> > If we want hives that are not much bothered by AFB, then, to select we
> > should use the hygienic test...
>
> Most of us use hygienic queens... Hygienic bees are important to me
> but I would consider trying to remove AFB a henderance to me finding the
> disease and eliminating it.

Do you encourage the weeds in your garden to bloom before pulling them and
burning them?  When planting a lawn do you deliberately choose grasses that are
easily taken over by weeds?

When I was a bee inspector, I've seen hives that thrive while surrounded by
serious, endemic AFB, yet these hives did not seem to have even a single
infected cell.  Believe me, I looked through them carefully, too.  THAT is what
I mean by 'hygienic' and 'AFB resistant'.

When I say 'hygienic' and 'AFB resistant', I am NOT referring to the
unregulated, untested and widely varying product that breeders are currently
selling as 'hygienic' queens to ride along on the wave.  Such queens are a
curiosity, but useless as a defence against disease. AFAIK, there is no breeder
that guarantees and certifies that *every* queen in *every* batch sold is
hygienic even to an 80% hygienic level.  Unless we have that guarantee, we are
buying a leaky bucket. AFB will get through such a defence right away.

As I wrote before, but many seem to have missed, the problem with 'hygienic'
bees available now is that for every 100% hygienic queen we get, we stand a good
chance of getting 2 that are NOT strong enough in the hygienic characteristic to
thrive in the presence of spores and eliminate the disease on their own.  Any
hive receiving such a *partially hygienic* queen is either marginally or totally
unprotected.

If we receive even one non-hygienic queen in a batch of 'hygienic' queens, and
if the stock will not hold a high level of the trait through supercedure, then
we are getting no real benefit.  As I have said before, and will repeat here: if
we want to get off the chemical and manual labour treadmill that AFB keeps us
on, we will have to have some independent quality control certification that
guarantees us that very batch of queens is as consistent as every pail of OTC we
buy.  Would you buy and trust OTC or fumigillan or Apistan if it were as
variable as the queens on the market?

If you could have 100% hygienic hives that are like the ones I describe above,
and could quit medicating for AFB, would you prefer to have hives that are
susceptible so you could remove the AFB by hand?  Over and over again?

Our current AFB practices are equivalent to encouraging weeds to go to seed in a
garden.  These practices provide a steady income for the regulators and
inspectors and equipment manufacturers, but do nothing for the poor beekeeper.

allen

http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/
---
The most important thing in the programming language is the name. A language
will not succeed without a good name. I have recently invented a very good name
and now I am looking for a suitable language. -- D. E. Knuth, 1967