?Bob said:
> He had isolated the genes which caused aggression and had sent semen to
> the lab from AHb without the aggressive genes.

My response:(Peter)
Evidently Dr. Kerr worked hard and long on the problem of aggressive bees
but he was unable to succeed.
His solution was to raise many thousands of Italian queens, but in the long
run, this had no real or lasting effect.

Again Peter you above confuse the later years of Dr. Kerr raising queens to
help with the AHB issue in Brazil with the topic of my post which was the
work done between Dr. Kerr and the Baton Rouge Bee Lab.

Read & learn with direct knowledge from those involved (not the opinion of
Charlie Michener).

In advance of the projected arrival of AHB from Brazil Steve Taber consulted
with Dr. Kerr almost daily my source said. Dr Kerr had been working on
finding the genetics which brought out the aggression. Through inbreeding
(similar to the way SMR was done. Incidentally the influence of Dr. Kerr has
lasted through the decades for Baton Rouge being the bee lab for bee
breeding and genetics in the U.S. If left alone perhaps world famous today)

 What was going on in the late fifties:
 Dr. Kerr was able to produce inbred AHB lines which were not aggressive and
shipped the semen to Steve. Gary Reynolds said the crosses were docile and
out produced U.S. strains. Hybrid vigor was indeed involved with the first
inseminations which could explain some of the increased honey production but
Steve was really excited about the results he was seeing.

Gary Reynolds said at break time all Steve wanting to talk about was the
project. Steve was totally engrossed in the concept of what Steve and Dr.
Kerr were doing. Gary said other researchers at the lab tried to avoid Steve
as the project was all he wanted to talk about!

Gary blames Steve's constant talking about the project with whoever would
listen ( commercial beekeepers & researchers alike) for the end result of 
the
project.

"Loose lips sink SHIPS " I think was one statement used.

The head of the bee lab (according to Reynolds) spoke to Steve about what
the public would think about the Taber & Kerr research but Steve in the
opinion of those which crossed paths with Steve knew Steve to be very
opinionated, Hard headed and known to bend the rules (such as keeping hives
around with contagious AFB when the state demanded burning). Many say the
same things about me mostly behind my back which is maybe a reason why Steve
and I became friends.

Gary said when Steve went on vacation the head of the Baton Rouge Bee lab
ordered the Kerr semen project hives depopulated. STEVE only found out on
his return from Vacation ( told to me by Gary & verified by Steve).

Then Steve was ordered to stop receiving semen and drop the project. Rumors
are that Steve kept receiving semen privately and kept in contact with Kerr
but Steve did not answer when I asked Steve that question and simply changed
the subject. I guess we will never know.

Rumors exist about what Steve was researching in France but only rumors to
my knowledge.

Beekeeping research was very primitive back then in the U.S. ( I was around
at the time) and the research being done between Taber & Kerr seemed like a
Dr. Frankenstein project to many.
Some said Taber was importing killer bees! Not so and the queens dispersed
were not aggressive as Bell apiaries  in Florida tried many.

If you would ask Robert Paige, Dann Purvis or Sue Cobey about what was going
on and they would look at the records of what happened ( some destroyed and
some still around I have been told) I suspect the whole "killer bees 
imported
from Brazil into Baton Rouge" was blown out of proportion.

I actually observed hives in Florida headed by queens inseminated with the
Kerr semen and was not impressed (as I was not impressed with SMR) but will
say the hives were not aggressive nor were the later generations.

In the book "Following the Bloom" you will find in one of the five chapters
on Horace Bell Honey that the Bell Foreman Lamar Hester calls the bees
"African Bays". Now you know the reason for the statement.

Whatever was done the result from my observation was the removal of the
aggressive trait but swarming and running on the frames still obvious in
some hives. I would loved to have seen the result of several years of
research which might have resulted in a super bee AHB without aggression.
Peter says *in his opinion* can not be done but I guess we will never know
now as Dr. Kerr basically dropped the work on his end as only Steve seemed
interested in the project.

I would have liked to see the research between Dr. Kerr and Steve left alone
but I have been told many times I think years ahead of today's beekeeping.

What book did you pull the Charlie Michener reference from Peter as I have
all his books? Michener & Kerr were great friends and in his 1975 book (The
Social Behavior of Bees) Michener quotes Kerr research all through the
book.Only J.B. Free & Von Frisch are referenced as much.

bob

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