I was reading the Bee-l and a poster suggested that it would be hard to breed for mite resistance by selecting queen bees to graft from to head up new hives if the beekeeper treated his/her bees to reduce mite populations. The poster thought it would be best to let the bees that had no natural mite resistance die and pick from the survivors. This system is also called "live and let die".
It was my opinion that a beekeeper could keep mite levels reduced (applying natural or chemical miticides to remove mites from the bees) to maximize a monetary return on the investment and labor and still pick the best hives for larvae to raise new queens.
Friday, January 8, 2010
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