> These stocks are excellent in their own ways.  
> However, none are yet perfect

The expectation of "perfect" is very unreasonable, 
and is one of the exact reasons why beekeepers have 
not tried these new breeds of bee, but have instead
bought into the "magic beans" of claimed 
"solutions" to varroa that are "faith-based beekeeping"
rather than "data-based beekeeping" (FGMO, small-cell, 
acetic acid vaporization, Dump-N-brush, et al).

There is nothing that we can breed for that 
yields "perfect" results.  Tall parents
rarely produce offspring that are taller
than themselves.  Most often, the offspring
are closer to the population mean.

> Dr Harbo suggested them as carriers of a 
> gene to be bred into an operation.

Exactly!  As I clearly said, we already have
the genetics, so we don't need to go on wild
goose chases looking for the genetics among
bees in trees, regardless of what mythology 
one wants to believe about so-called "ferals".

The genetics at hand need to be integrated into
the lines that are the best producers, or we
need to admit that we can choose between 
mite and disease resistance and optimal honey
production, and work out how to run larger 
operations of less productive, but more "bullet-
proof" colonies.

Even if we found some so-called "ferals" with
even better abilities to resist the mites,
they would likely also have traits that would
make them less than "perfect", such as a tendency
to be swarmy, late to build up, and other
habitual offenses of bees would help them survive
in a feral state without nice roomy boxes.

> My guess is that the bee of the future will 
> combine several traits to deal with varroa 
> in some combination determined by natural selection.

If that were the case, then areas in the so-called 
"3rd World" would have "survivor" hives already, and
they would be selling their bees to everyone else.
In fact, varroa tends to hit everything except
the LUCKY hives and the isolated hives.  

There is no way to breed "lucky" bees, so it is going 
to take more actual hands-on breeding to breed 
adequate compromise bees.

And the lucky bees are only lucky for so long, which
is why all the beekeeping cult movements invariably 
consist of several waves of novice beekeepers in
succession, very few with more than a few years of 
experience.  It is not so much the bees that don't 
survive as it is the beekeepers who don't survive, 
and that's a darn shame, as varroa control is not 
such a big deal once one rolls up one's sleeves 
and admits that there are no magic bees and there 
are no magic beans.


	

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