<If the bees become Varroa resistant, how can the survive as feral bees with
<tracheal mites? So,, how do we know what is happening in the feral
population?
<Richard
<just wondering

    We've had TM in the UK since just after the First World War. I'm not sure
how long it took for feral populations to recover, but the crash wasn't as
bad as it was made out to be at the time, and there were numerous feral
colonies around before Varroa. The bees do recover. I don't know whether we
currently have any feral bees, but just after Easter last year I was staying
in Oxford, and I had a good look round an area which I remember as having
been very well-beed; it has numerous old, often hollow, trees, and old
houses, numerous hedges, and large areas of unimproved meadows. I found lots
of bumblebees, and never saw a single honeybee.

Regards,

Robert Brenchley

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