>> I recall that Marla Spivak, speaking in a session at Niagara Falls in 
>> 2002, suggested that beekeepers leave a yard or two without treatment and 
>> see what happens.
>
> Myself , Dann Purvis & Bell Honey in Florida have been doing exactly the 
> above long before 2002. I can not speak for the others but in my case the 
> last of the last "leave alone " yards died last spring.

Well, I reported what happened when I did that same thing, but I carried it 
to an extreme.  I did not wrap, either.  Most of the sixty or so died, but a 
few lasted over a year and some are still alive -- the base of my current 
outfit, along with three queens acquired from friends.

I am thinking that with the rapid improvements, though, what we saw several 
years ago may not apply.  With new techniques in genetic analysis and the 
rapid communication between widely separated breeders and researchers that 
have come along in the last decade, we may have some big changes that we are 
not yet aware of.

>> Marla is one who has quietly put years of sweat and brainpower into the 
>> problem of hygiene, with amazing results.

> I am home today looking after my wife home from a week in the hospital 
> which gives me time for BEE-L while she is sleeping. <snip> Due to health 
> issues i may have to sell most of the hives before long but as long as I 
> can find help like I have right now I will not. My new companion is a 
> small bottle of nitroglycerin tablets.

We all wish you and your wife good health.

> I certainly do not have all the answers to today's tough beekeeping 
> questions but with forums like BEE-L and others beekeepers from all over 
> the world can discuss today's problems and compare notes.

This is having a huge an unseen impact on everything around us.

> One aspect of many national meetings I dislike is there is  not always 
> time for many questions after presentations and the researcher says he 
> will be around the meeting all weekend to answer questions but many never 
> seem to be.

Hmmm.  Maybe you ask too many tough questions.

As much as I enjoyed EAS and the wide array of names and experience, I think 
back to the special sessions at the AFB or one of the associated meetings 
where they trot out the new talent.

We often forget that have a cohort of upcoming young people we never hear 
about with knowledge that will change our world many times in the coming 
decades. They are working to back up the current crop of seasoned and 
experienced scientists with new tests and insights and accelerating 
understanding and progress into overdrive.

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