> When friends like Randy Oliver say the new VHS queens are prolific &
working
> in a commercial operation then I am willing to take  a look but certainly
> not jump in head first. Might try a precentage this spring.

I concur, Bob.  Don't put all your eggs in one basket!  I changed my
breeding program several years ago, and selected solely for mite resistance.
Wound up with a bunch of nonproductive bees.  Changed back to the old
strategy (that worked for me for 20 years) two years ago:  select again for
the bees that make me the most money.  Mark the best 10% of honey producers,
then of those, those with the lowest mite levels mid August, then from
those, the strongest on Feb 10 going to almonds.  I don't care whose genes
they are, or how they do it, as long as they do it!  I bring in an
assortment of fresh stock each year to mix it all up.  Produce queens
primarily from last year's best, but also a good proportion of promising
stock.

I only produce enough queens for myself and the nucs I sell (1000-2000
queens a season), and cull them ruthlessly.  Feedback from my nuc purchasers
is unanimous--good stock makes all the difference in the world.

The SMR (VSH) genes are available to work INTO YOUR MOST PRODUCTIVE LINES.
John Harbo released SMR with that understanding.  It appeared to take a
while to get enough VSH genes into my drone gene pool--my drone mothers,
plus all the feral drones from my swarms.

Don't rely on genetic mite tolerance to be the answer to your prayers at
first.  As long as the most tolerant bees are surrounded by colonies
collapsing in the fall, they are going to be overwhelmed by mite
immigration.

In summary, keep breeding for the best producers, but work resistant genes
into them, and keep up other mite control methods until mite levels drop
overall.

Randy Oliver

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