Hi all
We discussed this study earlier this year. Many people questioned the methodology. According to the print version

> We compared the overwintering success of colonies headed by queens from two southern and two northern commercial honey bee breeders in apiaries located in central Pennsylvania, which experiences a temperate climate. We found that geographic origin of stocks did not affect the overwintering survival. However, colony size and weight in fall, likely correlated with floral resources around the apiary, had the largest effect on the likelihood of colonies to successfully overwinter.  

> We interviewed the queen bee breeders to obtain information on their breeding practices. Breeder South1 (FL) has been using Polline hygienic Italian (a name given to this stock by the commercial provider) queens bred for Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) behavior (Danka et al. 2016) with an outcrossing mating system since 2011. Breeder North1 (VT) has been selecting their own stock for local success (i.e., survival and productivity) which started from VSH queens purchased in 2004 with limited and sparse introductions from other regional beekeepers’ stocks. Breeder North2 (WV) is a member of the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association (RHBA) and has been strictly using queens from the Russian stock since 2003. We could not obtain information on breeding practices of breeder South2 (TX). 

Note:
The breeders are not named in the study, this is deliberate. I think we should respect their anonymity. This study is not attempting to reflect on these breeders.

Peter L Borst

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