Sep
29
Written by:
Lady Spirit Moon
9/29/2011 2:53 PM
Today I visited CRA-API means Counsel for the Research & Experimentation for Agriculture. I met with Andre Besara, Bee Veterinarian, and Dr. Antonio Nanette, Bee Pathologist and Researcher. Andrea and I spent several hours going into his hives at the Bologna University. They are very gentle bees measuring about 5.0 – 5.1 centimeters. Dadant hives are used with various types of porches. Andrea explained what a Bee Veterinarian. It isn’t the type of doctor I imagined putting a cast on a broken bee leg. A Bee Veterinarian is an inspector of bees to whom people call, bring their frames to, or he goes to their apiary.
They treat their bees with Oxalic Acid. They put the bee into a cage in the hive to keep her from laying any more eggs. They put on the Oxalic Acid for 25 days as they want all the cells to hatch and the Varroa come out with them. After 25 days, the queen is released. When I mentioned about using 4.9 small-cell foundation, Antonio went to his computer then left the room. When he came he gave me 2 documents.
The first document was about a study, Ins. Soc. Life 2: 109-114, 1998, done by Italian scientists on different size cells in relation to Varroa using 96 hives of Apis mellifera ligustica. Briefly, the study showed no significance different in the amount of Varroa in the 5.0 – 5.1 centimeter size cell. However, there was significantly less Varroa in the hives with 4.9 foundation.
The other document was a study done in France, INRA, EDP Sciences, 2007 DOI: 10.1051/apido:2007040 on wild bees surviving Varroa located near Le Mans and around Avignon areas. Briefly, the study indicates when all seven years (1999 to 2005) of the experiment were included, they found no significant difference of Varroa mortality rates between treated and untreated.
I thought about this when Andrea explained how companies like Bayer have the farmers convinced they must spray for pests. Montana puts nicotinamide chemicals on corn to protect from diabrotica virgifera, a parasite. The fact is only 10% of the corn crops have this problem, but the farmers are planting the treated seeds on the other 90% when it isn’t necessary.
The discussions today have given a new perspective on the necessities of the pesticides, herbicides, fungicides…on all “cides” and how the Montana and Bayer are blatantly lying to everyone and forcing them spend their money unnecessarily.
Copyright ©2011 Lady Spirit Moon