Keith wrote

> Depends on your gaols. Self sufficient I think can be a good thing, I
myself
> do not want SHB to make it to Alaska and if beekeepers up here were more
> self sufficient in the past we probably would never had gotten Vorroa.
It's
> to late for Varroa but we still have time to prevent SHB from entering.

If you have queen bees coming up from south of the 49th, then I suggest you
insist that the queens be hand caught and hand escorted.  There is a great
volume of opinion that says that if this is done you will not transport SHB.
Why?  Firstly when you open up a hive, the SHB run down away from the light
and into the dark corners.  So it is nigh on impossible to escort a SHB when
putting in the queen and escorts by hand.  If an egg somehow got in the
cage, then it would be criushed by the queen and escorts but I think the
chances of an egg getting in with the queen and escorts is remote.
Apparently eggs are very fragile.

There is no current research on this but we are currently having research
carried out in Australia looking at the hand caught, hand escorted queens.

The battery type transporter where the queens are place in cages by
themselves in a box and bees shaken in from a frame does present a risk.  I
have a report from a person in Canada who I respect who has told me that he
has seen SHB in this type of shipping box.

Even cages that are pre-escorted could present a risk as the SHB could run
up into the mailing cage as the escorts are smoked up.

So insist on hand caught and hand escorted and you shouldn' t have a
problem.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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