> Anyway, if your queen supplier sells you queens that are still susceptible 
> to tracheal mites, find a new queen supplier.  This is the 21st Century, 
> and anyone selling tracheal-mite susceptible stock is either lazy or 
> incompetent.

I tend to agree with you, but I wonder, how one is to know, until losses 
occur or bees are pulled apart?  Is there any sure way to know when 
purchasing queens, other than buying strains known for the trait, regardless 
of other considerations?

And, if a breeder has TM resistant bees this year can we know that will be 
true next year?  Apparently the trait is all over the map in bees from 
popular US queen suppliers, at least a few years back. See 
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/articles/tracheal.htm

Maybe things have changed, but last I heard, the tests for TM susceptibility 
are still slow and somewhat costly in terms of time and effort and not 
widely employed by breeders.  Are they using some other way of assuring this 
quality?

Jose Villa, in his BEE-L post, some time back, referred to the potential 
ease of selection by identifying genes, but is this still in the future, or 
is it here now?  Eliminating the TM problem once and forever would be a big 
advance, since TM can sneak up and is a bit hard for the average beekeeper 
to spot.  Thus TM is often suspected first whenever unexplained losses 
occur. 

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