>There is a multitude of factors that defy attempts to oversimplify, as in "why don't you keep mite resistant bees?" or "why don't you just stop treating altogether?"
My point to Randy is, if you are treating colonies
anyways, and all colonies regardless of resistant
qualities get overrun with mites. Why not
choose the bee which as been proven
the best productive bee for commercial
beekeeepers, which is the Italian bee?
-and improve upon that base?
My thoughts are that the russians may be
contributing to the high mite loads in
commercial operations.
I have experience with Russians. And in
my area the Russians shut down brood
rearing during the nectar lul, which also happens
to coincide with the time varroa mites are
abundant, and forces them, 'in mass' into the
phoretic stage.
This brood shut down voids hygienic behavior
mechanism for the period, and contributes to
the mite loads drifting into other colonies. This
causes a massive spike in mite loads -in a very
narrow time frame that no colony can be expected
to handle.
The Italian bee would tend to keep brood rearing
to some degree, which evens out the mite load by
holding them where they can be contained,
and also keeps hygienic behavior active as an
effective resistance mechanism for the period, which
facilitates a reduction in drifting mites entering
other colonies as a direct result.
Resistance works over a long period of time, it
takes a year or two for a colony relying on
resistance mechanisms alone to see mite levels
subside to manageable levels. And the removing
of a mechanism during a critical time (such as the
case with brood shutdowns), can, IMO be
catastrophic to a colonies ability to control mites.
I have brought colonies with high mite loads into
my area. I'm in a very low mite pressure area.
And without phoretic mites drifting from other
colonies,,, -IF they can make it two years, -by that
time, mite levels will have dropped to manageable
levels and the colony will survive.
If you are going to reduce the mite pressures
by phoretic mites drifting into other colonies during
the critical period of late summer, you need to
adopt a bee which does not allow this phenonomen
to occur, and this, IMO, would necessitate the
adoption of breeds which do not have a brood
shutdown.
Best Wishes
Joe Waggle
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