Hello All,

Muses said:
 It turns out, though I dont have any documentation here in front of me that
the
the long term use of pesticided in the hives are causing infertility in
drones.  Anyone able to add more to this?  I would really like to learn
more.

Research has shown fluvalinate (Apistan) caused some infertility in drones
AND that coumaphos (Checkmite) causes queen rearing problems when hives were
treated in spring while trying to raise queen cells.

The above  are were obvious problems.

 How many problems from chemicals go unnoticed.

In areas in which fluvalinate use is history the bees have shown Apistan to
be a excellent choice for the beekeeper as *compared* to being put out of
beekeeping in the early days of varroa.

Some wax contamination has been found but most has been linked to illegal
use rather then Apistan strips.

In parts of the U.S. checkmite is now history.

The bees in those areas have proven that coumaphos was not the end of
beekeeping as predicted by many on BEE-L with little long term problems
other than illegal use problems.

Many  are without a legal chemical control  which works in many parts of the
U.S. so we will see how things play out.

 Many are getting into beekeeping to only find in my *opinion* that high
prices have returned to around normal pricing (around cost of production) by
the time they are ready to sell honey and their hives are infested with
varroa with no easy way to solve the varroa problem if they live in an area
in which Apistan and checkmite are not effective.

 The best advice to stay up on the situation in my opinion is to subscribe
to either Bee Culture or The American Bee Journal ( or both) and read the
excellent articles which will keep you informed on the latest developments
in beekeeping as we move through the problems ahead.

Unlike BEE-L and other bee lists all information printed in both magazines
is verified as correct
(as much as is possible and the reason you see a researchers name added to
many articles as the researcher has looked over the information ) before
publication by Kim Flottum (editor Bee Culture)or Joe Graham (editor Bee
Journal).

With the internet you have to decide if information received is correct or
misinformation as moderators only moderate to provide control and do not
censor material and most opinions are allowed.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Odessa, Missouri

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