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Date: | Sun, 12 Nov 2006 12:20:29 -0500 |
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>I have not ever seen a experiment published (other than mine and Dan's)
>which involved stress & adding extra varroa to the hive.
Hello Bob,
How the stress factor plays into varroa infestations is something that
needs looked at. I have witnessed this spring, a fascinating example of
just how stress plays into a colonies ability to control mites. Under
some extreme stress conditions, it seems a colony can temporary loose it’s
hygienic abilities or other beneficial traits.
>Hives in most USDA experiments sit in a single location by researchers and
>are feed both syrup & pollen patties. The hives of yours, Dee's and Dennis
>M. are never moved. Are never placed in areas of thousands of varroa
>infested hives with drifting drones.
I don’t know that any colony can cope with a sudden onslaught of varroa in
very large numbers. What I am seeing is a gradual decrease over time of
varroa. But it will be interesting to see what your results are in this
area.
>I am going to take 25 pounds of small cell foundation and wire into new
>frames ( yuk!) and place in super strong hives at the height of brood
>rearing in May. Two to a hive or around 80+ hives involved. Once drawn and
>the queens lay in I will go in and pull pupa at the purple eye stage and
>observe and see what you are seeing ( or not).
I would recommend waiting till year 2 or 3 to make conclusions of what we
are seeing. The first season will for some reason show an increase in
mites for some reason and may include other stress symptoms that could be
interpreted wrongly if judgments are made too soon concerning small cell.
Most beekeepers regress with their survivors. Survivors tend to have low
brood viability. So one needs to regress the first year, and then select
for queen fundamentals and at least 95% viability, then the following
season see the results. Many expect small cell as a cure all, it is not
for it must be accompanied by good beekeeping practices and quality stock
which I know you have already.
>Dennis says the experiment is worth doing and I should see what you small
>cell people are seeing.
With your expert knowledge in bee biology, it will be fascinating to hear
how you interpret what you are seeing.
I’m on small cell for 6 years now. Because I have had bees on small cell
long term, I am seeing things that I have not noticed in short term
observations. Due to my observations with small and large cell bees, I am
scraping ALL claims by researchers that varroa infestation is correlated
to the amount of brood. I have found that varroa infestation is
correlated to ‘the infestation rate of worker brood‘, not the amount of
brood, there is a difference between the two.
My thinking now is that the higher infestation rate of worker brood in
larger cell colonies causes a selective advantage for queens with low
brood viability, because these will be the survivors and usually have low
mite counts. And any varroa suppression trait selected using mite counts
in colonies where infestation rate of worker brood is high, will IMO
inevitably include low brood viability, because of low viabilities
influence on the varroa infestation rate of worker cells.
From what I am seeing my smaller cell colonies is that the selective
pressure for low brood viability as a means of mite suppression appears to
be eliminated from this natural selective process. This seems to have
improved my ability to select colonies for their true mite suppression
qualities, and I do not get the bi-directional unintentional selection for
low brood viability many have stated occures. This has allowed me to
easily and substantially increase my brood viability over all.
Joe Waggle
Ecologicalbeekeeping.com
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries'
Feral Bee Project:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeralBeeProject/
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