On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 8:58 PM, randy oliver wrote: > > I breed from about 25 queens each year, selected for productivity and high > mite resistance. Each year, the mite level at selection time each spring, > after about four brood cycles, gets lower. This year, following an oxalic > dribble in November, of the 20-frame busting colonies from which I selected > breeders, in mid March and full of drones, I rejected any with more than 1 > mite per 300 bees, and about a quarter had zero mites in a 300-bee sample. > > Do you see any correlation with Niņos/Niņas years with respect to varroa load. Past season was a deep La Niņa and based on this information http://apiaraucania.blogspot.com/2011/08/varroa-growth-weekly-rate-versus-el.html a low varroa year . But maybe this doesn't apply to California. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm