I think the one practice that makes little sense is the interaction of fall/winter movements of bees, 
and the amping up of the hives for almonds and the reality of mites. 

I have not met or heard via publications of many commercial beekeepers who use mite resistant 
strains of bees and minimal to no mite treatments. Instead many migratory beeks prefer an Italian 
strain which likes to keep brooding when ever stimulated with feed. 

While there are many many different operations out there in general I beleive its safe to say that 
they run a bee that's not very resistant to mites, keep them brooding all year around and are 
forced to treat in spring and fall.

If you wanted to keep your bees healthy Peter would you keep them brooded up all winter? Do you 
like to treat in spring? It makes little sense without a $150/hive check for almonds in the spring 
cause your bees are not always going to look great in the spring if you maintain them like that. 

What I am saying is in the varroa mite environment we all operate in here in the USA, the migratory 
method of operation *in general* does not make much sense if you're trying to keep healthy bees 
and not be constantly replacing bees.  

The practices of migratory pollination do not fit with the realities of the mite/bee world we live in. 
This has a trickle down effect as most of the package bees and queens offered to all beeks tend to 
be the kind of bee a commercial operation uses. 

Furthermore its obvious that the frequent movement of migratory colonies spreads pests and 
disease..........VERY QUCIKLY. 

I'm sorry Peter but I'm not going to pull out some literature or fancy science study to back up my 
opinion because in this case its my opinion. Take it or leave it. I'm not alone either and I find more 
and more beeks that agree with me in some way. Its a growing disparity that I see growing wider 
with time. 

The migratory segment and the sustainable/stationary/hobbyist segment have completely 
different goals and values. Some of us are growing tired and weary of the effects of Feedlot 
Beekeeping is having on the rest of beekeeping in the US. We're dissapointed as many common 
sense measures are employed around the world with success and here we sit beholden to the 
needs of an unsustainable industry which was behind the importation of bees into the USA for self 
serving needs and not IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF ALL U.S. BEEKS. 

If commercial beekeping is so wonderful and sustainable Peter why then import bees for the first 
time in decades?  Most statistics paint a dismal picture of the indsutry. I'd be ROFLMAO if 
someone tried to claim here that everything is rosy and migratory beekeeping is sustainable 
economically and environementally. Its a predictable and likely coming disaster really.

 Just wait, the best is yet to come IMO,  the industry and media cried wolf over a 5-10% loss over 
CCD. What will they do when they have a really contagious problem? You think any beek would 
have turned the semi around last Jan when the media was full of CCD? Not with the golden 
rainbow of $150/Hive at the end of the trail. Next time the boogie man may be for real and every 
beek with a truck load of bees can get a  dose of it in CA in Jan and we WILL have a big problem. 

You compare this circus with ANY ag animal industry and you find we have few if any common 
sense measures in place....its the wild west out there with little to no oversight which ultimately 
puts every beek at risk, and for what? a bunch of nut farmers in CA who over planted with no plan 
for how they would pollinate?  

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