VARROA SENSITIVE HYGIENE

[Erichalfbee]

Always up for a visit here in Vermont.

God I’d be there like shot.
I could just tell Stan I was going to St Albans ( where my sister lives)

 

[Norton]

I thought it would help to put some things into perspective here.

I live in Ormidheia Village in eastern Cyprus. The village is located in a shallow valley near the coast. We have 4 beekeepers in the village parish with about 700 hives in total, most colonies have our genetics. The surrounding area is mostly arable land with winter wheat and potatoes. It is likely that virgin queens raised in the area will mate with drones from these hives. In addition, there are many hives in surrounding villages that also carry our genetics.

Whilst not actively selecting for VSH, we see that many of our colonies uncap and recap brood, Varroa levels are now the lowest we have seen for 35 years. Usually, we would expect to see some bees with viral damage, but not so this year.

The photographs in the original post are of a nuc that was part of a cell starter hive in October. This hive had continual boost input of sealed brood and was split into nucs when it started showing signs of laying workers. The nuc was given a sealed queen cell and the queen was open-mated. The addition of the sealed brood, of course, means that the Varroa population was also boosted and we can see that the bees have reacted to this by uncapping.

We also observe that a high level of uncapping is detrimental and the colony can die because it just runs out of bees, especially in late summer when dearth causes a reduction in brood production. This was confirmed in a discussion with some of our colleagues in Germany. A low to medium uncapping is desirable. VSH is not the end of the story with Varroa, but an extremely useful behaviour to have in our bees.

In VSH projects where single drone inseminations were used, the colonies have a below-average production obviously because of low diversity and vigour, but they are working on this and will rectify it.

The target is to have treatment-free bees before 2030, can it be accomplished? Yes, I think it can.

 

[Steve at Westerham Beeks]

Always up for a visit here in Vermont.

Do you collude with Kirk Webster?

 

[Steve at Westerham Beeks]

Steve do you think you can even get to that stage without letting bee-mite co-evolution play out?

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

 

[Steve at Westerham Beeks]

God I’d be there like shot.
I could just tell Stan I was going to St Albans ( where my sister lives)

Forum group trip?

 

[Beesnaturally]

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

So that is... letting co-evolution play out. Its happened in the naturally resistant bees you've started with, and you are, alongside your selection methods, allowing it to continue would you say?

I'm hesitant about encouraging particular traits -but then I'm quite well down the line of live and let die (then go on improving as you see fit). I just select for longevity and productivity.

 

[Jimmy]

Are there any studies of the genetic basis of VSH? There has been sampling of managed hives in my region and they found some uncapping behaviour. How do you determine whether it's arisen due to a local genetic/selection event or it's due to interbreeding with a non-local queen's genetics?

I'm fairly sure the Jolanta queens have scored well for VSH. Not sure if it was here or on Twitter that Murray mentioned it.

 

[Steve at Westerham Beeks]

So that is... letting co-evolution play out. Its happened in the naturally resistant bees you've started with, and you are, alongside your selection methods, allowing it to continue would you say?

I'm hesitant about encouraging particular traits -but then I'm quite well down the line of live and let die (then go on improving as you see fit). I just select for longevity and productivity.

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 bigger % in parts of the UK and other countries over the last 30 years or so.

ps: You've done great! Natural selection is a tough cookie to sell in the beekeeping world regardless of how correct it is.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Do you collude with Kirk Webster?

No, he's gone off on his own path.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Forum group trip?

People from around the world come here to see what we're doing. I always welcome those willing to roll up their sleeves.
Best time to see the Queen/Nuc operation in full swing is June 15 - July 10

 

[Steve at Westerham Beeks]

No, he's gone off on his own path.

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. Kirk Webster | New/Old Beekeeping Discoveries

 

[Steve at Westerham Beeks]

Are there any studies of the genetic basis of VSH? There has been sampling of managed hives in my region and they found some uncapping behaviour. How do you determine whether it's arisen due to a local genetic/selection event or it's due to interbreeding with a non-local queen's genetics?

I'm fairly sure the Jolanta queens have scored well for VSH. Not sure if it was here or on Twitter that Murray mentioned it.

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.

 

[ericbeaumont]

pioneers of this approach

Thanks for that introduction, Steve.

Just read his piece Where Commercial Beekeeping Went Wrong which (written 17 years ago) describes eloquently the fine mess we're in, now that big business controls food production.

 

[rolande]

Thanks for that introduction, Steve.

Just read his piece Where Commercial Beekeeping Went Wrong which (written 17 years ago) describes eloquently the fine mess we're in, now that big business controls food production.

It was his writing that first put me onto the books written by George Henderson, nothing to do with bees in a direct sense but real gems in small(er) scale agricultural thought. Written not *that* far from Manley's base, and with a similar willingness to be blunt, at much the same time Honey Farming & Beekeeping in Britain were being written.

 

[Ian123]

The uncapping behaviour is widespread in the UK, but not well understood until fairly recently. The behaviour's origin precedes commercially produced imported queens.

That’s a given as it’s a trait that breeders found in bees and subsequently accentuated or will hopefully fix as in desirable traits and line breeding. It’s the ability to fix or stabilise this trait that breeders are after.
As to the trait preceding imported queens…..Well if your assuming bees that come in contact with varroa develop this trait, foreign imported bees should be decades in front of UK bees. Is that not logical due to the shorter contact period in the UK? Plus the fact European breeders are years in front of anything we have here!

 

[Ian123]

Just to add and this is not directed at you Steve!!
When people open with statements like…..imports are not suitable to the UK…Or all imports are even foreign….Imports are not hardy…Imports are soft.They are possibly lying probably not very experienced or perhaps have no idea what they are talking about or even all of the above!…..It also sets alarm bells ringing with anything else they subsequently say or produce. That’s not to say there haven’t been imports of poor queens but I’d suggest these days that is very much the exception. If you start a conversation with something that’s factually incorrect then you can’t really expect a sensible conversation!
I started keeping bees in the early 80s and in that time have experienced many imports..local mongrels..AMM…Several Races/Strains. If I had to stake the house on it I know who I’d be backing!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Just to add and this is not directed at you Steve!!
When people open with statements like…..imports are not suitable to the UK…Or all imports are even foreign….Imports are not hardy…Imports are soft.They are possibly lying probably not very experienced or perhaps have no idea what they are talking about or even all of the above!…..It also sets alarm bells ringing with anything else they subsequently say or produce. That’s not to say there haven’t been imports of poor queens but I’d suggest these days that is very much the exception. If you start a conversation with something that’s factually incorrect then you can’t really expect a sensible conversation!
I started keeping bees in the early 80s and in that time have experienced many imports..local mongrels..AMM…Several Races/Strains. If I had to stake the house on it I know who I’d be backing!

It’s a common theme in the threads that disintegrate. Stating opinion or hearsay as fact.

 

[Ian123]

The thinking that bees in contact with varroa and resistance developing was behind the importing of Promorsky queens in the U.S and the hope that as they had been in contact with Varroa for over 100 years they may prove to have the required traits. I’d suggest the results have been disappointing!

 

[Beesnaturally]

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.

My guess would be that is present more often, or better presented, in some UK specimens than others. Are there any indications of patterns in this respect?

 

[Beesnaturally]

Thanks for that introduction, Steve.

Just read his piece Where Commercial Beekeeping Went Wrong which (written 17 years ago) describes eloquently the fine mess we're in, now that big business controls food production.

I agree, fabulous. I especially I agree too with Kirk's prescription and prognosis:

"As far as I can tell, after studying this problem for 30 years, and getting to know many farmers and beekeepers—the people who have the best lives in farming of any kind are very skillful in all three of these areas: producing valuable products for sale, reducing their expenses, and producing some of their own goods and services. What does this mean for the apiary in practical terms? Just becoming expert at producing honey, pollen, queens or other bee products; and enjoying a simple, low-cost lifestyle in a rural place. By investing some of your time and money in the self-sufficiency aspects—raising your own queens; building your own equipment and buildings; welding, gardening, etc.—you become partially removed from the instability of the overall economic system. It takes really good management to make all these jobs fit together right, and some income is sacrificed in the boom years; but over the long run the apiary is more stable, resilient, and enjoyable to work with.

I am also an advocate of avoiding debt if at all possible in developing an apiary. In a good location, healthy bees are productive, and can easily grow from a small beginning. This is how you can tell if your “farm” is going to succeed economically in the long run—if it provides its own capital for re-investment."

That's me.