Aaron Morris wrote:
>
> In response to Stan Sandler, Bob Harrison wrote:
>
> > ... I will try to explain and will quote facts from the only books i can
> find on the
> > subject.
> Again Bob, please name this source!

Hello Aaron,
The best book and the book i refer to the most is "The Varroa
Handbook-biology and control"by Bernard Mobus and Larry Conner put out
in 1988 by the Wicwas Press.
Whenever Mr. Conner and i meet which has been twice since the book was
written i ask Larry about the next varroa book or a new varroa handbook
with new information. Unlike many of the researchers i talk to Larry and
I actually went through beehives together at the Northeast Kansas Fun
day a few years back which he spoke at and attended. I still use his
slides on bee disease at my talks and will until i find a better set and
i doubt i will.
Larry Conner earned three degrees in entomology,with a specialisation in
bees,beekeeping and polination,from Michigan State Michigan University.

Bob Harrison has kept bees since he was 13 years old and reads
everything he can get his hands on about bees. I thank the larry Conners
and Dr. Shiminukis of the world for at least listening to my thoughts
and observations. I believe the solution to the varroa problem will take
the researchers of the world and all beekeepers right down to the hobby
beekeeper with a couple hives working together to solve the problem.

 > Food for thought: The Russian queens are 500 U.S. and come without a
> > money back warrenty.
> BREEDER queens are $500 US.  This is not an exorbitant price in queen
> breeder circles.  I paid under $10 for the Russian queens I bought from the
> breeders who paid $500 for their breeder queens.
I would be very interested in learning of you observations with the
Russian queens as other beekeepers have told me their observations.
Thinking a "Edsel is still a Edsel after all these years"

I can only say i support looking for the strain of bees resistant to
varroa but glad to see after over ten years of trying researchers are
starting to say bees resistant to varroa MAY not be a trait which can be
passed on to offspring.

I have followed Brother Adams work through the years with great
admiration. I was one of the first to convert to the Buckfast line as i
was the second beekeeper in Missouri to get tracheal mites back in the
80's. Please understand I am only going to state my own observations and
the buckfast bees i worked with were only half as only semen was shipped
to U.S and inseminated in queens. I do in no way want to argue with
others about their results with the Buckfast bee only state my personal
experiance in my apiaries.
I recieved Buckfast bees from the original semen and also from the last
importation of semen. Because i check for tracheal mites by microscope
on a regular basis i found to keep my hives free of large numbers of
trachael mites i had to treat. Maybe the result would be different if i
had had the pure strain as brother Adam used OR as i said above the
trait isn't allways passed on to offspring. My friends in the south do
not really have the TM problem like beekeepers overwintering in northern
climates. Most beekeepers do not moniter their colonies for TM in
Missouri and only treat. The same way for varroa. Testing is the only
way you can really know what is going on in your hives.

Many researchers are skeptical of my theory on small cell and i go on
record saying i am VERY skeptical of those researchers converting all
the worlds bees to a varroa resistant strain before varroa becomes
totally chemical resistant. The part i like the best about searching for
a strain of resitant varroa bees is that if found we can give up the use
of chemicals and the search for a chemical which will kill the mite and
not the bee.
As Dee has stated i have used chemicals. Apistan till i had resistance
and have used the dreaded coumaphous. I felt i was backed into a corner
and it was either treat or rebuild from deadouts. A decision i didn't
make without careful thought. We are early on in the chemical treatment
for varroa in the U.S.. The varroa handbook lists 91 chemicals tried on
varroa by 1988.
Before mites came i could sit back in these Ozark hills and keep bees
like my grandfather did. I quickly realized in the 80's that a
uninformed beekeeper was going out of business. 20 years later i believe
i was correct in my thinking.
Bob Harrison