>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.

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