Is not treating cruelty?

[allrawpaul]

How much do untreated Russian bees suffer from mite infestation? There are allways a number of mites in a colony vampirising the bees. Leaving them untreated is a bit like leaveing ticks on a cat. seems like even Russians could benefit from some fogging on occasion. Comments? Thanks. Paul.

[Ian]

Its all a part of nature.

[deknow]

how much do treated mites suffer from fluvalinate poisoning?

deknow

[NW IN Beekeeper]

1. Do we have an obligation to see to it that all ferals get treated?

2. There needs to be a "mite pressure" to retain resistance.

3. The fewer mites you have the healthier you hive is likely to be.

These are the circles thoughts that have no common ground to give you an absolute answer you seek.

[high rate of speed]

:confused:As a commercial pollinator it is only cruelty to your pocket book.

[Michael Bush]

Is not "treating" cruelty? It perpetuates genetics that have no hope of surviving on their own...

[high rate of speed]

No,the question is how long can you hold on until you see results.

[Chef Isaac]

I think treating bees is cruelty. The become used to being treated. It is like pumping us full of anti biotics and wonder why we get sick every time we go off of them.

[high rate of speed]

I totally agree,but when it comes time to have bees in your box and money in your pocket,whats a guy to do.:rolleyes:

[ScadsOBees]

Boy, I'd get some anti-biotics for my son's infected leg, but that would be cruel and unusual. Best let nature take its course.

Um...its not the treatment that is bad, it is the mistreatment and the over-treatment. I don't get antibiotics for every ear infection or inflamed cut. That would be over/mis treatment, even if it does hurt like crazy.

Its pretty simple, really:
If your bees need to be treated (too many mites), then you should either treat them or suffer the losses. If you don't care if you lose colonies, that is fine, you can buy some better stock.

If your bees don't need to be treated (some mites but not too many), then you shouldn't treat them, anymore than you get medicine for the sniffles.

If you look at each bee as a separate organism, then it could be cruel (natural). But the colony is really the organism, and the colony can afford to lose occasional cells (bees) and still survive and thrive.

[high rate of speed]

Very good point,buying better stock is good for our economy.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

S O B has summed it up pretty well!

[deknow]

..when it comes to treating humans, dogs, cats, etc, yes, we will treat because we are sentimental about that particular individual.

when it comes to bees however, i honestly don't care (sentimentaly) about individual hives/lines/races/etc. i care about having bees that i can keep without treatments. i will never have bees that don't require treatments if i buy/breed from stock that is always treated.

deknow

[Ian]

>>i will never have bees that don't require treatments if i buy/breed from stock that is always treated.


There is a long road ahead of us.

[allrawpaul]

I agree that it isnt as simple as treating a suffering animal. Treating the individuals could eventually doom the species or at least a lot of colonys. Is there reliable stock available that doesnt need treatment? Seems like there are a lot of doubts about the Russians, and many have reported that hygenics seem to perish often.

[Chef Isaac]

Paul:

it is not that the hygenic trait of the russians perish, it is the open mating that thins the trait. Every time a queen open mates with drones of other origin, the traits have the possability of getting thinned. That is why people tend to by breeder queens when rearing.

[REDTRACTOR1]

Good answer Chef. I don't condem anybody for raising queens but some people don't know about having true lines of bees. When you open mate queens you have to provide every possible thing you can to make sure that you don't have any other bees that are close by for the queens to mate with. I have drone mothers in every direction (north, south, east, and west around my mating yard and have true russians only in my mating yards. The drone mothers are about 1/2 of a mile away frome the mating yards.
Dwight