keep varroa at acceptable low levels.  I place
selective breeding at the top of the list.
--
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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