In a message dated 07/01/2010 18:41:20 GMT Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
"Unless you can control the drone population at in at least a 10 mile
radius of your mating yard(s), it's my understanding that you won't have control
of the drone mating population for your virgin queens. And that would
include drones which have been medicated in hives within that radius."
And Allen wrote:
"While the above statement of opinion presented as fact may be possibly
true somewhere, sometime, it is demonstraby false as presented.
We are again wandering into wide, sweeping statements, buzz words and
enunciation of opinion which, in attempting to summarize, grossly oversimplify
the questions and polarize discussion, leading inevitably to unfocused
argument or end of discussion. "
Hello All,
While it is usually impossible to gain full control of the breeding
environment, all things that beekeepers do make a difference on a local basis.
For example, in any locality, the larger the proportion of colonies that are
not treated, the faster and the higher resistance to diseases and
tolerance to pests rises.
There is, in other words, a relationship between treating and health.
This is fact. It has theoretical basis in biology, and is empirically
demonstrated in studies, and we hear more and more personal evidence as more
and more keepers report their experiences. This happen naturally in the
wild, and would happen naturally in apiaries if beekeepers stopped treating.
Where apiary hives are a high proportion of the total number of colonies,
the process can be speeded up, and losses mimimized, by actively selecting
for qualities of health and vigour, and against vulnerability to specific
pests and diseases. Conversely, treatments will press local health
downward, as weaker genes are allowed into the breeding pool, and again the higher
the proportion of treated colonies, the worse this will be. The inverse
relationship between treating and good health ensures that the more you
treat, and the less you select, the more local health will deteriorate.
So while full control over breeding (in bees) is hard, some measure control
is almost always possible, and all acts have some effect, however small.
If you cannot largely dominate your area alone, you can club together with
local beekeepers. The only time you are really stuck is when medicators
dominate the locality heavily. Even then, AI opens a route to (full) control
If anyone wants to challenge basic biology, fine; but otherwise there is no
room for argument about these things. These relationships are well
established, deeply and amply supported by evidence.
I can only offer to sceptics that you read some of the material found from
my links page: _http://www.suttonjoinery.co.uk/CCD/selected%20links.htm_
(http://www.suttonjoinery.co.uk/CCD/selected%20links.htm)
and work at understanding the mechanisms in play. The rest of my website
should help.
Given reasonable circumstances, moving from a treatment based management
regime to a selection based seems neither difficult nor expensive or
time-consuming. And you lucky people in the US can even buy well-bred queens and
nucs. Perhaps the hardest bit is learning what to do - and that is isn't
very hard at all once you get the hang of nature's most basic trick - the
individuals better fitted to the local environment reproduce more often than
the less-well fitted.
Mike
http://www.suttonjoinery.co.uk/CCD/
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