At 8:20 -0500 1/17/04, Bill Truesdell wrote:
>
>Varroa resistance is not the be-all and end-all of beekeeping. We still
>have a multitude of problems that can bring down our colonies or result
>in characteristics that are not desired.


True, I have a hive that has now gone 6 years without treatment but
they are also very hot and poor honey producers. Their only
remarkable or for that matter, desirable characteristic (from my
point of view) is survivability.

However, correct me if I'm wrong (I'm really a vegetable farmer who
keeps bees) there is something very positive to be said for surviving
without treatment.  Therefore it doesn't seem to make sense replacing
the non productive, hot but surviving hive's queen with a
commercially grown queen.

Instead, since I farm in an area with no other known beekeepers
within at least five miles it seems to make sense to instead replace
non-surviving hives with resistant commercial queens and by doing so
to be including my surviving hives (hopefully good) characteristics
to my bee's gene pool.

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