I was very impressed by the their work, to the point
> >  that I do not believe Varroa mites will be much of a problem in the long
> run
 I just got back a few hours ago from a meeting in Massachusetts where
Dr.
> Eirckson was one of the speakers. He in his presentation he spoke of
> selective breeding and said that it is not hard to do.  You can wind up with
> an acceptable mite level of 12-16 mites per 100 bees. But he also did mention
> that a mite level of more than 4-5 mites per 100 will affect honey production
> somewhat.
>Hello Ralph,
Glad you are impressed! I am not! If Dr. Erickson thinks 12 to 16 mites
per 100 bees is acceptable i think he better go back to the drawing
board. When did he say  the figure was acceptable? Comming out of
winter? It might be at the end of summer the day before you treat.
i think if thats the best proff of resistant bees he can come up with he
would have made better use of his time finding us another chemical to
alternate with Apistan so we wouldn't have had to get a section 18 to
save thousands of hives of bees in U.S..
Research on all possible solutions is important but in my opinion the
proof that resistant bees are the answer is not there for me yet.
I think Dr. Erickson needs to take another look at Dee lusbys work on
cell size. He has been to her bee farm before. She has made better
progress with varroa naturally than he has IN MY OPINION!
Not afraid to speak up!
Bob Harrison U.S.A.