A long-time beekeeper wrote an article for the April issue of Bee Culture magazine, and I like his philosophy. He doesn’t medicate his bees. At all. Ever. For any purpose. Not even mites.

All but one beekeeper I know makes a very big deal of medicating for mites. But this fellow believes that because mites have become an issue, then we should be determined to raise mite-resistant bees. Which means no treating for mites. I’m going with this idea. He says we may lose a lot of colonies to mites or other diseases, but eventually we’ll have stronger, mite-resistant, disease-resistant stock. This is now my philosophy, too.

HEAR ME NOW: There will be no medication of any kind whatsoever in my hives. You can count on it.