On 2 June, Bill Truesdell wrote:
>Several years ago Adrian wrote of some colonies he discovered that had
>survived in the wild and possibly were varroa resistant. Just wonder
>what happened to them?
Actually, Paul Cronshaw has been maintaining such colonies for several
years now. Our only problem has been starvation in the remote beeyard he
has.
Just yesterday, Paul and I caged queens from 10 such colonies and mailed
them to James Tew in Ohio. He is working with Gard Otis of Guelph and
researchers at Michigan State University to test these bees for tolerance
of varroa. They will be one batch of three being so tested.
The following is a portion of my message to Tew and Otis:
**********
For some background on these bees, you can consult my letter on page 658
of the September, 1999 isssue of the AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. Other
information is as follows:
1) These queens come from colonies that have never been treated with any
substance for any condition (e.g., Apistan, terramyosin, mineral oil,
sulfa).
2) All colonies have come from walls of houses, tree cavities, as swarms
that have emitted from colonies not near any colonies that have been
treated, etc. None of the colonies, as far as we can tell, came from
colonies managed by beekeepers.
3) Some of the colonies have survived for several years without such
treatment after Paul hived them. Others have survived for years in house
walls or trees for years without treatment before being extracted and put
into standard hive bodies.
4) While extracting queens yesterday, I neither saw varroa mites nor bees
with wrinkled wings. Of course, I was primarily seeking queens and not
inspecting the colonies.
5) All colonies from which the queens were extracted were exceptionally
gentle in nature. The veil I wore was not necessary during the period of
time we searched. (I always wear a veil, though, so I can work
uninterrupted in case of an attack event.)
6) The nearest report of AHB [Africanized Honey Bees] is approximately 30
miles away, past several mountain ridges. No stinging incidents have been
reported here or in that area, for that matter.
7) You will find considerable variation in queen coloration. As my good
friend Harry Laidlaw once told me, he could get any color of queen you
wanted if you gave him a few generations to breed for such a color.
8) All colonies had plenty of eggs. Those 10 colonies will now supercede,
since we are not introducing queens from elsewhere.
***********
Now we have to wait to see what develops.
Adrian
Adrian M. Wenner (805) 963-8508 (home phone)
967 Garcia Road (805) 893-8062 (UCSB FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA 93106 [http://www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/index.htm]
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* "The history of science teaches us that each time we think
* that we have it all figured out, nature has a radical surprise
* in store for us that requires significant and sometimes drastic
* changes in how we think the world works."
*
* Brian Greene (1999:373)
*
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