>I have often suggested to those looking to remove or destroy bees to consider letting them live when they present no eminent danger. I guess I have never looked at them as a source of disease, which I would have to admit they could be.> END QUOTE From the Historical Honeybee Articles Archives: Oakland Tribune Monday, October 22, 1934 Oakland, California Wild Bees Aren't Infection Center For Bee Diseases Madison. — Wild bees inhabiting bee trees do not serve as infection centers for bee diseases says State Entomologist E. L. Chambers of the department of agriculture and markets. Records of the state entomologist's office show that of the hundreds of bee trees which have been cut down, not one has ever been found infected. This is not due to the fact that wild bees are healthier, but because there is little chance to spread infection. Even though a swarm of wild bees did become infected, Mr. Chambers explains, when a bee tree is deserted, squirrels, chipmunks, mice and other rodents soon clean out all the old wax and honey that may remain. Almost every particle of wood that even smells of honey will be cleaned out by such rodents, and as a result, any new swarm taking possession of a tree must build entirely new wax foundations. A further feature of the rodent clean-up is that the cleaning-up process goes on during the winter so that no domestic bees ever find the wax or honey. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm