Jerry J Bromenshenk
 wrote
 +-------------------------------+
###From: Jerry J Bromenshenk <[log in to unmask]>
###Subject: Re: Varroa mite
###Date: Mon, 14 Feb 1994 13:49:42 -0700 (MST)
###To: [log in to unmask]
###
###Who puts out Wild Cat?????
###
###I agree that AFB, mites, and other things are easy scapegoats for bee
###problems.
###
###One of my undergraduate students did a quick study in which he marked a
###package of bees, sprinkled them along a road, than raced over to a
###beeyard about 1000 feet off the road and sat down for a boring day.  Just
###It was a simple study and doesn't mean a lot, but it does point out that
###bees lost from trucks don't just die in the barrow pit.  They can and do
###find new homes.
###
###Anyway, speculation is great fun, proving it is something else.
###
###mites (the onesies and the twosies).  How's that for scientific nomenclatu
 +-------------------------------+
 
   Hi Jerry,
 
    Mustang Software is the publisher of the Wild Cat BBS program,
805-395-0223 sales. You are welcome to call my bbs at 209-826-8107
and see how it looks and d/l the test drive that should take about
30 minutes to setup. Longer if you are a beekeeper who thinks the
telephone is an instrument of the devil.
 
    I think the old wives tale of strange bees being challenged or
killed by guard bees has left a real void in our understanding of
vector transmission of all bee pests and other problems that are placed
on the most visual object, like a crop duster. (not to minimize the
great loss they have done). Drifting of bees is more then likely
measured in miles not feet.
 
    The main problems I have with bee pathology, one there are few
bee pathologists, and the second every one else seems to be reporting
the same symptoms for many different problems. The symptoms of bees
leaving a hive full of food is as real to todays beekeepers as it
was 100 years ago when reported by the beekeepers then. I do not believe
we are any closer to identifying the cure or cause then they were.
I am not putting down any one's work or ideas, as I think the mites
are interesting study subjects. I also am sure they do some damage,
I have not seen it, (massive damage), but I am sure I will in time. In
the mean time I don't have to look far to find hives that had mites and
are doing well, and hives that are full of food and NO bees. The problem
can be isolated to certain yards, not necessarily the same yards each
year, but more common in certain areas. This would cause one to believe
that its an local environmental problem, except that beekeepers from
Texas to Washington from time to time have reported the same problem
or symptoms.
                  ttul Andy-
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          ##### = AHBS  Only = #####               | ALMOND ORCHARDS>
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        ######## = KEEP  OUT = #######(oo)         ||
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  After a few days of welcome rains California beekeepers are trucking
  their bees to the almond orchards. The estimated movement is peaking
  this weekend with as many as 400+- trucks loaded with beehives on the
  road. An estimated 800,000 hives will be in the almonds by the end of FEB.