Randy wrote:
Tom Seeley has clearly demonstrated that the bees don't need anything from us.  It is only when we artificially keep them in apiaries that they as a species are at risk.  It is the beekeepers that are having problems.


Tom wrote:
We followed the colonies for two years and compared the two groups with respect to swarming frequency, Varroa infesttion rate, disease incidence, and colony survival. Colonies in small hives swarmed more often, had lower Varroa infestation rates, had less disease, and had higher survival compared to colonies in large hives.

Me:
I would certainly not consider a two experiment as clearly demonstrating anything regarding long term survival of unmanaged hives. Besides, this is a beekeeping discussion group. What he has proposed is not really beekeeping, it's honey bee conservation. Which is noble, except that's not what I want to do with honey bees. They aren't even native here.

PLB

             ***********************************************
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