Well, I just got back from putting my grafted pure bred SMR larvae into
finnishing off hives. It'll be interesting to see what happens. I'd like to
keep diversity, but one sample of drone brood from my trusty rusty survival
of the fittest local bees had an average 12 mites per larva. And the larvae
looked very fat and smug.
I wonder though, I got a letter like others of you from Dr. Harbo, and do
you guys and gals think that the open mated daughters will also have a
shorter life span than other bees? I'm wondering if I'll have to re-queen
again in 6 months or so.