Have you fellas been on biobees forum or something ?
Have you fellas been on biobees forum or something ?
I do look in on biobees quite often but that is definitely not where I would start from re. breeding bees which are better able to cope with varroa. The chatter there is worthy but nothing more than that - and their losses are heavy.
I think that if you can get enough people working together you can make some progress.
The Primorski bees have coexisted with varroa for 150 years and tolerate the mites much better than other strains of Apis mellifera.
I don't believe there is a magic bullet but it should be possible to make some progress.
meanwhile I will continue to use Apiguard and Oxalic acid.
Own up. I saw you there!
Last edited by Jon; 14-05-2013 at 11:26 PM.
When the talk of breeding for resistance appears
Biobees claim they haven't done it for years
If I was in charge I would burn with delight
The hives of anyone not treating for mites
Those collapsing colonies with thousands of mites are capable of transferring a significant number of the mites elsewhere as they get robbed out in their death throes.
Irresponsible behaviour I would call it.
lest we forget, about 200 colonies of NZ Carniolans were brought in to a Co-op farm about 10 miles away from Ron Hoskins' project.
I can only imagine how that must have complicated his work with additional variables and it would explain why the only route open to him is II.
Last edited by Jon; 15-05-2013 at 09:33 AM. Reason: hyphen
Cold Turkey.
We've had this conversation before, on that other thread. I can't see how cold turkey beekeeping could ever, responsibly, be carried out in Britain but that's not to say that I can't respect the sheer determination and strength of conviction shown by people like Kefuss and Danny Weaver. They're not fools OR bad beekeepers.
Last edited by prakel; 15-05-2013 at 12:00 AM.
And they definitely did not get where they are today (paraphrasing Reggie Perrin) by starting with just a couple of colonies.
You have to get a significant number of people on board in a given area to make it work
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