Hi Trevor and all

 > However, from what I can gather from the bits of
 > information I have gathered on the AHB, it is a different situation.

I see it as a similar situation, but the AHB case has a much steeper 
gradient.

If you compare AMM to Italian, there are flying time (for mating) 
differences, but they are not as marked as those between AHB and Italian.

AMM has many traits that allow it to maintain a higher degree of purity 
when compared to Italian strains and so the supplanting of AMM genes in 
US has happened 'against the grain'.

So I think the principle remains that beekeeper intervention can do the 
job, but that the battle will be more uphill and many beekeepers may not 
be prepared to put in the degree of effort required.

While thinking about some of the aspects of this problem, the thought 
has occurred to me that there may be some linkage in the mating 
frequency of a race and its age as a race... i.e. Italian race = 
youngest and one of the African races = the oldest.

Can anyone add anything to this notion ?


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Short FallBack M/c, Build 6.02/3.1 (stable)

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