>> So why do you think these hives are 'mite resistant'???
> Peter they were purchased from a breeding program for mite resistance, from survivor bees.
This illustrates an answer for the question asked earlier about why suppliers of 'ressitant bees' don't make a fuss and advertise more.
There are some people who are very sure that when they have good luck with their bees that they can recommend their methods or bees to everyone else, however, those who truly know bees and beekeepers know better.
Bees that exhibit tolerance or resistance in one environment and management system may not measure up in another, even if they have a degree of resistance. For one thing, queens often get supercede without the beekeeper knowing, and the resulting queen may not measure up in the expected qualities, causing disappointment and disillusionment.
At this point, other than hygienic ability against AFB, these quailites are not fully developed in any strain of bee which is commercially attractive to the point where a supplier can confidently make claims without fear the the whole thing will blow back in his face.
Mite tolerance is a work in progress at this point. Capable beekeepers with the requisite luck and a good understanding of the mechanisms can make them work, but we are years away from a bee which resists mites in all conditions.
Mnay offering resistant bees know their limits and figure they will let customers discover whether the stock meets their needs in their own time, and in their own way.
In this case, we wonder if this is good performance or bad. For one thing, some tolerant bees seem to have levels that get as high as 6%, then recede again. Hives exhibiting the highest levels may have been superceded, or, for that matter, simply be a standard deviation or two from the mean. That happens in nature.
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