In a message dated 96-03-05 12:40:22 EST, [log in to unmask] (David Eyre)
writes:
 
>To continue this one step further, if I may. If your statement is correct,
>and no doubt you're right "Why do we cull the Queen?" That's a bit like
>killing the messenger if you don't like the news! This practice has gone on
>for years, if you find chalkbrood, then requeen whereas ventilation will fix
>the problem! Does anyone want to comment?
 
   I am firmly convinced that some bees are more susceptible to chalkbrood
than others. Certainly genetic hygenic behaviour has a very positive
influence.  There may also be just a general increase in vigor with a young
queen, as opposed to an old one.
 
   I have been rigidly excluding chalkbrood from all my breeding stock; even
just the slightest trace disqualifies a queen.  I see a lot less of it now
than in previous years, and when I do, it is usually from a boughten queen,
which is a good arguement for trying to breed a higher percentage of my own.
 
   I used to see quite a few hives in late summer, that were light as a
feather, and heavily infested with chalkbrood.  I got so that I could predict
chalkbrood, just by the weight of the hive as it was loaded out of a
pollination crop.
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave Green,  PO Box 1200, Hemingway, SC   29554
 
Visit the pollination web page at
 >http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html<