Hello  Olda  & All,

>In russian beekeeping magazine Pchelovodstvo nr. 1/2004

http://www.beekeeping.orc.ru/BeeN104.htm

I have not been able to pull up the English version so not yet able to read.

>wrote prof. N. I. Krivtsov

Many so called experts in the beekeeping world have said the search for a
varroa tolerant bee was a waste of time. Prof. Krivtsov is not alone in his
beliefs.

I doubt Prof. Krivtsov livelihood depends on a bee which tolerates varroa
being found. Ours did!

To all others which doubt a varroa tolerant bee exists please write similar
papers. Time will show which is correct!

Our *proof* is simple. The bees surviving. The longer the bees survive the
less the nahsayers will speak out.

Saying the primorsky bees have not shown any different survival rate than
other bees with the Russian testing is almost laughable. Sorry for my
bluntness. I have years already involved in testing Primorsky bees side by
side with a strain of Italian bees which can not hardly make a season end
without treatment.

*If you believe as Dr. Krivtsov does that the bees of Primorsky have not
developed any varroa tolerance then you could conclude natural selection has
not taken place.*

*If you are convinced (as I am and the USDA-ARS researchers) that the bees
of Primorsky do show varroa tolerance then what has caused the Primorsky bee
to show varroa tolerance?*

I would like to make one point which is often overlooked. The Russian queens
as imported from Primorsky by the USDA-ARS did contain queens with little if
any varroa tolerance.

These queens were carefully removed from the program which is documented in
the I believe three reports released by Dr. Rinderer (head  of the Russian
bee project for the Baton Rouge Bee Lab).

We are trying to get a few of these cull queens to try and evaluate further
but have not been able to so far by our ridged testing.

Many trips were taken by Shiminuki & Rinderer to Primorsky to test the bees
of the Primorsky region for varroa tolerance. Their conclusion was *yes* or
the project would have been dropped. End of story.

Our group has taken these genetics (all that were released through the lab
as final product) and created our Russian bee. The Russian bee we have come
up with (not yet offered for sale in the U.S.) has been put through years of
varroa pressure both on the breeder queens (unheard of in most projects and
we hope for a 50% KILL)
and on daughter production queens ( also we strive for at least a 50% kill).

Varroa infested frames with PMS were added to  colonies to  add pressure.
Varroa infested bees were shock in hives. Two drone comb frames were left in
(never removed to remove varroa) throughout the season in many hives.
Whatever it took to get the 50% kill rate .

Hopefully I will be able to read the article Prof. Krivtsov has written and
comment but I have already read so many negative articles about the search
for the varroa tolerant bee I do not need to read any more. If not for the
advice of Dr. Shiminuki (retired head of the USDA-ARS ) saying a varroa
tolerant bee would be found in 20 years and pointing the way before his
retirement with the Primorsky project I would still be wishing for a varroa
tolerant bee instead of caring for varroa tolerant bees. I checked two lines
of untreated Russians yesterday morning and they look great.
My instrumental insemination breeder queens (untreated) look great and ready
for winter.
Thanks for the post with reference to the Professors writings!

Bob

Ps. I call Dr. Shiminuki friend as do many beekeepers. I last spoke with
"Shim" at the ABF meeting in Savannah I believe. Dr. Shiminuki & I have
"locked horns" through the years on many subjects. One year I traveled to
four of his speaking engagements to sit in the front row.
"Shim" would only give a slight grin. I sincerely miss the beekeeping
knowledge Dr. Shiminuki brought to our discussions! The calm manner he took
on irate beekeepers with backs up against the wall looking for answers to
tough beekeeping questions. "Shim" will go down in U.S. beekeeping history
as leading the industry through its toughest times to date.Job well done!

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