RE:
"Now, with varroa's removal of the feral bee population and most of
the keepers vrs.
managers of bees, the drone pool is from managed hives."

REPLY:
Greetings,
        I am new to this list but not new to beekeeping. I have
worked with commercial beekeepers since 1974. My comments are based
on that experience.
        Now, if you raise your own queens or permit supercedure,
naturally you are raising bees that are common stock. This means that
they will have a sum of the characteristics of the bees in your
region.
        If one wishes to have a pure stock, one needs some kind of
controlled system. If there is such a thing as a gentle strain, it
would have to be maintained by a system. By the same token, an
aggressive strain would be maintained by a system, although the
system could be natural selection, due to the aggressive trait
prevailing.
        In any given area, even prior to the arrival of varroa, feral
populations have always been very small and I seriously doubt if they
have ever been the primary source of genes in the USA. There were 4
million colonies in hives a hundred years ago and in 1946 there were
almost 6 million. The primary source of genes is bees in hives.
        These are managed hives, but what does that mean? Many
beekeepers purchase queens for re-queening, but very few are faithful
to one source, so their honeybee populations are very diverse. Many
beekeepers raise their own queens from common stock. I believe that
the average hive represents this common stock and whatever its traits
are, those are the "normal" traits of hive bees.
        So, what this means is that the unattended hive will not be
more or less aggressive than the average. To truly have "gentle"
stock, one must re-queen every time supercedure takes place. Could
you raise Collies if you let the mothers mate with unknown fathers?
Taking the dog metaphor a step further, what is the common dog? It is
neither especially aggressive nor gentle nor especially bright.
        However, what stands out in the discussion was the comment
"All my 100+ hives were harvested and treated without the help of a
smoker ... Some of the mean bees literally emptied their hive onto my
suit."
        I have heard this comment before and I must point out that
keeping bees requires the use of a smoker. I would no more open a
hive without a smoker than I would expect my kids to have their teeth
drilled and filled without anesthetic. Obviously, some people could
tolerate that level of pain, but most would not. A hive that goes
into a stinging frenzy when opened up without smoke is a *normal*
hive; one that does not is exceptional. (I'm not talking about nucs
here nor when the temperature is over 100 F).
        You may want bees that are that tolerant; most would prefer a
hive that would defend itself under "normal" circumstances. The
average hive, commercial or hobbyist, is of common stock. They aren't
mean and they aren't gentle. They don't break records but they hold
up well. Just like that puppy you get from the pound. If you want
mean, you buy a Pit Bull. If you want gentle, you buy a Labrador
Retriever. And you get their papers!
        I think the future of beekeeping in the world will require
much more control over the genetic stock of hives via AI (artificial
insemination). But breeding for hygienic behavior and pest
resistance, not docility. We may have to go to genetically engineered
stock to stamp out varroa. Personally, I would favor this over
treating everything with "coumaphos," though both options are
distasteful.
        And if that day comes where the majority is using AI stock,
just as the majority of farmers is using commercial seeds, then we
will have to establish apiaries where the common stock is maintained,
just as institutions like the NYS Agricultural Station maintain seed
stock for future generations who may find what we have done in the
name of "stock improvement" to be grossly misguided.
Peter Borst

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