Dave Hamilton wrote:

 People have gotten pretty far a field from the original discussion of
 whether it was a good practice to us hygienic bees and to:

Hello Dave and all,
Many times discussion covers many topics and opinions.  I like to see
both sides of a issue shown as long as feelings are not hurt and i
believe the moderators of Bee-L take greater care than other lists.  In
my own case i have had the moderators change the subject label on a post
which has taken another direction but let the discussion continue
because they felt the issue would be of interest to others on the list.

On the good beekeeper -bad beekeeper.  I believe and have said at
several of my talks usually the difference between the good beekeeper
and the bad (less successful) is the amount of time spent working his or
her bees.
I keep records of total time spent in the yards so i can figure *bottom
line*.   Divide the hours by the number of hives and you get a hourly
figure per hive.   Not rocket science and used by all beekeepers wishing
to figure the amount of hours spent on your hobby or business.   I am
not sure what the average time per colony is supposed to be but *on
average* commercial beekeepers *in my opinion* spend about half that
time.  I have read about six hours per colony to be the average time for
success but i can't remember the place i saw the figure and really don't
think it matters enough in this post for me to try and find a figure.
How can you set a figure with different degrees of beekeeper expertice.
Commercial beekeepers *usually* get less yields per colony than hobby
beekeepers which devote say twice the average time.  Looking back at
years i have had the most problems and less success those are ALLWAYS
years with less time spent per hive.   In other words its hard to tell
whats going  on in those hives sitting in the easy chair with a remote
in your hand.  Also we all lead busy lives with family demands so there
are many valid reasons (weather) why work isn't done.
In a earlier post i was asking about a *farm trac* program which could
be used for beekeeping.  The *farm trac* representative was surprised
when i asked about keeping track of hours per enterprise.  He said
quote:
95% of farmers in the U.S. don't keep track of the hours per enterprise.
I asked how they could keep track of their bottom line?  He said *they
don't* but could with *Farm Trac*.  Allen Dick as shown at his
*Beekeepers diary*  keeps accurate records on his bottom line. To sum up
i believe ones beekeeping results many times can be traced to the effort
he or she has put in the endeavor.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison