Bob & Liz wrote:
>
> Hello All,
> Thanks to Jack for setting the record straight.  Varroa tolerant bees are in
> the future as our researchers all say.  They just didn't say WHEN.  One
> noted researcher predicted (his opinion) 25 years.   As for my own yard of
> survivor hives.  All were dead this spring.

I appreciate Bob's comments on what he has found in trying to develop
varroa tolerant bees. It will be a long term effort.

We may have varroa tolerance in many of our bees here in the US already.
The problem is, as some have noted, varroa is not necessarily the killer
of the bees but virus. So we can have varroa tolerance, but the virus
kills the hive when the right conditions exist in the hive. I have been
told that tracheal mites and viruses thrive in crowded, cold, damp
hives, the often normal condition for over wintered hives in cold
climates. So why not varroa and viruses?

Something I have noticed is the bees that seem most varroa tolerant are
in hot climates. It may be that Varroa tolerance can be achieved in warm
winter areas where crowding is at a minimum and viruses can be held in
check. But take the same varroa tolerant bees and put them in harsh
winters, and eventually they will die from the optimum conditions in the
hive for the spread of viruses. That seems to be confirmed in the spread
of AHB. The limit of their spread in both the US and SA stop were the
winters are cold. They may be succumbing to viruses.

This is all hypothesis, but it seem to match observations and answers a
lot of questions. May also be totally off base. It does not explain the
russian bees, but they do not seem to be as resistant as thought. Maybe
they are virus free in their local area.

Maybe we should be looking at controlling the virus as well as the mite.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, ME