>> See Tom Seeley on the low survival rate of swarms in general
> [Seeley quote] "The persistence of honey bee colonies living in woodlands in the Americas, Africa, and Europe, despite the spread of the deadly mite Varroa destructor, shows us that honey bees are remarkably resilient. It also shows us that if we conserve forests and other wild places, then we can be confident that wild colonies of honey bees will thrive and provide an important reservoir of this species’ genetic diversity" (Seeley 2019).
This does not modify in the least the poor survival rate of swarms in the least - what it does is make clear that due to precisely that low survival rate, bees can only continue to maintain a minimum critical mass of colonies to produce swarms if we do less "forest management", removing trees that would host colonies if left standing.
>> I find that quick answers reflect the notion that we already know all we need to know; or else, lack of interest in considering the matter more in depth.
>> I am not proposing "let alone" beekeeping...
There is no such introspective retrospection about dogs. My Corgi, "Pah-Su" was an excellent herder and won many ribbons at the Amherst County VA sheep trials. Absolutely no one worried about the difference between life at my side as a family member and farm dog vs the life a wolf might lead in the wild. My wolf/malamute cross "Loki" exhibited many wolf behaviors, but he still enjoyed his life on 660 acres, slept at the foot of my bed, was at heel constantly, and so on. Again, no lost sleep over the difference between life as a wolf vs life as a dog on his part or mine.
The "let alone" advocates are making excuses to cover a fear of bee stings, and a lack of style and panache in handling bees in my view. When a new beekeeper realizes that he/she is 100% safe in a bee veil and suit, they start to calm down, and learn some skills, and they slowly abandon the "let alone" stance in favor of a "let's go check on the bees" stance. I took money out of my own back pocket to establish a dozen hives atop an NYC Parks repair garage to teach exactly this notion. After going through a dozen hives in a morning, the fear factor is greatly reduced, and after seeing me go through all 12 without ever once putting up my veil, and in a mere tee shirt, they quickly see that the scary reputation of the bee is not deserved.
Studying bees in the wild helps us to understand their instincts, but the wild is not a model for success unless there is a large contiguous swath of truly wild wilderness, and one is will to accept high rates of losses among the colonies in that setting.
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