On Thu, 16 Nov 1995, David Eyre wrote:
 
> "Greg Holley wrote"
> >I would like to know if progress is being made in breeding bees that are
> >resistant to varroa.  Are any of the commercial queen breeders selling bees
> >that have some resistance to varroa?
>
>         Don't I wish we were breeding Varroa resistant bees!!  As somebody
> said recently, mite resistance is the "Holy Grail" of bee breeding.
 
That's only one of several holy grails :-)
 
        **WARNING**: __Rumour__Alert__!
 
I heard a story recently that a strain of bees in Tunisia in
northern Africa (A. M.  intermissia??), were showing signs of
resistance by their own natural selection. The story says that the
people are very poor and can't afford the chemicals, that the bees
are _very_ swarmy, and that after their early, very serious
knockback, the bees are building again. If there _is_ any truth in
this I'm sure people are investigating the possibilities.
 
Anyone know if there's even a grain of truth in the story?
 
 
Of course that nasty swarming habit could be a problem! I remember
a friend describing one such strain by saying that if you put a
queen and ten workers in a queen cage, they'd start making
preparations to swarm.
 
Best regards,
--
Gordon Scott   [log in to unmask]   Hampshire, England.
               [log in to unmask]
               Beekeeper; Kendo 3rd Dan; Sometime sailor.
The Basingstoke Beekeeper (newsletter) [log in to unmask]