Allen
>I'm curious about this.  Seems to me that the commercial-sized UK 
>beekeepers
are not very enthused about Amm, but other, apparently smaller beekeepers
love them.  Possibly more beekeepers, but fewer beehives in the Amm group?

It is a very regional thing - I would say that A.m.m. is generally found 
more in coastal north Wales, northern England (especially the north-east) 
and Scotland.  Ireland is almost completely A.m.m. in Eire, but there has 
been some introgression of other races in Ulster - although there is now a 
strong movement there to get back to the native bee.

Murray or Gavin would probably be the best people to advise on the situation 
in Scotland with regard to commercial beekeepers.

>The same difference of opinion extends to the question of resistant stocks
and treatment-free beekeeping.  Small operators swear by both, but few, if
any large operators find them practical on any scale or in the long run.

Small operators can perhaps afford to take losses if they are not dependent 
on their bees for a living, so are perhaps more likely to experiment.  I run 
150 colonies - small by US standards maybe, but at the higher end of 
hobby/sideline in the UK.  I do not depend on the income from my bees (but 
it does pay for some very nice holidays) so can afford to try alternative 
treatments.  A 50% loss might hurt my pride enormously (I expect 10-20%), 
but would not be the end of the world, whereas for a fully commercial 
beekeeper the impact might be very serious indeed.

>That leads me to ask, what is the largest UK operation using Amm?

Again Murray may have an opinion - I would guess at 1500-2000.

>Also, what proportion of UK beekeepers who rely on beekeeping for most or
all their income employ Amm?

I do not know, but there are very few beekeepers in that category.

>What percentage of hives in the UK house Amm swarms?

Again I have no statistics.

Best wishes

Peter 

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