> I believe my friend Chuck Norton is wanting to get a discussion going
> concerning last years series of articles on drone importance  by Larry
> Conner.

I haven't read that article, but I do agree that drones are often overlooked
and that they are under a lot of pressure, since their vigour is affected by
both varroa, and by the 'cures' -- fluvalinate and coumaphos.

many opine that that many, if not most, premature queen failures can be
traced back to inadequate numbers -- or quality -- of drones, so drones are
a good investment if you are raising queens, and it takes a lot of drones
per queen to ensure good success.  Adding drone comb to desirable hives will
diminish the chances of mating with random poorer stock from the
neighbourhood, as well.

One thing I have wondered about in relation to attempts at breeding for
varroa tolerance is that, since drones are only raised in numbers in
colonies that are strong and well-fed (ignoring drone layer queens), and
since drones are most susceptible to varroa effects, open mating with random
drones should give natural advantage to strains that are more robust in
withstanding mites and chemicals.  Plugging human-selected hives fll of
drone comb works against that natural selection for fitness, but then, so
does much of our artificial selection.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com

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