Bill did a fine job of explaining the finer points 
of "varroa-tolerant ferals" to those engaging in 
debate over the issue and said:

> So Tom's bees are not the hoped for resistant 
> bee that some might think.

Bill's right of course, and so is Tom Seeley,
but why go searching for what we already have,
already understand, and already have clear 
metrics  for optimizing the breeding of 
the specific traits we understand and know
to work against varroa?

We already have the genetics we need to solve 
the problem, and have had them for some time.

The "Russian" lines and the Spivak/Harbo/Harris/Danka 
"VSH/SMR" bee breeding programs are going through the 
process of trying to make the traits more predictable 
for queen producers, but as it stands (ABJ Jan 2008): 

"Throughout the three seasons of measurement, 
resistant stocks required less treatment against 
parasitic mites than the Italian stock. The total 
percentages of colonies needing treatment against 
varroa mites were 12% of VSH, 24% of Russian and 
40% of Italian. The total percentages requiring 
treatment against tracheal mites were 1% of 
Russian, 8% of VSH and 12% of Italian. The 
average honey yield of Russian and VSH colonies 
was comparable to that of Italian colonies each 
year. Beekeepers did not report any significant 
behavioral problems with the resistant stocks." 

So why place hope in so-called "feral bees"
or, the even more comically speculative "feral 
survivors" when Marla has 95% of breeding mites 
being removed by the house bees themselves as a
normal outcome of her breeding program?

And we can't really compare the US to Australia
in terms of "feral" versus managed colonies, as
Australia hasn't had their feral stocks wiped out
by varroa, so they likely DO have more genetic
diversity in their feral stocks, mostly because
they have very large areas where there are no
managed hives at all.

And one would not want to look among ferals in 
Australia for varroa resistance, because, once
again, they don't have varroa in Australia.

Are the Spivak/Harbo/Harris/Danka "VSH/SMR" bees
Magic Bees?  Nope, but they aren't Magic Beans
either.  They are zero percent fraud and 100%
science-based.  Reams of stuff you can read.

But they will require monitoring, as not all 
"VSH/SMR" colonies can be expected to have 
complete pure pwnage over varroa, and hence 
may will require some treatment now and again.

But perhaps Bob Danka will even remove that
small defect from the breeding program, and
then, when the bees are "perfect" beekeepers
will start to pay attention.

Poor Marla.  How many years has she been
doing this, now?  Anyone said "thank you"
recently?


 

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