Scott said:
        That's actually pretty speculative. Chems have a good likelihood to
not work AT ALL in the near future and arguable that they already don't.

Those words are a quote from two of the most respected geneticists the U.S.
ever produced. Harry Laidlaw & Robert page on the last page of the fantastic
book "Queen Rearing & Bee Breeding".

"Written for beekeepers who know little about genetics and geneticists who
know little about beekeeping"

The  words describe the overwelming mindset of commercial beekeepers today
(and many hobby & sideline).

 >Its not about higher prices, its about starvation.

You lost me here Scott?

> There is already a group of people working out the problem independent of
any funded research and many of us already desire and are willing and able
to help and already giving help to other beekeepers to successfully keep
bees without chems.

Admirable! A step in the right direection!

There are methods to keep bees without chems. I will list a few of the most
popular.


 Watching the bees die from varroa and then buying a new package is popular
with many beekeepers.

Trying methods which the USDA-ARS has tried in labs and proven provided no
varroa control is popular ( and writing about success on the internet until
your hives die is also popular today).

Using a wide variaty of IPM measures is popular. Only not popular with the
commercial beekeeper due to obvious reasons we will not go into. $$$$$

Scott said:
 Its not just genetics, its also technique, diet and relearning
authentic seasonal management.

True about beekeeping in general but when it comes to the bloodsucking
varroa the key to *long term success* and bringing back the feral colonies
is genetics.

 I was given a 20 year formula for finding varroa tolerant bees by Dr.
Shiminuki when he was head of the Beltsville bee lab.

 Eighteen years later I can say his method worked. We are using a bee which
is several times more varroa tolerant than the Russian bee and not
aggressive.

Many methods to find the varroa tolerant bee are either doomed to failure or
will take twice as long. If we had  the Russian & SMR bee back at the start
perhaps the result could have been found faster. Also the failure of the
Baton Rouge bee lab to find a varroa tolerant bee through working with all
the survivor queens sent to Dr. Harbo from U.S. beekeepers opened my eyes.
Dr. Harbo has been an inspiration. Dr. Harbo's findings that trying to find
the varroa tolerant bee from simply breeding from the hive with the lowest
mite count was doomed to failure also opened my eyes.
Not the rest of the beekeepers searching for the varroa tolerant bee but
certainly mine.

Scott said:
Genetics are an important part of the
equation, but its not the whole equation, and its also something most
people don't understand. Its not about finding the right hybrid.

O but it is! The pure Russian is not the bee I prefer (although I have ended
up with   a bunch). You can inbreed and fix a trait such as SMR but the bee
itself is of little value. The key is to find the right combination of
traits in a hybrid and then be able to reproduce the same bee over and over
for beekeepers is what beekeepers are looking for.

My search is over. I wish all setting out on the journey the best of luck!

Add varroa pressure and try to kill off 50% of your varroa tolerant
experiment  hives a year and then breed from survivors because  at the first
survival is all that matters! Once you get the genetics then raise queens
and requeen your hives. Sounds so simple!

If you want to shorten your journey buy a Purvis Brothers breeder queen ,
Charlie Harper Russian breeder queen, Glenn Apiaries SMR breeder queen or
Marla Spivak hygienic queen to work into your survivor line. Still took
years but the above lines helped in the search.

Keep records because it will be of little use if you come up with a varroa
tolerant bee but do not know what combination of lines Yours or the above)
the result was.

Open mating is hit and miss unless you live in a remote area or on an
island.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

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