>>>  Most successful non-treatment operations seem to be isolated.
>>>  The biggest problem I have with non-treatment beekeeping is certifying the
truth of the statements.

My operation is rather doubly isolated.  First, the only pollination I have done has been done in my own county.  I don't move my bees to periodic honey flows.  They are in established bee yards, only one of the three are in locations where I know there are other bee yards within flight distance.  My operation is also isolated in that Alabama does not allow the movement of bees into the state on comb.  They can come in if they are queen shipments or are package bees.  I don't think this requirement has prevented the onset of new diseases and pestilence, but I do believe it has delayed in importation of problems found elsewhere in the county.

Truth in statements  -  The only documentation that I can provide for my operation is that I have started keeping notes on a spreadsheet in the last year or so.  But I feel I can honestly say that I have not "treated" except for one occasion four or five years ago when I sprayed the comb in my hives one time with Sucrocide.  I have lost hives due to what I felt was an overload of mites.  But from my records and what I can remember, most of those hives had been headed by queens purchased from a queen breeder within the state and not queens of my own production or supercedure.  I'm currently trying to keep better records of my queens and the progress of the colonies.  I am also searching for others throughout the state who have not treated for three years or more to see if I can get a queen or two from their operation so as to insert those genetics into my operation.

Just finished with a state meeting this past week, Friday and Saturday.  Dr. Tew posed a question to the audience asking how many had hives that had not been treated.  More that half of the attendees held up their hands (no official count taken).  He then asked how many had hives that had gone three years or more without treatments.  Again (without an official count taken) about two-thirds of the previous responders held up their hands.   It will be interesting to see how this practice continues in the next few years.  After all, the efficacy of this mode of operation will only come to light after another three years of operations.

Re: previous reference to note taking.  Would be interesting to see how many BEE-L members keep their notes on "Hive Tracks".   I started but have not continued with that service.  Think I should continue to see how well it matches what I keep on my spreadsheet and which is easier to maintain.

Mike in LA



             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm