Hello All,
After reading the 30 abstracts from the 2nd. International Conference on
Africanized Honey Bees and Bee mites I thought i might throw out a few
statements for discussion. Taken from American Bee Journal September 2000.
Abstract 21 interests me because our major flow is Clover and the mites do
seem to increase at huge levels even when treated in the spring while on
clover. I would be interested in getting all bee-l responses on the below
abstracts. These were taken word for word from text but i did add the word "
"hive"on abstract 23 for clarity as these are taken out of text. I do not
mean disrespect for any of the people which wrote these abstracts only
I would like to get comments on the abstracts from bee-l. I purposely left
names out. If possible read the entire abstract from ABJ before responding.
Thanks!
Bob Harrison

abstract 12-quote:
A queen can lay 6,000 eggs a day in a heavy honey flow.

abstract 20-quote
 Obviously ,the varroa females receive a activation signal by the host
immediately after invasion of the brood cell.

abstract 21-quote
Studies on the effect of five types of food on varroa reproduction revealed
that colonies in marjoram(majorana hortensis)cultivation had the lowest
reproductive rate while those in clover (trifolium alexandrinium)cultivation
had the highest reproductive rate.

abstract 23-quote
mite populations in juniper(j. occidentalis)"hive" boxes were consistently
lower by 30%.

abstract 25-quote
European bee brood was twice as attractive to varroa as africanized brood.

abstract 26-quote
Bees in africanized feral swarms in Costa Rica appear to be quite resistant
to the mites, and usually, if the colonies are properly managed,the mites do
not kill commercial Africanized hives.