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This is not quite correct. As Marla Spivak put it, "all VSH colonies are highly hygienic, but not all hygienic colonies are VSH". Speculation is that hygienic traits are a necessary component of VSH expression. It makes sense to start with stock that is hygienic. Please emphasize that VSH is...

Yep, pedant. I am preventing my bees from swarming. Just because they initiate swarming does not mean I allow them to complete the process.

It is not. This can be shown by very low varroa counts at any time of year. I pulled drone larvae from a colony a year or two ago because someone wanted to know how high my counts were. I found a varroa in the cell with the 127th drone uncapped. My bees show VSH and allogrooming traits...

Since you are looking honestly and trying to figure out what works, here is some more information perhaps worth reading. I have not seen any impact from small cell combs on varroa populations. I started using small cell about the same time I got the first varroa resistant bees in 2005 and ran...

I'm making progress on the swarming. Another 5 years of selecting for non-swarming traits should dramatically improve the genetics. This year was the lowest level of swarming in the last 10 years. I can't do much about the honey yields. This area has never produced more than @60 kg surplus...

I've been treatment free since 2005 and my bees are thriving. Those of you who keep ballyhooing about Mellifera having no resistance are provably wrong. The resistance is there. It takes years of hard work to concentrate it enough for the bees to be able to survive on their own. That picture...

yes finman, it is a poor example of a frame of brood. The bees in that colony were allogroomers and had high levels of VSH traits. That photo was taken near the end of the main flow so there was a lot of competition for workers to bring in the honey crop. These bees also have a trait to mix...

This topic has been debated for at least 150 years. I wrote up an article about it several years ago and have updated it a few times since. Narrow frame spacing is a viable way of keeping bees, but it requires adjustments to the way they are kept. Narrow frames increase swarming tendency...

Interesting thread. Am I the only beekeeper here who has used frames spaced 31 mm center to center? There is quite a bit of variation in comb spacing by different bee races. Mellifera comb spacing is wider than Italians. Italians are wider than most African races. There is similar variation...

Polyhive now has a proper gardenhive on his lawn. Love it!

Why all the argument about ventilation from beekeepers who live in a climate that does not need much ventilation? Move here and you will learn the value of having a hive designed for easy ventilation. Horizontal hives, even those that have round frames can be evaluated according to common...

To my knowledge, the reasons advanced so far for using small cell are: 1. It is the preferred "natural" size as built by bees. Counterpoint, I can make a good argument that bees build a range of cell sizes. 2. It helps with varroa resistance. I can neither confirm nor deny that it helps with...

The cluster expands significantly faster in the spring buildup so that the colony reaches swarm strength a few weeks earlier than if they were on regular cell plus 35 mm or 38 mm spacing. Reaching swarm strength before the main flow starts just about guarantees a swarm. I have to pull a nuc...

True, but there are other benefits to small cell. A winter cluster can only cover so much comb surface. if that comb surface is small cell, the bees can cover relatively more brood cells compared to 5.3 mm. This effect is enhanced if the combs are spaced at 31 or 32 mm which squeezes the...

That is in the September 1943 issue. I have August and October, but not September.

From Coffindodger's link, Masterman R., Smith B. H. & Spivak M. Brood odor discrimination abilities in hygienic honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) using proboscis extension reflex conditioning. J Insect Behav 13, 87–101 (2000). Spivak M., Masterman R., Ross R. & Mesce K. A. Hygienic behavior in...

Interesting article in ABJ this month that describes finding marker proteins on antennae associated with mite resistance. Anyone seen other research published online discussion sense of smell in context to honeybee disease/pest resistance?

https://peerj.com/preprints/2976.pdf There are some very interesting conclusions reached among which is that VSH is not important to resistance. :ohthedrama: Credit: Posted by Juhani Lunden on Beesource a couple of days ago.

This thread reminds me that climate is what you expect and weather is what you get. I think it is important to note that AMm have a few significant traits worth working on. AMm will forage in weather when most other bees huddle inside. They will mature late honey from heather (or goldenrod in...

Among other things I do on a daily basis is data manipulation. It takes less than a minute to fix the formatting. Just curiosity, but can V. velutina and V. crabro crossbreed?