Chuck Norton said:

> My response: Dr. Tom Rinderer (...) advised that the practice of
> scheduled requeening with European stock is imperative to the
> handling of honeybees in South and Central America and that 
> the practice of requeening in these countries with gentle 
> European stock is widely accepted and desirable. 

Maybe Dr. Rinderer was talking generically about South & Central
America, meaning some countries, or most countries, not all. I can't
speak for any other country, and I see no reason why at least some of
them wouldn't do that. 

But, as I said before, no "widely use of European queens" happens in
Brazil or have happened since some decades ago. I am in permanent
touch with some hundreds of beekeepers of all levels and regions, so
I can be pretty confident about what I'm saying.

> Requeening with superior queens having highly desirable traits has
> long been recognized as not only more profitable and enjoyable
> beekeeping, 

No doubt about that. That's what probably most of the informed
beekeepers do and advise here. But they (we) are a minor part.

Let's put some things in perspective. First, think of bees
vulnerabilities as a selective pressure on beekeepers. No one can
keep disease-prone bees without information and appropriate care. AHB
are much more tolerant to diseases and pests, and it means that AHB
keepers are not "naturally selected" by their bees. If they do
nothing, the bees will probably be there a year (or two, or three)
later. If a colony dies from cold or absconds, it can be promptly
replaced in the next season at no cost, with a simple bait.  And the
beekeeper can still take some honey out of their hives, although
facing a much lower productivity than it could be possible
(sometimes, low productivity is perfectly acceptable).

Now think of Brazil's rural population. Few have access to good
education, let alone libraries or Internet access. Many can barely
write their names. But they can take some honey for their own needs
and, often as an additional income (many sell honey along the roads,
inside glass bottles, using corncobs as corks). Bees sometimes are
kept in improvised wooden boxes with handmade frames, and the
hygienic standards observed during the extraction are not exactly
appropriate. They would probably make American "bee havers", as you
call them, look like "master apiculturists".

We don't have apiary inspection, not even apiary registration. How
can all the beekeepers be well educated? It's impossible before many
more social issues can be solved. Much has been done by
public-private support institutions in the last years, but it's far
from enough.

But yes, there are a knowledgeable beekeepers too, and all levels of
beekeepers between the two extremes.

> My comments: The production of Brazilian propolis is a rapidly
> growing industry due to the common practice in Asia of purchasing
> Brazilian propolis, 

I've just learnt that the Brazilian market got a lot bigger in the
last few years, and it's now the main buyer (~60%). Asia buys ~70% of
all exported Brazilian propolis, and USA and Europe buy the rest. 

> It is my understanding that the Scutellata is not a very
> productive propolis gatherer due to its very nature of being a
> semitropical subspecies of A. mellifera and its tendency to
> abscond. 

In fact, excessive propolis use has often been listed as an
undesirable trait of AHB. My personal observation is that, like all
other traits, this one is very variable, and, as I mention below,
selection on that is totally feasible.

As for the absconding tendency, I don't see it as an obstacle for
propolis use. In the contrary, I see both traits as components of the
(much talked about) defensiveness of AHB. (BTW, it's my very
particular opinion that aggression is only another possible component
of AHB defensiveness, and "defensive" is not the most specific and
accurate adjective to express the tendency to overreact to
disturbances. But that's another long and painful story). 

> I certainly would want to hear more about “this particular AHB
selection”. 

I emailed José Alexandre de Abreu, a major Brazilian exporter of
propolis to get updated about that. He told me that they have
followed the directions pointed out by Brazilian studies on bee
genetics/selection for propolis, carried out by researchers mainly
from the Universities of São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto, and Viçosa.
They are using instrumental insemination to produce the breeder
queens from the best producers among some 12,000 hives. There's a
partnership on that, involving Abreu's company and his main propolis
suppliers. The whole program has relied only in the established
africanized bees since the start.

The results so far are excellent, in Abreu's opinion. The best
colonies are producing 1.4 kg (~3 lb) of propolis monthly, during the
peak season, and 0.45 kg (1 lb) off season. A few colonies reach 2.5+
kg of propolis monthly in the peak, suggesting that further
selections can still significantly improve the stock.

The harvesting and handling of propolis has been greatly eased by the
invention of new types of collectors. The most used today is the CPI
model, which resembles a normal super, but has modified lateral
walls. Each of these walls features a detachable piece of wood with a
long, open groove, some 2 cm wide, in the center. The bees try to
seal the groove and, when it's already well propolised, the whole
wooden piece is taken out and replaced by an empty one. The propolis
is then removed from the groove in the form of a strip. If it's hard
to understand my description, there's a video on Brazilian propolis
that may help on that and other issues:
<http://waxgreen.com.br/br/video/index.php#video>.


> Propolis collection especially in Brazil may just become a steady
> and desirable profit (...) with its own unique and varying
> medicinal properties. (...) provide income for many in Third World
> countries.

Along with the research on selection for productivity, which directly
affects the beekeeper, much research on propolis and its components
has been done, especially in Brazil and Japan, which affects all the
industry. According to Abreu, propolis is gradually losing its status
of folk medicine because of all those researches and by the adoption
of WHO protocols in the tests.

Best regards,

João Campos


		
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