Hello Humdinger,
I wasn't going to answer this post but because you referred to me as inept I
feel I should respond

> Hummm. . . .
>
> Did I ever mention we go back to the Grandfather's day of beekeeping?

You wrote about *leave alone*method of beekeeping which was what was
practiced by my grandfather and most beekeepers 50 years ago. George I.
would not have been as kind as I was on the issue.

 excessive manipulation and poking because most of
> today's discoveries and findings, in my view, are *a mere footnote to the
only true discovery of beekeeping: bee space.*

There have been many new discoveries concerning beekeeping. Most within the
last two decades.

> And 99 % of interesting exchanges here are mere gossips to that footnote;
> for example, "Truck Stop Swarm Capturing," a problem caused by and
explained by an inept beekeeper whose gross negligence caused the havoc in
the first place.

Bees to you are nicely painted hives all in a row nicely kept.

Bees to the commercial beekeeper are a semi loaded with over 400 hives of
bees. Trying to contain every bee within netting is impossible. The netting
does contain 99% of the bees. When trucking between Florida and California
for example trucks need fuel. In the dead of night and at the outside fuel
lanes is the place to fuel with concern for the general public. When all
that is left is a small swarm of bees about the size of a normal swarm the
public will have to adjust . Pollination is the biggest value to U.S.
beekeeping. Trucks loaded with beehives need to move to keep agriculture
going. One million hives are moved into the Almond groves of California each
year.

You say you work your bees without smoke. Spend a day with a commercial
beekeeper and you will lite the smoker. Most help quit on the second day.
When the air is full of bees you have to shout to be heard by the person you
are talking to. I  get a cough which takes hours to go away as do many
beekeepers. Can any on the list explain the reason for the caugh caused from
being around millions of bees?

I was asked to write in Bee Culture about the truck stop swarm because many
stories of commercial beekeeping never reach the public.
I call myself *sideline* these days. Heavy on the sideline. I do beekeeping
almost every day. I hope one day to only keep a hive or two in the back yard
and produce comb honey.

 Of course, the answer to that problem is to KILL the bees
> for public safety!

I explained in the article in "Bee Culture" that I did not kill the bees so
that the public would not think the best course of action when a swarm is
encountered is to simply *kill the bees*. In my opinion you see a greater
risk to the public than I do . There is a slight risk to the truckers which
also use the truck fuel island.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

Commercial semi  drivers license since the age of twenty one.
Over two million miles without an accident.

Zen saying
"At first mountains were mountains, and then the mountains were not
mountains, but some other thing; now the mountains are mountains again."