I was just wondering whether you had thought of working Varroa tolerance into the traits that you select for in your queen raising. It does need some thought about assessing colonies in ways that are uniform and likely to give good information on the potential of certain lines.
I see where you are coming from and it is definitely a key trait to select for, but it's hard to know where to start other than ignore Bispham and his ilk.
I do see colonies which uncap pupae, presumably because of mite damage to the pupa.
I don't personally have enough colonies but it could be one of the longer term goals of the queen rearing group.
There are clear differences in daughter queens which are half sisters, presumably due to the different drone fathers.
I had one which just produced chalk brood and the colony dwindled to the point where I put the remnant plus the queen into an apidea where it continued to produce chalkbrood until it got robbed out by wasps. Sister queens of this one seem to be very good.
In the paper:
Apidologie 38 (2007) 566–572
c_ INRA, EDP Sciences, 2007
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2007040
Original article
Honey bee colonies that have survived Varroa destructor*
Yves Le Conte, et al.
Yves le Conte, who is rather unbisphamlike, states the following:
"One way to obtain
resistant bees is to intensively select for
single characters that decrease the growth of
Varroa populations. This approach might force
adaptations by the mite, limiting the genetic
progress obtained by the breeder. Another possibility
is to monitor natural selection in unmanaged
populations. An advantage of natural
selection is that it selects for a host-parasite
equilibrium that may be more sustainable than
human selection for a single characteristic."
I find that the oxalic acid treatment I apply during the winter keeps the mites under reasonable control until my Autumn treatment. It's rare for a colony to need emergency treatment during the summer but when it does occur it's always a particularly strong colony that succumbs. I suspect that selecting for natural varroa tolerance is almost the same as selecting for non prolificacy - which is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly if your small nests manage to deliver high yields.
Rosie
Yes, but the problem is that they found the treated colonies produced 1.7 times more honey than the untreated colonies. It's an interesting paper. If Nellie can give a hand, I'll try to post it.Originally Posted by Rosie
I think this is the paper.
Yep, that's it.
Late to the party! If you need a hand linking/hosting stuff, just send me a PM with the details, I get an email.
Interesting article.
I just treat with Oxalic Acid anyway. The Treat and be Dammed approach. Monitoring is still going on but it appears I've got a similar variable result as Jon - I'm counting the drop each day after treatement 4 days ago.
For low-drop colonies, are they rid of varroa or has the queen started brooding so the varroa are safe and snug under a wax capping?
Adam
The only way to be sure is to take a look. I know we are told not to open hives in the winter but I have often peeped at the centre of the nest in mid-winter on a mild day without problems. I just choose a day when it's over 10 Degrees C and the cluster is loose, and remove an empty end frame. That enables me to slide half the frames sideways to open up a gap either side of a frame in the middle of the nest. I then pull it part way out and have a quick look on either side without totally withdrawing the comb. I would leave them undisturbed if the bees were in a tight cluster. After putting the roof back on you could slide the floor drawer in for a day to help them re-establish the temperature they want but I don't bother to.
Rosie
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