Hi all

Blane White wrote:
They treat their colonies with apistan but breed from those
with the lowest varroa mite populations in the fall.  It
appears they are moving toward a much more varroa
tolerant/resistant bee population with thier selection
program.

Reply:
This is interesting fact to know!

Blane further wrote:
Their results are very much along the lines of the results
reported by Erickson et all in their work in Arizona USA.

Reply:
This I can very much relate to if results are very much
along the same lines!

Blane further wrote:
Of course the SMR and Russian stocks show the same thing.
One can get varroa tolerance/resistance by selecting for it
regardless of cell size.

Reply:
So are they basically doing the same thing then? Are any
drugs additionally used also?

Blane ended writing:
Interesting discussion guess we all should be selecting for
reduced varroa reproduction in our bees if we are raising
queens.

Reply:
Yes, very interesting discussion, and yes we all should be
selecting for bees that can handle varroa.

One question though! Does adding the apistan to the
methodology mean the bees will always have to be doped with
it or something else stronger down the road?

Sincerely,

Dee A. Lusby







******************************************
Blane White
MN Dept of Agriculture
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