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Date: | Tue, 17 Aug 2021 19:38:47 -0400 |
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Thomas Seeley reported results in his studies of the distancing of feral
colonies in Upstate NY. It occurred to me that their distancing is the
result of swarming and then successful survival while varroa were present.
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I have known Tom for more than 20 years; I like him and respect his work. However, the observations about feral colonies have generated far too much speculation and little of scientific merit. The Arnot Forest is fairly unique, although similar habitats could be found in PA and New England.
Doing the work of finding feral colonies by bee-lining, and then analyzing the make-up of these colonies is tedious work and most people would never have the patience for it. Even if they did, there are far too many variables to generate any take-home messages at all. Certainly nothing that would improve our understanding of keeping bees in hives. At least with bee hives, you can set up controlled experiments and learn something useful.
An example of a useful experiment with feral hives was trapping swarms along the US border with Mexico. But once the African bees had crossed over, the information was of academic value only. I am fascinated by studies of the genetic makeup of feral, domestic, and native honey bees around the world, but again -- it's mainly of value to academics and conservationists.
What beekeepers want are colonies that can maintain healthy status without a lot of expensive interventions and also, that are productive -- not pets. The model that some of these folks are advocating: small brood nests, even smaller honey supers, this is the great leap backward to Langstroth's time.
He had hives that consisted of one brood box, and a "honey board" over which glass jars would be placed to get filled with honey. A. I. Root was the one who broke out of that mold and advocated "tiering up." The Dadants, meanwhile discovered that very large hives were far less prone to swarming.
Now, it's none of my business but there are a lot of people on the lecture circuit advocating retro-beekeeping in various fashions. I submit that it's better to stick with recognized best management practices and standard bee equipment. No two seasons with the bees are ever the same -- there is enough novelty to be experienced, if you are paying attention, without mucking about with so-called experiments that prove nothing at all.
PLB
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