> Peter writes:
....Requeen with marked queens of non-African stock,
> kill mean
> hives, & kill feral hives. Wild bees in the woods
> have
> always been a reservoir for disease,,,

This is not true!
The evidence shows just the opposite!
This study shows that managed colonies are the
reservoir of disease and feral colonies are relatively
free of disease.

"The feral colonies with known ages had an average
age of 6.7 years. Seven of 109 (6.4%) feral colonies
tested positive for B. larvae spores (Table 1). The
number of B. larvae colonies on the plates ranged
from 1 to 3 1.
All the samples of foragers taken from the 15
managed colonies tested positive for B. larvae spores
(Table 2). Six of the colonies had only one larva
each exhibiting clinical symptoms of American
foulbrood disease. Only one of the feral colonies had
a higher B. larvae colony count than the lowest
colony count from the managed colonies."

"This suggests that the feral honey bee population in
New Zealand may be relatively free of American
foulbrood disease and is therefore not a major risk
to managed colonies."

http://www.rsnz.org/publish/nzjz/1994/26.pdf

Joe Waggle ~ Derry, PA    
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries' 
My Site: http://www.biologicalbeekeeping.com
Organic Bee Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers/
Feral Bee Project: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeralBeeProject/

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---