On Wed, 2 Mar 1994 16:04:01 -0400 John Batson asked ...
 
> For some time now I have been interested in tracheal
> mite (and varroa) infestation, as most of us have.  Like
> others, I have previously purchased putative resistant
> packages, and I have already ordered an number of new
> packages for the spring of so-called Tabor resistant bees,
> plus some Yugo bees that are reputed to be resistant.
>
> My question is simple:  Where is the evidence of
> resistance?
 ...
> Can anyone provide some reference to published data?
 
 
        Hello John !
 
        I am a beekeeper in Belgium, french speaking ! My english is
very poor ... excuse me !  See here part of a comment I mailed to
BEE-L last year (30-APR-1993).
 
I have no reference about this resistance but see the situation here
in Europe ...
 
Before the '60s, and till 1966, the acarapis w. mite (TM) got a lot of
problems to beekeepers in Belgium, France, UK, Germany, ... The bees
died at early spring (falling on the ground in front of the hive,
crawling without flying) and we treated several times a year with some
acaricide smoke (PK tickets first, Folbex tickets afterwards).  In
local beekeeping publications, you find different advices to avoid
bees lost.  In 1962 and 63 : no more advice; In 64 and 66 : recall for
treatments as "Don't forget the TM ...!".  Since 1967 : absolutely
nothing at all ... thus seems no more problem !
 
In the '70s and after, NOBODY SPEAKED about acarapis mite but I am sure that
we have always this mite endemicly because ...
 
 1. I recorded one case indisputable in Feb-84 : one (out of 14) colony
    died, the others had no problem !  It is the unique (analysed) deadly
    case I hear for 15-20 years. But acarapis may be responsable of some
    other winter bees lost.  In any case, there is no comparison with the
    '50s hecatomb !
 
 2. Each FIRST day of flying in early spring ("first" is important, at the
    second day the phenomenon decreases strongly) in Jan or Feb or Mar ...
    While most of the bees are flying before the hive, you see one or two
    dozen of bees crawling on the ground.  I think there aren't mite free !
--- When really you have problem, you see hundreds (thousand?) of bees  --
--- crawling on the ground and climbing on the grass without flying!    --
        --- And at this time, you can do nothing more than see ! ---
 
Actually, in Belgium and maybe in the whole Europe we never hear about this
problem.  Seems we have got a quasi-resistant bee to tracheal mite !?
 
Resistant Bee ?
 
Now, our beekeepers are using a lot of different bees : the native is
brown (apis mellifera mellifera) but I think it is not yet pure for a
long time, and actually the feral colonies are killed by the Varroa
mite.  Last year we got stats about beekeeping in the french part of
Belgium. They gived the next results about bee's lines : Use of local
native bee (55%), brown bee (22%), buckfast (16%), carnica (5%),
caucasica (3%), ligustica (0%) and others (1%) (In my opinion, the
only difference between the two first is that the first one -native-
doesn't make matter to his bee's line and the second -conservative?-
paid attention to that).
 
But never we were hearing about tracheal mite ...  Though ...
 
Thus !?
 
 
[03-Mar-94 12:44 +0100 BE time]
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 Jean-Marie Van Dyck            medical school - chem physiol dept
 snail :  B.P. 102              Fax  :  +32 81 72 42 72
 B-5000     NAMUR(Belgium)      email : [log in to unmask]
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