Tomas wrote:
"Check your varroa levels before you attempt any treatment....anything
less than 10% infestation may be tolerable depending on environmental
conditions and presence/ absence of brood/adult stress symptoms."
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  I agree. But don't get caught out on this.  Varroa mite populations
can build rapidly and overwhelm a colony. People who do not treat have
to watch carefully and frequently for a change in the number of mites in
their colonies.
  Some of my beekeeper association aquaintances chose not to treat for
Varroa when the mites appeared in southeastern Pennsylvania.  ALL of
their colonies died as did every feral colony in my area.
   If Greg's bee colony was five miles from any other honeybee colony,
perhaps it had no contact with mites.
   All of us are interested in the possibility of Varroa resistant bees.
Have any Varroa-proof bees been documented?
Tim
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Tim Sterrett
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(southeastern) Pennsylvania, USA