>
> >If mites are overwhelming colonies all colonies which are
> untreated, why not shift to the Italian bee?
Sorry for not being clear Joe. I run 38 yards of "Italian" stock, and only
2 yards of Russians. Russians actually perform pretty well against
mites--they are a very good bee for some operations, and I'd recommend that
folk try purebred Russians (not outmated). The summer brood shutdown
actually benefits with mite management, since it stops mite reproduction,
and allows the Russians to groom off mites.
I didn't try to say that my stock was not resistant--it is other purported
resistant stocks that fail in my area. VSH sometimes performs well, and I
bring in inseminated breeders from time to time as drone mothers.
Likely, a large proportion of my stock would survive without any
treatments. The problem is that I sign almond contracts for strong
colonies in February, and can't take the chance of them going downhill
during winter.
I breed from about 25 queens each year, selected for productivity and high
mite resistance. Each year, the mite level at selection time each spring,
after about four brood cycles, gets lower. This year, following an oxalic
dribble in November, of the 20-frame busting colonies from which I selected
breeders, in mid March and full of drones, I rejected any with more than 1
mite per 300 bees, and about a quarter had zero mites in a 300-bee sample.
I wasn't trying to say that I have a mite problem. I was just saying that
there are reasons that some of us don't go treatment free, and that bees
that are resistant in one area may fail in another area. I have no problem
controlling mite levels with a few natural treatments each season.
However, in order to be able to select breeders fairly, if I treat one
colony, I treat all colonies in the same way each time, regardless of need.
This is a waste of treatment, but allows me to compare apples to apples
next spring.
--
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com
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