Kevin Grabow wrote > I requeen every other year and tracheal mites are still a major problem for >me. I treat for varroa and tracheal mites in addition to requeening. Sorry, in my original message I failed to add the words "Trachael mite resistant Queens" I assumed, incorrectly, that you knew that Ontario has Resistant Queens. At the risk of getting flamed for advertising on the 'net perhaps I should explain. About 5 years ago, Dr.Medhat Nasr and the Ontario Beekeepers Assoc. formed The Ontario BeeBreeders Assoc. a loose group dedicated to breeding a Trachael (T mite) resistant strain. Dr. Nasr and others designed a scientific test to quantify the resistance or lack of it to any bees tested.(If I have enough requests I will write up the method). When they first started there were up to 200 mites per bee. Our tests this year were less than half a mite in less than 25% of our bees. What this means is instead of suffocating, the bees can cope with our level of infestation. I read an analogy which I think explains the problem. T mites are like double pneumonia and Varroa is like a vampire bat. When a hive dies, which one killed it? Most people would say the one that is most visible, ie Varroa, whereas in fact it could well have been T mites. I've been raising Queen's for many years, 2 years ago I learned of this program and now this year our 16 breeder hives have all been tested, every one of them are T mite resistant. There are approx 22 breeders in the program some have achieved T mite resistance some haven't. So you can understand why I was astounded to see the length some are going to, to medicate for T mites. A simple re-queen and goodbye to Menthol, Crisco, Formic Acid and all the other weird and wonderful concoctions. If anyone wants a list of the Breeders please e-mail me direct. ************************************************************ * David J. Eyre CEO 9, Progress Drive, Unit 2, * * The Beeworks Orillia, Ont, Canada, L3V 6H1 * * [log in to unmask] (705) 326 7171 * * http.//www.muskoka.net/~beeworks * *************************************************************