Subject: Re: Varroa control alternativ

From: [email-masked] (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 1995 02:52:00 GMT

MD>From: Mark Dillow <[email-masked]>
  >Subject: Re: Varroa control alternativ

MD>Andy,
  >This is a very interesting article. I myself have been
  >interested in treating my hives in a non chemical way, if it
  >were possible. Unfortunately, I have seen very little in print
  >on "organic" beekeeping methods. I would be interested in any
  >other such infomation that anyone might happen upon.

Hello Mark,

  I have not had time to follow up on this, but I would be very
surprised if you could not find the copper materials at a vet supply
store, dairy supply, or a big farm supply store. They seem to have
everything else.

  Please let me know if you do follow this up. I was tinkling that
it would be worth something just to dump a hand full of copper pennies
in the bottom of the hive, but I am sure there are better ways. I can
just see some bee inspector getting pushed all out of shape because he
found a handful of change in some poor beekeepers hives.<G>

  Which brings to mind one of those stories that some don't appreciate.

In the past I kept my bees in the winter and spring on the coast of
central California. I was raised there and spent my winter's there when
I first started beekeeping. The distance from my summer home and bee
pasture was over 100 miles and for year's all I had was a old model-A
pick me up truck to go back and forth. I don't know how I lived without
my super duty FORD diesel pick me up that cost $500 per year for just
the licence, that old model A, costs about $35. a year for licence and
insurance combined.

  Anyway a new bee inspector came on the job and low and behold I began
to get '24 hr. abatement notices for hives I would leave behind to pick
up drifters and late swarms. Mostly junk boxes that no one would move or
steal. This was a real drag to have to travel back to the coast to pick
up these boxes, but who was I to challenge the law and I gritted my
teeth and did what I was told.

  The next spring when I was back on the coast in full force I met the
bee inspector and told him how I felt about this, he was not impressed
and gave me the tired old story "the law is the law" and he does not
make them and I was free to get it changed. Time went by as I kept busy
working my bee's. One of the things that I was taught to do was inspect
bee's, I am good at it, a natural talent or something. Anyway, when ever
I find a hive with AFB, one cell or 10,000 I always mark the cover
with big RED letters "AFB" and the date so I can find it when I move the
bee's or make a special drag on disease which was almost never because I
had less then 1/2 of one percent in most years.

A few weeks after I found and marked this hive, which I think now must
have been a one cellar along comes der local hive sniffer and a few
day's later I get a letter that say's "if this hive is diseased I should
pick it up in 24 hrs or bare the full rapt of the government". I felt
bad about it so I made the 100 mile trip to the yard to pick up the
hive. I developed a bad habit of wanting to see what other's see in my
bee's so I arrived early and took a look. Would you believe I could not
find any disease in this hive or any of the 100 other's on this
location that I carefully inspected. What would you do?

  Well I had two choices, I was already there and I could pick up this
hive and take it to the wax salvage plant as ordered and make some
points with the inspector. Or I could call the inspector and waste my
time getting him to re-inspect the hive, and have him tell me it did not
matter the hive had AFB when he looked at it the first time and I must
destroy it.  I did neither, what I did was mark every hive in the yard
with the big red "AFB" on the tops and came home. I am sure he was
ticked off but that was the last time I ever heard from him. He was not
game to check all 100 hives and from that day on I have never marked my
hive's with "AFB" on the top. I use my initials "AN" and the date, and
would you believe..so do several of the young beekeeper's that at one
time worked for me and now are doing better then I ever did working
their own bee's, but they are not so young anymore.

                        ttul Andy-

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