On Sat, 3 Feb 1996, Morty Lipton wrote:
 
> I have built a small bee house that will house all my beekeeping
> activities. as an avid organic gardener I am especially interested in bee
> strains that have shown some ability to survive mite infestation. The
> carniolans and buckfast strains are reputed to have some resistance to
> tracheal mites. Does anybody have some good leads, either evaluative
> research or hands-on experience..
 
        Hi Morty-
We have tested a few carniolan and buckfast (U.S. version),and italian
colonies for resistance to tracheal mites using the quick test method.
The frequency of resistance was pretty much the same in each group,
the carniolans a little more frequent. If you want to use resistance as
your control it is more important to know how the parents were selected
than their ancestry. I recomend queens from the Ontario program. These
include carniolans, italians, and buckfast, and also those from our own
program.
 
I do not know of any bees that are resistant to varroa, yet. Chemical control
or drone brood removal is manditory for now. Natural controls are on the
horizon.
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  b                                                              b
  b    Vince & Carole Coppola                [log in to unmask]   b
  b    Coppola Apiaries,                     (716)965-2904       b
  b    10220 Bradigan Rd.                                        b
  b    Forestville, N.Y. 14062                                   b
  b                                                              b
  b    Queens bred for tracheal mite resistance                  b
  b    Honey , Pollination                                       b
  b    Western New York Beekeepers Association                   b
  b                                                              b
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