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The experience of resistance occurring in South Africa was 5-7 years. No?

Seen it at our Training Apiary a few years ago after vaping oxalic acid. Lots of eggs. We assumed oxalic acid damage to the eggs and hygienic workers had cleaned them out. Colony was ok in the spring. Why no varroa? Over wintering mites could be in sealed cells by now plus a low level of...

It’s a really interesting paper. Beekeepers want to understand the mechanisms that honeybees are deploying to control their mite populations. Once understood, they can be embedded into education and selection practices. Without treating, there will be natural selection.

Thanks Ian, had not seen the early Yugoslav experiment in the US. Read like they marginally outperformed the local Louisiana bees, but no surprise to see the USDA move on to researching the Primorsky resistant bees. Thanks again Steve

Thanks Michael. The insights help explain the high colony losses in the US. Tough environment for you. There will certainly be more to learn on the types of DWV. I understood the latest research in the US was type A being most prevalent. The UK experience was that type A had attenuated to...

Thanks John and best wishes to you also for 2023. Being cautiously interested is the right place to start. I also attended one of Alan and Tricia's workshops, which was based on biotechnical reductions of varroa (queen frame trapping), substituting for chemical treatments, not varroa resistant...

John If you'd like some science, have a look at the publication from Prof Stephen Martin. He's 30 years on the subject. https://www.bbka.org.uk/shop/bbka-special-edition-natural-varroa-resistant-honey-bees Happy & healthy new year to all and wishing your bees good overwintering Steve

No offense taken!! I'm looking forward to seeing your imports (?) and can see how when bred for VSH, they could be additive to the gene pool. The Continental European breeders learned about VSH from the USDA, who observed the Primorsky bees. This is a relatively new phenomena as they only...

Genetic marking for VSH traits is research in progress (lots to google). The uncapping behaviour is widespread in the UK, but not well understood until fairly recently. The behaviour's origin precedes commercially produced imported queens.

Good luck with the UBO. Let's hope that, or other learnings, lead to less varroa naïve bees being produced. For the benefit of others, Kirk Webster has a commercial operation in Vermont and hasn't used chemical treatments on his bees for over 20 years. One of the pioneers of this approach...

Not quite...... We didn't start with naturally resistant bees. We looked for the traits of naturally surviving stock, identified from research and discussions with bee scientists & researchers. The traits are out there, initially in a small % of honeybees, but that has grown to a much...

Forum group trip?

I think so - we believe we are there already by selecting for the key traits found in naturally resistant colonies.

Do you collude with Kirk Webster?

Would love to see them in the spring if you are up for a visit? Steve

Other research (not yet published) is on the varroa offspring, rather than impact of the larvae / pupae. There is some scepticism on the UBO which might be professional competitiveness😬. All heading in the right direction to reduce the breeding of varroa naive bees. Good luck and let us know...

Are sure the original genetics aren't from overseas breeders? A lot are imported then grafted from for a UK marketing badge.

Very hard to pin down the compounds from reproducing varroa - there seems to be a "laboratory race" to identify and replicate them in an easy to use form for beekeepers. Will be interesting to learn if the UBO is any more effective than a pin test. Please keep us posted on your progress -...

Thanks John How are you monitoring the varroa numbers? If you left the winter treatment, you'd learn a lot more about which colonies had the better "vsh" traits for breeding purposes

Are your calculations for varroa naïve bees?