Hello John,
Glad to see you trying to improve the varroa tolerance of your stock!

The difference between what you, the USDA-ARS and every other breeder trying
to find varroa tolerance and Dann Purvis is Dann adds varroa levels to test
his future breeders. Cranks varroa loads above threshold.

A race care looks fine in warm up laps but will the car stay together at
200+ MPH?

Dann and myself have put many *so called* varroa tolerant stocks sold in the
U.S. to the test.

bob

ps. You can do the added varroa pressure test at home ( frames of drone
brood *varroa infested*) when looking for the varroa tolerant breeder queen
but do risk the loss of the hive but can many times pull the queen and
introduce  into a made up nuc to save her.
Another way Dann culls the *dinks* is to leave a couple frames of drone
brood in all season to see if the hive can still handle the varroa load. I
was amazed at the lack of varroa in those frames with his "Gold Line" stock.
Hygienic was a top priority of Dann's even years ago and Dann brought in
some of the best outside genetics to use with *his own* survivor stock.


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