> Since my recent post to BEE-L on what to do with 'relocated feral' bees
> didn't meet with the slightest suggestion, I was wondering if you had
> any ideas on what you'd do for managing relocated feral bees  if you
> were in my shoes (roughly 1/2 my hives are relocated feral hives)?  In
> whatever small part, is there any good  I can do for our bee gene-pool
> without sacrificing the bunch or risking disease for the apiary?  Or do
> you believe there's absolutely no hope of bees surviving mites on their
> own?
>
> I don't know why it is that 1000 beekeepers don't find feral hives
> interesting.  To me, they're the most fascinating part of beekeeping.

Well, only a portion of the list members ever post, and, everyone is very busy
right now, it seems.  There have been a lot of fascinating ideas going by lately
an competing for attention, too.  I'm taking the liberty of CC'ing this to
BEE-L, because I'm sure others will be interested -- even if they haven't
formulated their thoughts on this question or gotten around to replying.

To answer your question: my guess is that none of us really know the answers.  I
sure don't.  There is so much news coming out that we are stunned.  The Russian
bees are the latest thing, but other bees are showing resistance to varroa in
various places in America.

This is not uncommon when a new parasite gets established; initially there are
huge and catastrophic losses, then the host and parasite get a balance and after
a while, the parasite becomes less of a problem.  Maybe the host gets stronger
and the parasite gets weaker, or maybe the parasite's parasites catch up with
it.  We don't really know.  We saw that effect with tracheal mites, where
initially huge losses were ascribed to them, but now many beekeepers seldom
think of them, and many do not treat.

Have you contacted Jack Griffes <[log in to unmask]>?  He works with the HIP
project and has a web page on the topic:
http://members.tripod.com/~Griffes/HIP1.html

Hope this helps...

allen