In message <[log in to unmask]>, Bill Truesdell
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>James Kilty asked, as did several others, if cell size is the contributing
>factor to control Varroa, then why do feral colonies die off?
Sorry I need to correct this. I was actually questioning the argument by
working with the ideas in an open way and did not suggest it was *the*
contributing factor. I know feral colonies have died out. I have seen it
locally. I saw bees on the ground last week with deformed wings (almost
non-existent actually) near feral colonies only a year after a swarm
arrived. The arguments I made implicitly questioned the strength if any
of the connection, though for economy of words I don't put everything I
know into a posting. I intend to check which, if any of my colonies bite
the legs off varroa as Germans have found with Carniolans and bred for
the trait successfully. We can all do things like that.

We are also observing "pepperpot" brood - gaps in the pattern where eggs
and unsealed brood are found at random in a slab of sealed brood - where
there is *no* sign of EFB or chalk brood - in some colonies. Initially I
put a bad dose of this in one colony down to inbreeding (tentatively).
Now I am wondering along with a colleague that we might have an example
of a hygienic bee removing varroa infested worker larvae. Perhaps
readers might suggest an obvious alternative. I must have 5 or 6 like
this (after eliminating the higher than usual number of colonies with
chalk brood this year).

The next step is to monitor the colonies carefully - are there any
larvae on the ground nearby? It is not the best time of the year to do a
study on this but mite fall after apistan in colonies with mesh floors
will at least show if the same colonies had a high, medium or low
infestation. Lower than the norm would imply something was happening if
all other factors seemed similar. Next season I will follow these
approaches up and will monitor mites where I have collected them before
apistan. Closer observation is certainly called for.

A suggestion has crept in to this discussion that contributors have
proposed that getting bees to make smaller comb implies changing the
genetics. I have not seen this proposal and certainly don't even imagine
it. Part of my concern is to marry conflicting ideas. I subscribe to the
view that our best strategy in West Cornwall (UK) is to do everything we
can to promote native bee characters alongside beekeepers who continue
to import Italian bees into a distinctly non-Mediterranean climate.
Beowulf Cooper found that A.m.m. bees were *larger* when left to build
their own comb. This would presumably also vary depending on locality as
he and others have found great variation in other characters such as the
peak time for bee populations which related to the principal forage of
the areas. I have also had a report of a locality in Scotland where the
bees were a great deal smaller than any others the beekeepers had seen.
So it would appear once again that observation and measurement is the
key.
--
James Kilty