Hello Trevor & All,
Times change and people change. The need to break the rules is not needed in
Australia now in my opinion. Rules which allow no new genetics are antique
in today's world of beekeeping. It seems some queen breeders feel the rules
are holding up progress in the U.S. Of course never the opinion of all!

 A survey of alleles in U.S. bees showed we needed genetics. Thanks to AHB,
Russian bee import and the Australian import the situation has improved.
Sue Cobey has said we still need genetics. A point I agree with.

Should Brother Adam have been made to pick up trash from the highway (
community service) for bringing  in scutellata genetics from Africa?

While on the Irish list I quickly realized many felt bringing in outside
genetics was not a good idea as they felt A.mm was all they needed. We all
have got our opinions and rightly so.

However when rules tie the hands of people trying to improve bee stock then
in my opinion new rules need to be made which allow both sides some leeway.
Old hard liners have stopped progress in beekeeping for decades.


I have not said much about what I do not like about your system and the old
Australian bee. Having imported some to test from most of your exporters I
see improvement needed in many areas. I am a straight shooter and it is what
it is.

Those genetics from Buckfast and Italy have really improved the Australian
stock.  I am releasing this seasons Australian import queens later today so
too early to tell about the 2007/2008 stock but each year I see improvement.

The queens today come from the Dann Purvis closed breeding program he set up
at Brown's bees.
In the first import ( January 2005) I found three hives (out of 150 checked)
with slight chalkbrood issues.( reported in the second in series article ABJ
2005) Since than I have found none in Browns bees.

In one exporters queens the whole batch died from chalkbrood.

The old Australian line genetics has been plagued with chalkbrood for years.
The first thing Canada users of Australian bees told me . Despite the
opinion of some people many of us have found chalkbrood is hard to end by
selection in chalkbrood susceptible bees. Outside genetics works better.
Resistance to chalkbrood was the reason for outside genetics in Australia a
decade ago.


The curious thing about chalkbrood in Australian bees is that for the most
part the lines in Australia show little chalkbrood but when imported into
Canada and the U.S. the same genetics can at times crash from chalkbrood.


Each seasons bees from Browns bees seem better than the lasts. I would be
happy to supply contact numbers for U.S. commercial beekeepers using
Australian bees of Browns bees which are thrilled with the bees.

The improvement in Browns bees has came about in my opinion from Australia
setting up its queen import system. The improvement in my bees has came from
the same source.

Was Brother Adam wrong to try to improve the old Amm by importing genetics?
Boy am I opening a can of worms here!

bob

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