On Sat, 24 Feb 1996, Allen Dick wrote:
 
> I've been mulling over the suggestion that everyone pick out the best
> bees in their outfit in terms of tolerating mites (and hopefully
> honey production) and ship them to a central isolated location for
> evaluating and breeding in a non-treated or minimally treated
> environment.
>
> I forget who first proposed it, but this is the best idea I've heard.
>
> It has many pluses:
>
> * Many people select for their own idea of robust
>
> * Bee stock comes from all sources preselected
>
> * All varieties and strains of the mites and viruses will be there
>
> * A few scientists could oversee what might even be honey
>       producing apiaries under operation of regular beekeepers
>
> I've considered the mechanism too.  I don't think whole hives could
> be transported across country two or three at a time, but the queens
> could be sent for introduction at the site.
>
> Perhaps beekeepers could donate equipment and time - flying in for a
> few days or weeks at a time.
>
> Even if resistance or complete immunity to mites is not achieved,
> there might well arise a strain of bee that is capable of
 > withstanding the viruses and other stresses that accompany the mites.
>
> The next problem is distribution if a superior stock is developed,
> because many countries will allow bees to leave, but not allow them
> to be imported.
>
> Mites and diseases have managed to take advantage of our modern
> communication and transportation systems.  Can we use these same
> advances to get ahead of them?
>
Hello Allen and all Happy Beekeepers
  I thought Allen has a very good point. I did see some posts that lead
one to belive that beekeepers would be in the bee breeding business. We
have researchers and they understand the complexity of breeding the honey
bee. We have many beekeepers with many hives. We just need a list of
behaviors to check for as beekeepers. This could turn into a mess if it
not organized. Researchers need as many samples that meet what behaviors
they need for a breeding program.
 We can do some simple things as beekeepers to help out the researchers
right now.  Vince brough up a point of some people that are good
beekeepers and use the strip , still loose a lot of hives. We need to
write down what we are doing and what we are seeing.Dr. Mike Burgett
sends out a winter loss survey every year in the north west.He asks 8
questions and the info is confidential. He has been able to glean some
good info from his survey.Like, when should you treat for Varroa in the fall.
  Allens last line is where we will beat the mite. We may never get rid
of them but they will not kill all our bees off. I bet we could use this
machine. I don't have any Idea how hard it is to set up a list that would
be dedicated to Varroa or even if it would be worth it. But we have to
collect good info , if we are to beat the mite.We need to know when
Apistan is starting to fail us. Not wait until we loose 50,000 hives. We
better have plan two in place. I have been told that formic acid looks
like plan 2 in the US. I don't know if that is true ,but there are
beekeepers getting ready now.We really have to get off of the chemical fix.
Honey is very special, It needs to be clean and pure. If you want to
check out where that comes from, just open the good book.-
 Everyone Have a Great Weekend
 Roy