Dave Cushman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>The only 'good' Italian bee is dead one, or one that is in situ in it's
>natural habitat of Italy.

Hello Dave,

IF I may retract that statement to read:

“the good old, long selected and proven strains“.

So much talk about developing varroa resistant bees from exotic breeds. 
Are there ANY “organized groups working together” to develop resistance in 
the strain of bee that has proven itself in the North East? Like the,,, 

>>>“the good old fashioned, long selected and proven strains“.<<<
Please contact me:  [log in to unmask]


I continually get asked by neighboring beekeepers to help tame a hot hive 
or solve other problems.  One thing in common, is the queen markings have 
the appearance of that from exotic strains.  IMO, it seems as result of 
the narrow focus efforts for selecting varroa resistance from outside the 
long proven strains long selected for traits of management.   Working with 
long proven and selected strains perhaps would have mitigated the problems 
we seem to be seeing to a large degree.

Best Wishes 

Joe Waggle ~ Derry, PA 
‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries' 
FeralBeeProject.com 

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