>
> >Can a bottleneck of this type be accomplished without allowing a lot of
> bee colonies to die or otherwise be eliminated from the breeding stock?


Bill, this is exactly what I am attempting to demonstrate.  I will soon be
publishing the first update on what I hope to be a "walking the walk"
series of my progress (or lack thereof).  I can give you a teaser now:

Starting with 1000 colonies in the potential breeder pool, 50 now remaining
in contention.  Zero colony losses to varroa--we treated any colony once it
exceeded 3 mites per hundred.  Zero loss in honey production, or
pollination income, and minimal change in our colony management (other than
eventually moving the potential breeders to a single yard).  Total cost
involved: less than $200 for alcohol; less than 100 total man hours in
taking mite counts and treating the hives that didn't pass muster.

My point is that one need not lose a single *colony* to be engaged in a
serious selective breeding program--it is only the choosing of each
season's queen mothers that counts.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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