On Tue, 5 Mar 1996, <Larry Connor> wrote: > It was my understanding the the Yugo bee did NOT exhibit the biting behavior, > but resistance was based on some other mechanism. Check with Lilia De Guzman > or Tom Rinderer at the Baton Rouge bee lab. > Larry, You have brought up a very important point. I would like someone from the USDA to explain to us how research is coming on the biting behavior that seems to control the Varroa mite. This information has been out now for a few years. I know that some researchers have been very interested in testing that stock , by the use of semen that is availible from Austria. There are regulations to control the importation of semen. I would think that Varroa can cause us some very big problems. When chemicals show up in honey and they will after apistan starts to fail. We allready have found some big outfits using chemicals that were not approved. I'm in Washington state I remember atar on the red apples. That still has an negative effect on the red apple market. I would not like to see the almound growers get hit with only half the bees that they need. Right now bees are being shipped in from all over. My point is , you need to ask questions and get good answers. Help in anyway we can in supporting the USDA and researchers.Long term fix without chemicals. Words are cheap and I have never seen anything made with words.I have seen people do some very amazing things when they talk up a plan and then do it. Getting to the moon was not easy. It took a lot of people working together with one goal. Well the way I see Varroa ,it is dead meat.The other choice is a new fad for almound furniture. I'm very much focused on doing everything I can to get rid of Varroa. I sell honey in Seattle and Redmond on the weekends. Redmond is the home of Microsoft. I brought one of my microscopes and some Varroa for the public to look at. Varroa look bad anyway, but I made it even worse. I had a blue background with Varroa RED.Then I would tell the people that mite is killing many thousands of hives.After I would explain the use of chemicals to treat the mite, they did not like that at all. You see I sell my honey for $ 4 for a 8 oz. hex bottle. I do not heat or filter it and collect the honey from high in the Olympic mountains. No pollution.I do know what the people really want.Good clean honey. Two tons in two months is a lot for me. But I got hit with Varroa this year , because I treared too late.So Varroa is at the top of my list.I know that there has been work done on Varroa and more is ongoing.We have some researchers that are doing some very fine work and they have to keep it up. Beekeepers need to voice there opinions on the queens that they are getting and if they are happy with them. We all need to get smarter.You can't leave a hive in your backyard for ten years anymore and not protect it with medication. I think a light should come on in everyones mind. The Best To Everyone Roy Nettlebeck