Also on the subject of pesticides I came cross this article that says that bees kept under organic principles are not suffering the collapse in numbers that conventional hives are reporting. Full article here
I’m on an organic beekeeping list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with the big commercial guys is that they put pesticides in their hives to fumigate for varroa mites, and they feed antibiotics to the bees.
There has been some discussion on beekeeping lists about this; some people agree while others argue that ‘organic’ bees suffer as much as any others. I am new to beekeeping and want to be as organic as I can. That means no chemical treatments for varroa and other common diseases. I can see many raised eye brows!
A post on one list pointed readers to this site. This guy seems to know what he is talking about and does not have a varroa problem. There is life without pesticides, especially for bees.
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