> Do you require so much foundation that your output of capping wax is
> unable to meet your needs?  I find it hard to believe that the "raw
> material", for your foundation production available. is so limited that
> you need to co mingle those few diseased frames with the cappings from
> 900+ colonies.

etc., etc.

It is pretty clear that the writer is unaware of the following:

1. that arguing with Dee is an exercise in futility.  She has infinite
patience, she has been through this all before with many different people,
and has thus far remained unmoved.  Few of us who have debated her, though,
can claim not to have learned some useful ideas and none can claim to not
have been well entertained in the process.

     and also

2. exactly what Lusbys have done over the past decade or so, and their
circumstances.

Dee has gone to a lot of trouble to explain here expericnce and reasoning,
and, although we may not all find Dee's way of doing things applicable to
our own operations, and although we may not be completely convinced by all
her explanations for what she does and has accomplished, we do find her
arguments thought-provoking, and good things have come out of revisiting
some old beekeeping arguments.  We've all learned a lot in the friendly
debate, and some of us, from several continents,  have made a trip down to
see for ourselves.  Of that number, some have adopted Lusbys' methods and
ideas, and others have even adopted that type of bee.

To deral with the above query, I'll recap a few points quickly.

When Lusbys melted their entire outfit (twice), there was no cappings wax
available for a while, unless they bought it from others who did not share
their scruples about chemicals..

They have not used all the nasty chemicals that their critics and many of
those advocating avoidance of wax from old combs have used.

They are in an isolated region where sprays and industrial contamination are
minimal.

The wax from melted combs seems to make a much stronger foundation than
cappings wax.

Obviously they are not suffering from a huge AFB problem, even if a few
spores were to survive the melting.

It is really their own business what wax they choose to use, and they do not
have to justify it to anyone.

(BTW, Bob has still not explained why he does not deliberately challenge his
hives with AFB, although he advocates deliberately challenging with varroa).

My final point is the lesson that each of us long-time BEE-L survivors has
had to learn over and over: that each beekeeper and each region is very
different; we can learn by discussion, but it is not possible to tell
another beekeeper how he or she should do things against their inclination.
Not only may the advice be wrong for the situation, but most won't listen
anyhow.

allen

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