>Why do Africanized bees in Brazil need little or not treatment, while 
beekeepers in other parts of Latin America reportedly have to treat?

Probably 10 or 12 years ago I had the opportunity to talk to Dewey Caron about 4.9mm cell size and AHB and varroa.

Dewey told me that yes, worker bees develop slightly faster in the 4.9mm cells from AHB.  However, he said that was not the reason that AHB were resistant to varroa.

He said that AHB raise tons of drones early in the season, and then don't raise any more.  European honeybees will raise drones all season long.  He said that the drone brood was where most of the mites reproduced, rather than worker brood.  He basically said that even if I use 4.9mm worker brood cells with my European bees, I will still have issues with varroa because the varroa will still be reproducing in the drone brood all season long.  (I tried small cell bees a few years when starting.  I had horrible losses.  I ended up keeping bees alive by splitting constantly and trying to outbreed the mites.  I still have quite a few small cell and natural cell combs, but I find more hives survive winter and my honey production is much better if I treat for varroa.)

Could climatic/geographic differences affect how much of the season the AHB are rearing drones?

Could X number of years of trying to introduce more European genetics so the AHB are not as hot have also affected the genetics of rearing drones throughout more of the season?

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