Hello Lloyd,

> Perhaps this selfish attitude on the part of some commercial >beekeepers
started back when there was a quarantine on movement >due to varroa
infestation and one commercial beekeeper said 'to hell >with it', and moved
his bees regardless.

In defense of the migratory beekeeper:

When we look back at the efforts of the USDA to stop varroa, tracheal mite,
AHB or the small hive beetle with quarantines. Has any of the quarantines
worked?  NO!

A million hives are used in Almonds alone each year. A bee truck driver told
me  he counted  62 semi loads of bees headed into California on his return
trip a week ago.

The world of the migratory beekeeper is on a very fast pace. The inspection
system is on a slow pace.

 A recent example was a semi load at a California inspection station in
which most of the hives died from the heat ( sat loaded in the heat for four
days) while a couple ants were sent for testing. The ants turned out not to
be fire ants (story told to me in person by the owner of the bees so I only
recieved one side of the story).

The beekeeper lost two thirds of the hives, lost the Almond pollination fees
and had to pay trucking both ways. Did the inspection service pay for the
damage. Nope!

 WHY THE FOUR DAY WAIT !  Couldn't the inspection service have been able to
id the ants within a few hours?

>There was not only no enforcement action, but the guy  was >subsequently
elected President of ABF!

You must be talking about my friend D.H..

Bob

Ps.
I will be out west till the 11th. and will respond to the trouble I am in
for standing up for the migratory beekeepers on my return.