Aussie Bees

The pros are they are coming off summer/fall when we are coming into spring.
(meaning they are available at a time when we generally don't have bees available is the US.)
The cons are the packages take a very long trip to get here to the other hemisphere.

What about the Asian nosema that everyone is talking about?
Mike

Yeah, think shb, mites, etc etc etc... think of all those hitchhikers that come into the country, courtesy of imported bees. And what is next?

IMO. they are junk, They have no resistance to the mites and diseases our bees have that we have been fighting since the early nineties. To keep allowing them into the U.S. of A would be a step back to U.S. beekeepers. The drones these hives would produce would mate with the queens we are trying to make mite and diseases resistant, (queens we raise,and supersede) and make for more losses to U.S. beekeepers. If we don't buy them they won't send them. Jack

A. Cerana has been found in Northern Australia. They carry a mite that makes varoa look like a sunday picnic. There is a whole thread about it on BEE-L.(read A. Cerana). Never mind the inferior genetics, why would anyone want to buy package bees imported from another country risking the possible importation of disease and parasites as well. Many have said on this site there is not a shortage of U.S. bees to meet demands. There does however exist a stygma by some beeks about buying U.S. bees from areas of the country where africanized bees have been reported i.e. my state-Texas.(read thread "buying queens from Africanized areas" on this site).

Maybe I should start a non-profit group and hire a lobbyest to stop the importation, before we all suffer from someone eles oppps'.

brac: It's known as American Honey Producers Association.