George Williams wrote:

> My inspector wouldn't do a roll test because it would  decimate the
populations.

I hear this comment once in a while. I normally take about 250 bees for an
ether roll. Losing this number won't hurt a hive. This is about one percent
of a normal population. 

I would guess at least four times this many bees would die off in an average
day. If a hive can't spare a few hundred bees, it's shot. It is still
worthwhile doing an ether roll on it.

By the way, "decimate" originally meant to kill one in ten, or ten percent.
That meaning has been apparently lost, since now it is used to mean just the
opposite!



pb

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