>After reviewing the subject forwarded by Dick Allen regarding HIP
>(Honeybee Improved Program) bees, I'm wondering if anyone knows how bees
>can live through mites via genetics?
 
 
That would be hard to say. Since a genetic trait is introduced through
random mutation it ends up being a matter of survival to find out what will
work. It could range from a habit of nurse bees cleaning up the mites or the
larva (or adult bees) becoming toxic to the mite.
 
The other concern is that the trait could work against the management of the
hive. For example the abscounding or swarming traits, which leave mites
behind on the brood, could become a survival advantage.
 
If there is a gene that would promote resistance then we have to find it. If
it does not exist then we have to wait it out by using management techniques
that keep the hives going. The strange thing about waiting for a trait is
that what could have been a neutral or mildly harmful mutation in the past
(that was lost due to breeding) could become a positive trait with the new
form of pressure the mite represents.
 
Treating a captured wild swarm for varroa may be a good idea. Since the
swarm has been stressed by the move they could go under even if they had
some resistance to the mite. Once established you could then stop treatments
and see what happens. When I split a hive that has no evidence of varroa I
treat both the old hive and the new split (which I allow to raise its own
queen) so that the stress I have placed on the two colonies does not allow
the mites an "unnatural" gain.