Allen is raising some interesting points.  I do extensive requeening with
the "best" queens I can buy, but am less optimistic than he concerning the
likelihood of soon being able to buy open-mated queens with a high
percentage of either hygienic or SMR characteristics.

Before I explain, two Saturdays ago I had the privilege of attending the
Kansas State summer meeting and hearing Marla Spivak speak on comparisons
between her hygienic stock and Harbo's SMR stock.  As most know, Marla is at
the University of Minnesota and developed the hygienic stock that is
becoming wide spread.  She has since sold that stock to Glenn Apiaries, who
is making instrumentally inseminated stock available to queen breeders and
others.

During the summer of 2000, Marla compared varroa resistance in hives with
both hygienic and SMR stock.  At the end of the summer she concluded that
the SMR hives had better varroa resistance than did the hygienic hives.
However, the resistance mechanics are different with  the two stocks, and
both traits are heritable, so the obvious question is whether resistance
truly superior to either might result from cross-breeding.  She is setting
out to answer this question.  This is all exciting and means that in "x"
number of years we may have widespread resistance.

I buy most of my queens from Pat Heitkman and have been recommending him to
others for several years.  He, and his son, are running a quality operation
right from buying the right II (instrumentally inseminated) stock through to
knowing how to use the Post Office rules most effectively.  However,
Heitkman has the same limitation as almost everyone else.  That is,
economically he must use open mating.  His son, Russell, pointed out to me
that the valley in which they are located contains several queen breeders
and thousands of beehives.  While all are not within drone/queen flying
range, most yards are within range of yards used by 2-3 other breeders and
their yards, in turn, are within flying range of 2-3 others...and so on.

As an example of what happens, for several years Pat has been buying II
stock that has been tested to have tracheal resistance.  Annual examination
for the past 5-6 years has never shown more than 4% tracheal infection.
Accordingly, a couple of years ago Pat wondered whether it might be safe to
stop treatment for tracheal, and had some open-mated queens tested that were
from non-treated stock.  He was astounded to find that his infection rates
approached 30%!  The reason, of course, was that the drones that some of
their mothers mated with were not resistant.  As of 2001, Pat continues to
treat for tracheal.  (However, I do not treat for tracheal and suffer winter
losses of around 20% that I attribute to tracheal mites.  I accept this, and
continue to not treat as I am certain that I am assisting the area drone
pool to gradually acquire resistance.)

So...breeders will quickly use both hygienic and SMR stock in their programs
and the best of the breeders will ship a large percentage of open-mated
queens with these resistant factors.  However, the realities (as I
understand them) is that it will take many many years to get these factors
into a large percentage of the drone stock that accomplishes the actual
mating of the queens we buy.  In the meantime, we queen buyers need to
support the queen breeders who are trying...or they will quit trying!

Lloyd
Lloyd Spear, Owner of Ross Rounds, manufacturer of comb honey equipment
for beekeepers and Sundance pollen traps.
http://www.rossrounds.com
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