>> Seems to me Bill wilson told us back in the '70's about >> someone (maybe him) having bred a line of noticably AFB resistant bees within about 5 generations as an experiment. > >Again from memory, it was at Ohio State, done back in the 40s or 50s? At the risk of being corrected by someone who has the references in front of them, I need to stand up for my home state. I believe the development of AFB resistant bees was done here in Iowa. The time frame was (I think), the 50's or 60's. I got my start in bee keeping after taking a class at Iowa State University from Richard Trump, who as I remember, worked on this project. I am not sure who else was involved, Mr. Trump apparently was just assisting. (Possibly it was Frank(?) Pellet) The resistant colonies were not maintained for very long after the experiment. The cost of maintaining the bees (budget constraints), and the development of inexpensive easy chemical treatments for AFB removed much of their appeal/value. It seems to me that Mr. Trump indicated that these resistant bees were not much different from other colonies in production or temperment. I would be happy to hear from anyone who has the references for this project (even if my story is completely wrong). FWIW Bill Van Roekel Central Iowa, USA