Joe,

You indicate brood viability is now around 98% since 2007.  I'm interested 
in what you did with your feral stock to improve the brood viability, if 
anything?  I would expect hygienic stock to continue showing some spotty 
brood patterns unless they were vastly reducing the varroa load through 
other mechanisms.   I have some hives with Minnesota Hygienic queens which 
showed patterns with missed cells by late summer when varra levels got high. 
Interestingly, the patterns of my old feral stocks and their vitality have 
improved with the addition of the new genetics to my main yard.  I suspect 
inbreeding was causing me more problems than I realized.

Did these hives survive the winter with no treatment?  If there were other 
underlying disease issues besides varroa, I would not expect them to survive 
based on my limited experiences with similar brood patterns. Were these 
queens used as breeders to improve your stock?

 

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