> Oddly no one has questioned how invasive the africanized genes have become
in major US breeding.

Actually, this has been a recurrent theme here on BEE-L, even before AHB hit the US.  Mention has been made of the Tabor introduction in the seventies and questions raised about whether that had an influence on wintering.  The ARS buried the subject, but there were still witnesses.  

At that time package beekeeping was more predominant in the North.  Packages were cheap, and  bees were often gassed in the fall to save hassle and feed, so wintering was less of an issue, and few cared.  

This became more of an issue in Western Canada when the border closed, and beekeepers in the West suffered far worse when they tried to winter than beekeepers in the East, since most beekeeping in the East is much farther south.  (In some cases, Eastern Canadian beekeeping is almost as far south as California, while in Alberta, beekeeping approaches the Arctic Circle).

At any rate, it was never proved that there was any effect.

> But genetics says it all and that choice if introducing a change depends soley on the beekeeper. 

Not to say you are wrong, but a reading of the literature on AHB makes many of us less certain of that.

> I wasn't around 30 - 50 years ago but found being a good beekeeper with introduction of selected genetics sure makes a difference.

Agreed.  These have been my two hobby horses for decades now.  Nutrition and genetics.

> As for that rumour about that expensive supplement not working, well there's alot of us who are feeding the stuff and trust me it works and I have an Austrian study on hand and several beeyards where its fed that backs that one up.

I think we may not mean the same product.  AFAIK, all the major products are fine.  It is just that this one seems to fall short of its hype every time I hear about it.  Oddly, it is the only one whose inventor runs down all the other products.  Please email me off-list and we'll see if we are talking about the same one.

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