> ...Increasing "good" drone production, to improve the genetics
> of surrounding colonies in hopes to get some of those good
> genes back the when your virgin queens go on mating flights.
> I didn't think to ask how I am going to increasing drone
> production if I keep scraping the "green" frame...

I've been thinking for some time, that the fact that varroa damages drones
tends, in nature, to reduce the number, vigour and stamina of drones from
susceptible hives arriving and hanging out at mating locations.  Mating
locations also tend to be a bit distant from hives, so I would think that
DCAs _should_ be dominated, if nature had her way, with the faster,
stronger, and more numerous drones of hives that -- for whatever reason --
are not dragged down much by varroa.

Left alone by man, this effect would seem likely to select fairly strongly
for hives which were not much affected by varroa.

In a situation where beekeepers are  constantly working against, or at least
diluting this effect, however, by treating colonies, by buying queens and
packages from distant beekeepers and by preferentially breeding colonies
that meet human needs, I doubt that this natural anti-varroa selection is
able to have much influence.

Personally, I have always thought that killing drones or thwarting the bees'
natural inclination to raise drones is one of the more perverted and
counter-productive things that beekeepers do.  Just because it sorta works
does not make it a good practice.

That's just my 2c.

allen
A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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