> > >I find that so hard to believe. I don't know why it is Joe. I recently wrote about two Corn Belt beekeepers who use no miticides with great success, and spoken with a number of others across the country. On the other hand, I have a number of bee breeders send me queen stock for testing. I put them in nucs, and start control nucs side by side with my own queens. The nucs with introduced queens are often overwhelmed by mites within a few to several months. But I'm certainly not giving up. I currently run two yards of pure bred Russians (which generally keep mites at relatively low levels) and just yesterday checked on the daughters that I recently grafted off an i.i. VSH breeder, which I will use as drone mothers next spring. We don't make much honey in my area, so my living depends upon me having strong hives on Feb 15. This may an earlier start than in your area, so perhaps it's the longer broodrearing period, among other things. I'd be happy to purchase a few queens from you next spring and run them in my yards and let you know what happens! -- Randy Oliver Grass Valley, CA www.ScientificBeekeeping.com *********************************************** 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