Bogansky,Ronald J. wrote:

> There are a number of possibilities but I am sure the nay Sayers will
> quickly point out how it won't work. Folks like Mike Palmer and Kirk
> Webster have shown that the north does not have to be dependent on
> the south to stay in business.  As Michael has often said, you just
> have to change the way you do things.

60,000 colonies come into Maine each year from Florida, where AHB has
been found.

This discussion is almost a mirror of what happened when Varroa was
first found. There were several States that wanted to close their
borders to pollinators going North. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed
and the States worked out the protocols to move bees from Florida to
Maine and the other Northern States.

Canada closed their borders and got Varroa anyway. But I will leave that
alone.

There are AHB in all of the Southern US and California. The Southerners
seem to be dealing with it but we in the North seem to be cowering in
fear from a manageable problem. We have AHB in Maine. They come in on
pallets and they come in from helpful (and I mean that) beekeepers
bringing in bees from the south to help other beekeepers. Hot hives are
treated like we have treated hot hives since the dawn of the bee suit.
Hives are re-queened and we go about our business.

I have had hot hives where the bees would meet me in my garden some 200
feet from the hives, and this was well before AHB. I did something about
it- re-queened.

The only problem with AHB and beekeepers is the ones who know they have
AHB and do nothing about it. But there is not enough legislation in the
world to counter stupidity, so it is up to us to police ourselves (which
I have seen many times).

In Maine, we are fortunate to have the best Bee Inspector in the US. He
works with the commercial pollinators and with the Florida Inspector to
keep the AHB problem manageable. I appreciate his work and have no
problem allowing my fellow beekeepers to come to our state and earn a
living as well as help our blueberry growers do the same.

Bill Truesdell (professional positive naysayer)
Bath, Maine

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