> As we also know some hives do fine with a "threshold". Up until now we have been thinking it’s the Genetics of the bees ...

Can it be that two colonies with the same mite load react in a different way due to the different virus load of the mites?


No doubt that plays into it.  But not what I was trying to say, or ask.   WE see some hives balance out if you will at a given level and stay steady there.  Is it possible its not because of "hygienic" or any other bee behavior,  but in fact the genetics of the mite that’s a factor???  Could that better explain why some hives stay at low percentages,  and others continue to climb until they crash???

Any virus vectored seem to doom the hive,  no doubt about it.  But we seem to have a lot of "locally adapted" or "mite resistant" bees.  As most of us know,  it seems that as soon as we buy some and move then to another geographic region  they crash like most others.   What if its not the bees,  but the mites that are different?? 

Charles

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