IMHO, I think you need to think of hives of bees developing resistance to mites. It will do no good for a particular worker to be resistant. Since drone brood is where the mites tend to concentrate, a particular drone that survives the infestation, could pass along what ever quality to the next generation. With the general requeening every year, if we were to have a queen with total resistance to mites, she would just be replaced as a matter of routine beekeeping practice and her qualities of resistance lost. Now if you were to take some of her drone and use them to mate with a virgin queen, then the resistance trait could have a chance of being passed on. It is like wanting a good hunting dog and buying new dogs every year and never taking the best hunting dogs and breeding from that stock.. You might get a great hunting dog, but how will that benefit you when you replace her from another mailorder dog supplier? Dusty >Although it is probably quite a long shot I think that it is possible >that the bees could develop an immunity to the mites. Quite a number of >trees produce toxins in their leaves if they are attacked by insects and >I beleive that your own body will produce a sort of insect repellant if >you refrain from washing. I don't think that we should confine immunity >to the cellular level. > >Harry >Scotland > > Angel's Old Town HomeBrew http://www.netropolis.net/dusty/homebrew.htm Beauty is in the hands of the beerholder!