Peter Borst writes:
The Arizona experiment has been conducted in a
semi-tropical climate, with bees that are probably African
hybrids. They are isolated to such a degree that the varroa
may be inbred which could significantly reduce their vigor.
In the US, in most areas where bees are kept, there is a
continual transit of bees from south to north, and back
south to a lesser degree, which could allow varroa to
hybridize and increase vigor. Also, the application of
chemicals tends to make the surviving mites more vigorous.
So, if you don't keep bees in isolation, you are bound to
pick up new strains of chem. resistant mites, small hive
beetles, etc.


Reply;
Interesting, since AHB wasn't declared arriving until 1996
and then with a black colored swarm right next to our most
southern apiary in Sasabe, not that they weren't supposed
to be breeding true still at that time FWIW and all
findings for first years were next to only yards where SC
bees were kept too FWIW, and this delaration was made also
in year we publically stated we were now ready with new
embossed  new rollers with new foundation to start going
down to 4.9mm size to see if we could get rid of secondary
diseases, from the 5.0mm-5.1mm sizing we were already
regressed down upon (dadant 900 in sales
catalogs/Magazines) since the mid- 1980s. 

So were we africanied with first regression in size to
5.0mm or just the second going into 4.9mm to 4.8mm range
making foundation by hand?

Also in souther Arizona there is commercial beekeeping
other then us. and Stockwell's relatives of Miksa just this
past spring still sent 400 colonies to almonds, along with
hosterman 400 and Miracle about a 1,000 in our area not
counting outers, but there is no traffic here as you say
for we do all keep private yards like in other places
spread out FWIW. But would this almond pollenating make for
more hybridized mites, gee dunno! Also these others use
various treatments for for that too, gee dunno! where hard
or soft, or the feeding of sugars back once all honeys
taken for crop. 

Also we take all the golf course bees in baskets to help
the metropolitian areas from those so-called killers that
you seem to think abound, so the swarms caught from town
from hobbyists and others can be recycled back to the wild 
for renewable resource to fly back to get caught another
day. But we keep the golfers playing and tournaments going
for you'll gotta relax.............but a constant insource
for new polluted blood to mix into our poor bees so they
isolated like you think.......dunno......Tucson lab thinks
they all africians them there swarms in baskets.

Ending, all I can say is we are serving communities keeping
bees at bay the way we always have cause others to
frightened to do it, putting up with new influxes of bees
diseases though our bees seem healthy compared to others
dying each year. Only work in half bee suits as others too
hot to work in with heat, and don't see any mite or
secondary disease problems since last size down (bees lived
on 5.0mm to 5.1mm but couldn't produce for us on desert).
Just came thru 7 hard years of dought and kept building up
in spite of it, doing what we have always done. Only thing
changed was the comb size and if only changing comb size
made our bees healthy and happy and easy to work, and we
can help commmunity with phobia's of fear for orchestrated
killer bees, then maybe poor Ed working with me the past 3
1/2 years in wheel chair and then walker and then by
walking by self until he just left me means that if he
could work them and they are now fine means you can too,
for the migratory around us is no real isolation, nor bees
we take to help others. Also, if side by side comparison is
needed, then it is side by side commercial bee yards and
ours are okay, sorry about the rest......but then we/I have
said all along what we were going to do and did, and have
done up front, out in open...........

Dee-



 
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