Bee-L

Bob, I thank you for your usual candor in explaining how some operators practice monke-see monkey-do operation.  Indeed, without your invaluable inputs, many of us could not even begin to imagine what we do for profit and for the rationalization that “the demand must be met.”

I too agree that there will never be a perfect bee line, an illusion in ideal world; perhaps what we got now is close enough for government work as we cannot work with dead bees.  We should not forget that one of the most vigorous selection processes is being done by nature, “red in tooth and claw,” even as we speak; CCD, in and of itself, could be nature’s way of saying these bees are unfit and unacceptable for this particular epoch.  Hence, the rejection.  I also agree that there is a need for a better breeding program, rigorous and scientific.

As you pointed out, Bob, all the “fad” queens come and go—as if they had been nothing new but pretty much the same product under “different labels and fancier packages”—because the “demand” has been there, and probably always will.  But these queens don’t stay put.  They come and go like different chemicals for varroa treatment: Buckfast, NWC I and II, Yugo, VHS, SMR, Minnesota this and that, and Russian this and that, etc, etc, etc, an excellent re-labeling if you are selling them.  Nowadays, I do not even know or care what the abbreviation stands for.  It could very well be a DDT (Dud, Dead, Terminal).

Under this current scenario, then, how do Australian and Hawaiian queens and their respective packages factor in, especially since they have not yet fully varroa-tested unlike other queens in the continent?  Do these still require the military regiment of IPM?  What benefit do they offer other than a quick replacement for the dead and dying bees here in America?  (Yes, somebody has to make a living, too.)  All the papers seem to agree that any measurable resistance to varroa takes about fifteen (15) or more years.  However, by re-introducing these untested bees, the bees that belong to yesteryears, are we not prolonging a bad movie longer, encouraging resistant *varroa stocks* to develop in the long run?  For we are giving varroa unlimited opportunities, longer than necessary, to work out the kink and crack the code.

I am not opposed to either global trading or commercial beekeeping, but it stands to reason that we should stop making a bad movie last longer by not bringing in these sickly untested isolated bees as they will not only impact the commercial operators but also the rest of the beekeepers in America.  Are we not providing a niche for varroa by re-introducing varroa-susceptible sick bees when other bees have finally figured out how to cope with it?  Isn’t it time to get out of the theater all together and see the blinding sunlight outside?  

Wishing everyone a great Sunday,

Yoon

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