Hello Dee and Friends,

Dee wrote," In the beginning, the honeybee colony is in perfect health
without diseases, pests and parasites, with final stage the scavengers
(beetles here) coming in for the cleanup on the kill."

I must very respectfully disagree that SHB are "scavengers" at all.  In my
opinion, the Beetles are prime predators of honeybees.  They will kill a
perfectly robust hive by eating it alive.  I have seen it too many times.  I
will say that some hives are better able to withstand an attack.  I have
seen this too.  It seems to be a matter of the degree of infestation and the
ability of the bees to control them.  I just lost my biggest hive.  The hive
swarmed and the Beetles tore it to pieces, in the aftermath.  I will agree
that strong hives stand a better chance against the beetle, but strong hives
alone are not the answer.  The Beetle will kill your strongest hive if the
bees there don't know how to deal with the Beetle.

I believe that we must breed bees which are able to live with the beetle.  I
am 100% on board with Dee on that issue.  All the chemicals in the world
have not brought control like selective breeding has. Dee's operation is
proof of that fact.
All kinds of pests seem to be able to overcome the chemicals. Roach, ant and
mosquito sprays are hot sellers in Florida.  We still have roaches, ants and
mosquitoes.  We have to learn how to live with them.  In essence, we
selectively breed our own pests by killing the weakest ones with chemicals
and allow the strong pests to survive!  We only breed from the strongest
pests!  The strong, chemical resistant pests are the product of our own
"selective breeding program".   That is the absolute opposite of what we
want!

The Lusbys have been breeding bees which are able to withstand the pressure
of the mites and other pests.  By whatever means, their bees survive
"amongst the enemy".  They say the small cell size is the answer. They have
been succeeding with small cell size, how can I argue with that.  I am
really intrigued with it, to be honest.  Dee also has bought into Housel
Positioning.  I like that idea too.  I'm thinking of building some top bar
hives to allow the bees to live in a more natural hive.  Whatever is working
without chemicals is good for me.  The wild hives survive without chemicals.
Ours can too.

We are going to have to have bees which will survive the Beetle.  If all our
hives died out, then we will be looking for the feral hives to get started
again, huh?  They don't use chemicals to control the Beetle in Africa, do
they?  The bees control this "minor" pest there, don't they?  The Beetle is
a major pest here, because our bees aren't used to them.  We are down to our
last hive here now, because of the beetles.  We will make splits from this
hive to build back up.  The queens will mate in the open with drones from
feral hives and from this hive, and we will continue to build up from the
survivors.  I will put out some swarm traps around a feral hive I have known
about for years and we may start to enjoy our bees again, without all the
worry about chemicals.    We will worry about honey production when we find
bees which will survive the pests, in this area (west central Florida). The
chemicals may be useful in starting splits and nucs, but that's about it.  I
may not be absolutely right, but, that's the way I see it, for now.

Bob Bassett - Tired of chemical controls and treatment intervals