On Thu, 22 Mar 2007 10:42:27 -0700, Grant Gillard <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >"How does the organic status change when the hive has a clipped wing queen as >opposed to the hive which is headed by a queen without wings clipped?" > If you read or particpate in organic farming publications, conferences or organizations, you would learn that in addition to the production practices there is an ethic or philosophy inherent in the organic movement. Not that I think its cruel or inhumane to clip the wings of a queen, but realize that being an organic farmer in some of the publics mind is not as simple as filling out the blanks on some form and slapping the USDA logo on your products. My guess is that the queen requirement comes from the same issue of animal care that concerns people about the feedlot approach to farming, so it could be a consumer perception, driven parameter. IMO practices like long distance migratory beekeeping also would not be consistent with an organic philiosophy as the potential effects of things like drift, stress and frequent feeding do not put the bees health first. To some people conventional, industrial farming has only the ledger in mind when decisions are made. Organic farming attempts to turn that around and put the environment and animal and human health before profits. Look around the USA and we live in a time of immense greed with little thought at times given to how we achieve our prosperity. As perhaps a reaction to that a growing number of people will only buy product/services that fit their value system and organic attempts to address that movement. ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************