<  I do know that it is still possible to occasionally have a hive produce locally like they used to produce.  To get production takes intense varroa management with formic acid and also a high tech queen like a Latshaw queen.  Such productive hives nearly always die over winter.  >

How productive is it year on year if getting a good crop requires intensive management but also is likely to kill the colony nest winter? 

But Dick's testimony seems to indicate:
1.  Drop in performance cannot always be blamed on pesticides
2.  Strong varroa control is key. 

Is it not time to stop looking at research which some times suggests pesticides are harmful in the field, and sometimes fails to find evidence?  There is suspicion of a 'crime'. Surely we need a police detective to examine the evidence that a particular cause is always implicated, not a research scientist, and if the evidence is unconvincing, then we should stop trying to blame a single cause. 

Then the research money could be switched to varroa control. 

>> All the present treatments are crude, in that they are blanket treatments that affect the whole colony (and cause some damage) whereas the mites are only on young bees and only start to affect larvae when ready to be capped. 


Cannot science isolate the particular pheromone produced by the larvae as a 'cap me please ' call - which could be synthesised and injected into artificial brood comb which has a miticide bullet in the bottom of the cells. This would eliminate mites when they try to enter cells ready to be capped and not affect the colony overall. 

Has all this already been tried and proved impossible?  If not, how can beekeepers press for a trial? 

Robin 
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