I've just returned from the AHPA convention -- and further adventures -- and
I offer my notes to the group.
Halfway through the AHPA meeting I realised that things were going in one
ear and out the other, so I started taking notes. Here are my rough notes
from the AHPA meeting cut & pasted from my Palm. Questions welcome:
---
Dr. Jay Evans Beltsville
Beetles
AFB Genes
Gene expression & identify queen characteristics
Dr. Jose Yilla - Baton Rouge
TM susceptibility common in USA Commercial bees. Some suppliers are much
better than others. Breeders should be testing their queen mothers
Patti Elzen-Westlaco
-Apistan & Formic promising
-Coumaphos resistance confirmed in Fla with David Westervelt
-SHB problems are much worse in hives treated with grease patties
-Planning to work more on nutrition
John Harbo
-30 pupae purple eye - count reproductive mites calc %-described on a colony
level
-res x ctrl are 1/2 way between res & ctrl with some variation
-Trait appears to be additive
-Is SMR related to poor brood production? 100% SMR have poor brood. But 1st&
subsequent crosses seem OK. 75% is OK. 70% SMR seems ideal.
-SMR takes 6 weeks to show up in a colony after new queen begins work.
Jeff Harris
-Russian crosses with other stock may not retain R characteristics
Tom Rinderer
Russian queens have good tracheal & varroa resistance. Can go years w/o
treatment
Gordon Wardell
-co-operative research
-Naturally Occuring Products
-oil of origano in a slow release strip 94% drop over 6 wks
-Several oils at 1% levels can prevent CB
Eric Erickson
-Tucson bringing out several mite control products in the next few years
-Emphasis on IPM
-Varroa natural tolerance is masked by chemicals
-Very low Varroa counts in Leonard's colonies
-Cross contamination from non-tolerant neighbouring hives both managed &
feral
-Susceptibility to varroa is declining rapidly
-Natural products will help in an IPM
-New research direction. Partnerships with technical small businesses
-Tucson will not close for the foreseeable future
---
Following the AHPA meeting we were invited to drop by Lusbys place and we
spent a few fascinating days there. We also attended a Southern Arizona Bee
meeting and got a chance to meet several more BEE-L members.
I've posted some pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/allendick and in my
diary. I'm working on fleshing this all out on my diary site (below). It
may take a while to complete.
allen
http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Diary/
