Comments on SB2586 Apiary Act of 2008

"Maren at google" <m.purves@jach.hawaii.edu> wrote in message
news:1202144703-sch@news.lava.net...
>
> On Feb 1, 10:40 am, "Lawrence Akutagawa" <lakuNOS...@>
> wrote:
>> "Alvin E. Toda" <a...@lava.net> wrote in
>> messagenews:1201832103-sch@news.lava.net...
>>
>>> This is a message that has been forwarded to many
>>> beekeepers in the state. Just sharing it. I think that
>>> the extermination on Oahu might have been successful
>>> because I have only seen one bee in the last four weeks
>>> and I killed it-- out here in PC. Of course, you only
>>> need one surviving bee to start the whole thing up
>>> again. So the hive from which the bee came from should
>>> be exterminated if it is not already infested and dead
>>> by now from the varroa mite.
>
>> By the way - killing one worker bee is like killing that one ant you
>> found
>> on the kitchen counter. Makes you feel really good, but the hive/
>> nest lives
>> on.
>
> if the one (new to the hive) worker bee has varroa mites and the
> rest of the hive so far didn't it will start the whole infestation
> over
> again.
>
/snip/

Thanks for the clarification, Maren. That is what I guess Alvin
meant to
say...but didn't, ambiguous and prone to logically valid different
interpretation as his words were. I'm waiting his subtantiation of
errant
bees entering a hive other than their own "...because they smell the
honey
and the queen's smell." Knowing Alvin, I think it will be a much, much
longer rather than a shorter wait.

On Mon, 4 Feb 2008, Maren at google wrote:

> BTW, eradicating bees IMHO may solve the problem of
> the varroa mite infestation, but it doesn't solve the
> problem that the varroa mite created: a lack of bees.
>
> Exterminating the hive where the bee came from
> doesn't solve anything unless you know that there are
> varroa mites. If there are varroa mites, eradicate
> them. If there aren't let them live and keep
> checking. And, for crying out loud, you're supposed
> ot kill the mites, whether you kill the bees with
> them or not. Killing the bees and letting the mites
> live isn't going to solve anything.

Yes. There are tests that can be done. And beekeepers--
some at least-- would rather that the bees lives.
They'll even try medication although that may taint the
honey.

But you're luck, because one of the major sources of
new bees is on the big island. Queen bees sell for
somthing like $10 each if you buy them wholesale. It's
not unusual for a mainland beekeeper now to have to
re-Queen each season for the hives lost to the varroa
mite. IIRC Kona Queen Bees ship about a 100 high
quality queens for about $1000 a box. Maren you'd get a
greater return if you switched to growing queen bees.
Just you'll have to worry about the SuperFerry bringing
a bee with varroa mites from Oahu.

> BTW: corn is mostly wind pollinated.
>
> And: I wouldn't be surprised if carpenter bees and
> such would be affected by the mite too, even though
> they are rather solitary (there goes the lilikoi
> crop).

There your go.... then you can switch to growing seed
corn which brings in a lot if you can grow the GM
variety, or just grow sweet corn for the local market.