On 10/15/2012 09:37 AM, randy oliver wrote:
>
> Pete, I find this phenomenon to be of great interest as we breed for varroa
> resistant bees Again and again I am drawn to findings in which something
> about the bee/mite relationship results in a lowered rate of successful
> reproduction of the mite in worker brood (separate from bee VSH, which is
> an additional behavior).
>
With no treatment hives with no VSH die slowly and are robbed, so the
varroa mites survive the catastrophe. What if we try to breed not only
betters bees but also less aggressive varroa?
One way to do that would be do a mite count at the end of the spring
honey flow and kill colonies with hight mite count together with all
mites in there. Then replace the colonies with splits from low mite
count hives.
Jorg
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