Thinking outside the box has been a way of life for me. I believe also for
Dee & Ed. Dee has been willing to discuss her experiments more than me.

Bob......you put varroa infested I think brood combs into your hives to see
if they are resistant to them.

And also to try and kill off half of the experiment hives in order to speed
up finding a varroa tolerant bee. The method was first given to me by Dr.
Shiminuki when varroa first entered the U.S. when I asked if there was a way
to speed up the search for the varroa tolerant bee.  I know of only one
other person in the world using the method. We share information but I am
under a non-discloser agreement with him and his partner (retired USDA
researcher) so I can only give general information about their research.
None have stepped forward on the lists to say they use the method. Are
others using the method?

>And the bees are from Australia.

The method has been used on about every queen producers bees in the U.S. I
believe but the current batch are the best queens imported into the U.S.
from Australia. A line from Italy which is supposed to be varroa tolerant, a
Buckfast line and a line selected from the best within the Australain lines.

These queens under the test  are   my share of the imported queens. All the
three above lines are also in my partners queen yard in good shape and  have
been treated for varroa etc. I can go get a queen from his queen yard if I
kill all mine. My partner (and closest friend) shakes his head at some of my
experiements.

Terry Brown (Browns Bee Australia) provided the queens for testing in the
U.S.. He calls regularly to talk and ask about my testing of the queens.
Awhile back he wanted to know the color of the drones and workers in each
line. It was then I had to tell Terry the colors and the awful thing I had
done adding the varroa infestation. You what he said!

>Can you watch for this and then report back what you find
and see?

I don't have any AFB experiments going on now. A friend in another state
does with hygienic lines and he keeps me informed of his progress. I have
not seen any AFB in my hives in years. If I did I would remove and burn. My
partner and another area beekeeper had a serious active AFB problem in
around 2001 I believe and I stuck my nose into the situation. I helped look
at deadouts and helped decide what to burn. One burned around 200 frames.
Both have not had a problem since and I am sure they would say if they did.
My yards border both beekeepers hives (within a few miles in places)but I
failed to get any AFB in the border hives.

 My experiments with AFB were done in the 70's. I had bought out a couple
beekeepers with AFB problems very cheap (as no other beekeeper would touch
their hives or equipment). I did quite a bit of experiments in a remote area
before I cleaned the problem up.

I highly respect your opinion Dee but burning has been the method I have
recommended and used instead of prophylactic treatment.

Which brings me to some information I need. I have been meaning to contact
Jerry B. or A. Wenner for advice.
Next spring I plan on running experiments on two different products which
the makers say  improve the longevity in honeybees. I need a way to mark the
bees with a color so I can return in so many weeks and see if  the longevity
has improved.
I thought of taking a frame of emerging brood and putting in my professional
incubator , then putting the color on and then returning to the hive.
What type paint do I use , how do I use the paint and what problems do I
need to look out for? I hope the list does not say I need to hand mark each
bee! I am only looking for a general conformation either  product works. Not
exact numbers for a study.

bob

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