Hello Hervé & All,

First let me say again I am a beekeeper which does a certain amount of
research. I do work with other U.S. beekeepers doing similar research and do
seek advice from researchers both in the U.S. and in other parts of the
world at times.


>The allogrooming behaviour described and evaluated is
>very similar to Seeley's description. But its
efficiency was not sufficient to explain the tolerance
phenomenon.

Phenomenon is an excellent choice of words! We now know varroa tolerance is
real and we know varroa tolerance can be bred for.

 Five years ago we were not so sure varroa tolerance was real but most of us
now believe varroa tolerance is real especially those doing research. A few
people still do not believe varroa tolerance bees can be bred. In five years
their position will be the unpopular position ( mine is now)as the varroa
tolerant bees now being sold in the U.S. will be the proof.


>This was a very interesting post. May I ask some
further questions ?

1. How do you measure/quantify allogrooming behaviour
to correlate with hygienic test (like nitrogene test).

I know of no test to evaluate either auto grooming or allogrooming by itself
but both can be observed with careful observation and close examination of
the floor droppings. Time consuming .

"The dead brood times brood removal time" is the accepted hygienic test but
has absolutely nothing to do with grooming behavior EXCEPT it is my
expierence the hives which rate high in the hygienic behavior test are the
hives which do the most grooming *but exceptions to the rule exist*.

The ONLY time I would be interested in the above is when choosing a breeder
queen.

2. What was the correlation performed ? What were the
numeric data/results ?

Once you move past  breeder queen selection all myself and the beekeepers
working with me are interested in is survive / thrive!

I will say the hygienic queens we use are held to a higher standard than is
common with researchers. We also apply varroa pressure which would wipe out
many researchers hives.
With all due respect to our research community tossing in a handful of
varroa at the start of a 2-3 month trial is NOT varroa pressure!

Been a long day! Will work my way through the questions but ponder the above
for now!

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

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