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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
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Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:06:50 -0600
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Yes, I found that interesting, but the one thing that really stuck out is 
that the winter losses are high and it really does not sound as if these are 
very productive bees.  I wonder how his crops compare to others with more 
commercial stock.

Years ago, I bought queens from a breeder who had mountain-hardy stock and I 
ran them a few years until I discovered that I was supporting them, not the 
other way around and went to a commercial strain which suddenly made me 
money and was less work.

It seems to me that, at this point, the bees which can withstand mites and 
disease without chemical and management help tend to be wild or conservative 
strains with limited commercial potential.  Note, I said "tend'.

There are, of course, exceptions and we have come a long ways from a decade 
or so back when virtually any colony which was not given chemical assistance 
was a goner in family short order.

I fully expect that in the next decade, we will have commercially useful 
bees which are far less chemically dependent. 

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