>> was just speaking to a commercial operator
>> with 25,000 hives who uses only a single
>> treatment of thymol each year by running
>> Russian stock.
> Would like to correct myself--I checked back--
> he only runs 12,000 hives.
Sounds like one outfit that is mentioned in the
article entitled "What Is the Russian Honey Bee
Breeding Association and "Why Is It Difficult to
Buy Russian Queens?" in the current (Nov 2012)
ABJ.
(ABJ and Bee Culture are both available digitally
for a very low price and well worth the cost.)
--- begin quote from ABJ ---
We do not treat any of the Test Hives”
that are evaluated in the breeding program.
We do treat the rest of our hives with a nat-
ural or soft chemical.” "I thought Russians
were resistant; so why treat?” you might ask.
We are migratory beekeepers and as such we
expect a lot of our bees. We often move
them to locations near apiaries with Italian
bees which are a source of invading Varroa
mites. We ship directly from Arkansas to the
orchards, so in January, 4,500 hives must be
6 frames of bees or better for almond polli-
nation. In March, about 2,000 hives, which
are specifically not sent to California, need
to be split into 7,200 hives and make a
honey crop. Approximately 2,500 hives re-
turning from the almonds are shipped to
South Mississippi to make a honey crop be
fore being moved to Arkansas for a second
honey crop. Then in January, we start the
cycle all over. We do not feed pollen patties
or any essential oil stimulant and only feed
enough to get the bees through the winter.
We do not treat for either Nosema or Amer-
ican Foulbrood.
--- end quote ---
Another outfit
In 2006, the Webbs discontinued
using mite treatments or antibiotics for
American Foulbrood treatment. They did
however, at the end of a series of severe
drought years, in 2010, treat colonies the
fall with one round of sprayed on fumagillin
for Nosema control. Because the Webbs are
not migratory, their winter losses remain
low. This allows them to sell surplus bees a
nucs each April. Carl describes his operation
like this: The only IPM is mite resistant
Russian bees. We use No mite treatment, No
antibiotics, No beetle control (traps, poi-
sons), No pollen substitutes, No essential
oils, No screened bottom boards, No sched-
uled brood comb rotation, No schedule
queen replacement (half of queens are :
years old or older), No routine feeding of
sugar in any form (except for queen rearing;
and starter nuclei), and No small-cell found-
ation (uses pre-waxed plastic lòundation).
While neither onè of these could be de-
scribed as a typical member, they represent
how diverse our members and their bee
keeping operations are. Most of the mem-
bers who make up the Russian Honey Bee
Breeders Association are not migratory an
operate 300 - 400 hives mainly for the pur
pose of honey production.
--- end quote --
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