On  6 Feb 97 at 2:19, Brian Gant wrote: mite resistance
 
> We have heard a lot about colonies collapsing, presumably most of the mites
> also die when this happens. This looks like a way of selecting the less
> virulent mites for survival. (It selects beekeepers too.)
> Perhaps this is why tracheal mites are, in my experience, quite unusual in
> England now. We have no registered treatment for tracheal mites and almost
> no complaints from beekeepers about this.
 
I kept bees in England back in 1955. In those days there was no problem
with T-mites. It was explained to me that you had 30 years of natural
selection, plus the efforts of Brother Adam to produce bees tolerant to
T-mites.
        We, in North America don't have that luxury, but we are getting there! In
our case we won't have to wait 30 years. After only a few years of
selection and testing we have T-mite resistant bees in Ontario. The only
problem we have, as breeders, is persuading bee keepers to adopt the new
stock, and to use it. Regretfully, as in all businesses, there are
charlatans who claim to have resistance, but then advise their customers
to medicate "just in case".
        There is no need to medicate against T-mites,if you have resistant stock.
 
 
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