Bob said:
> I am surprised a recent paper would have Dr. Harbo's name as Dr. Harbo has
> been retired quite awhile now.
He's retired from the ARS, but is quite alive and still has his hand
in the game.

> I am not a big fan of his [Dr Eischen]
We Californians are big fans of his!  Dr Eischen has performed quite a
few meticulous, and well-designed studies regarding practical issues
in almond pollination, using commercial colonies in normal field
conditions.  When I have reviewed his papers and/or raw data, I have
been very impressed by his work.

>but common sense says when you start raising brood rearing to peak levels you also raise varroa breeding to peak levels. I am surprised the USDA-ARS would waste their time with such testing.

I have come to question "common sense" in every regard to honey bee
biology and management.  I'll stick to hard data, thanks!  There was
little "waste of time":  if you were to read the paper, you'd see that
he was testing to see how fall feeding affected colony strength and
survivability levels, and measured parasite levels for good measure.
These are issues with which West Coast beekeepers are deeply
concerned.  We appreciate Dr Eischen's hard work.  Of course, as Allen
says, all experiments need to be replicated.

Randy Oliver

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned 
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html