Hi All

A simple answer...The grass is always greener on the other side of the
fence.

A more complex answer...It is too much hard work for most beekeepers to do
the wing morphometry and spend 20 years selecting strains from their own
localised and aclimatised bees to improve the stock that they already have
and so people seek "better bees" from over the horizon. Far from improving
the situation this brings about more mongrelisation and poorer temper
ultimately getting all beekeepers a bad name.

Your "better bees" are already in your own hives...it is just a matter of
extracting the good traits and deselecting the bad ones. (simple to
say...difficult to do)

Far too much emphasis has been put on, productivity, honey gathering and
profundity. All of these should be secondary considerations. The first
priority should be temper, in bees that are suited to the area. When this is
acheived you can start selecting for productivity & honey gathering.

On my soap box again, best regards Dave Cushman

----- Original Message -----
From: Computer Software Solutions Ltd <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2000 10:21 PM
Subject: How varroa is introduced


> Hello all
>
> So, people are moving varroa infested bees into areas that did not have
varroa.
>
> Why??
>
> Sincerely  Tom Barrett
>