I spend so darn much time reading this list, into wee hours of the morning that I seldom take the time to comment. Well I was an oil (vegie)user on all my 150 colonies last year as well as a grease patty user for many years. With all this posting of oil and experiments I think I have a good idea of how I will proceed with my experiments this summer. I have 3 or 4 yards that I believe will make good candidates, about 12 hives each with nearly identical environment and group separation capability. I will start off with all strip treated colonies from previous late fall. Incidently I don't put my strips in until real late, almost wonder if I need them at all but don't have the courage to do otherwise. The only trouble is I won't really be a part of the MO Gang. I had such good results with my veg oil I want to try some controlled experiments with it. I am not fully in agreement with statements that these things are foreign to the bee hive. Probably the only foreign thing, at least with veg oil is the quantity. Oils are certainly bought back to the hive with pollen and honey. Perhaps the bees would prosper with some supplement? On occasion I have seen them standing around the oil saturated napkin licking it. I haven't the slightest idea why, do they digest it or take and spit it out? While inspecting drone pupa for mites I have seen dead mites on them, very few to be sure, but then again there are few mites to find. Have seen mites entombed in cells of honey, did the bees drown the mites or put the nectar in on dead mites? I am currently of the opinion (unscientific) that MO and Veg oil will give similar results and IF the bees like more oil in their diet maybe Veg oil is better. I don't for a minute expect to come to much of a conclusion on many of these questions. I do know that if my colonies continue to remain robust and essentially mite free for a few years then perhaps some of the other unanswered questions will get answered. I have a laptop now to take to the yards, I'm looking for a good spreadsheet or database program, anyone have one to share? Good luck to all you other experimenters. Alden Marshall B-Line Apiaries Hudson, NH 03051 [log in to unmask] _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]