Mike writes:
That's kind of what you did with your bees Dee, if I
understand your breeding efforts correctly.  You kept
the queens that produced the resistant strains you
wanted that still kept the other good traits, and
destroyed the queens that were susceptable to the mite
pressures that were placed on them.  Correct me if I
am wrong here.



Reply:
You are corrected then as when we shook down on second
shakedown in 97 we went to a live and let die mode and I
didn't even raise queens until we hit 500 colonies again
and then only from survivor queens, after numbers came up
and with variability again we got something to choose from
again. Grafted about 2000 Then, but  since then havn't
raised queens and have split from straight surivors while
going to mode of using sun cycles to let the bees choose
and choose they are.

It's different following the drones and how the worker
castes break out and sun cycles, but does work with effort.
We are about 900 hives again and holding and growing as we
keep redoing equip.

Saying that when and if I do raise queens I do cull queens
by time of year and coloration to local area.

Respectfully submitted,

Dee A. Lusby

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::