A reader writes

> Mr. Borst,
> 
> Do you ever worry that in our quest for "better, mite resistant bees",
> we might be narrowing the field of genetic material that will be
> naturally resistant to the next big threat to our girls?

Of course. I have written on the perils of narrowly focused selection quite a bit. It is very important to select multiple lines, and I am pretty sure most breeders do this. In the case of the individual beekeeper, I suggest purchasing different queens from different sources.

On the other hand, the honeybees' system of outcrossing seems to have evolved to make inbreeding almost impossible. The queen mates with many drones from many different hives. Even the colony is made up of different subfamilies as a result. 

On the third hand -- Charlie Mraz advocated NOT raising queens but rather divide the colonies that seem most productive, healthy, etc. so that instead of propagating one or two lines, you are propagating many good lines. The result is not a good line of bees but rather a population of good bees.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Peter Loring Borst
128 Lieb Road
Spencer, NY  14883
peterloringborst.com
607 280 4253

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