Hello Blane & All,

> John Harbo's efforts have given us a line of bees that is resistant to
varroa >and has been shown (see the documentation on the Baton Rouge Bee lab
>website) to produce useful resistance in open mated daughter queens.  Look
>at the reports the number of varroa mites actually decrease in the test
>colonies.  This line is specifically being released as a way to bring this
trait >into other bee stocks by crossbreeding.

I am not ready to celebrate yet.   Dr. Kerr proved years ago any bees traits
could be enhanced by  breeding ( not open breeding).   Basically Harbo has
found bees with SMr and enhanced the SMR trait.   Nothing new or earth
shaking here.   I can only see having to keep buying SMR breeder queens to
keep the SMR trait in the bees. At least for quite a few years.   Please
enlighten me as to why this is not the case with the SMR *smart* queens ?
Convince me and I will quit using a remote mating yard to keep the SMR line
pure.

>John has also given us methods for selecting for this trait in any honey
bee >stock we choose.  Again a method that can be used by anyone who wants
>to.  In this case we know what the trait is (SMR) so we can base selection
>on presence of the trait instead of breeding from the colonies with the
lowest >mite counts.

How many of us are able to tell the difference between SMR and simply a hive
with a low mite count such as you suggest Dee's are?   Counting the number
of varroa which reproduce and  don't reproduce in a cell is a lot more
complicated than just running rolls or sticky board tests.

> My opnion is that the cell size thing is a red herring the real work of
Dee >and Ed was selecting and breeding from survivor colonies until they got
the >traits for varroa resistance reasonably fixed in their bees.  The
evidence from >the published research studies is that they would have gotten
the same results >without the smaller cell size since others have.
>
  I for one will still say cell size needs looked at. When the questions I
put forth in the first debate and again in the second are answered by
researchers then I will give up on small cells as a possible IPM for varroa.
I have seen anything put forth in this second debate to change my mind. I
have enjoyed the debate like Bill and am sure the subject will come up
again.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Odessa, Missouri