Beekeepers:

Carl J. Wenning did a feature article in the November 2000 issue of
American Bee Journal titled ‘Beekeeping in Alaska’. He emailed several of
us up here for information on beekeeping practices in Alaska several months
before writing the article. After the article appeared he emailed that he
found it interesting that mites are generally not considered to be a huge
problem in Alaska since most people here who have bees don’t attempt to
overwinter. (Mites are a genuine problem for those of us who do overwinter,
incidentally). He wrote in his email that he thought the idea of not
overwintering might be worth looking at as a beekeeping practice. In his
article ‘The Economics of Overwintering Honey Bees’ that appeared in the
February 2001 issue, he used the euphemistic phrase ‘hive depopulating’.
Quite a few letters to the editor about the practice of killing off bees
appeared in subsequent issues.

Regards,
Dick