Ok now i'm going into winter with 15 healthy hives and would like to make my bee's mite resistant and i'm not sure witch way to go . Should i bee looking and studying queen bee breeders for Varroa Mites and Viruses resistant lines
or should i just keep breeding my bee's and only use my queens ? I know i'll be making nucs and catching swarms to keep my numbers up so i can lose some but will my bees one day become mite resistant? The steps i'm taking this winter is to read all i can about the Varroa Mites and Viruses and i think i'm the only beekeeper for miles and the bee's i have now i made off three hives i had last year i bought from a cemical free beekeeper and 3 nucs i got from another cemical free beekeeper this year the rest i made I had 19 last month and i let the weak{4}ones die out mite pressure i'm quessing one was queen problem.
So as of right now i have 15 cemical free hives and would like to keep it that way .
I'm just a hobbyist and realy don't care about money i'ts about the bee's plus i have a great apiary with time to spend in the bee yard so what do ya all think ?
Witch way would you go?
THANK YOU.
Cheaper,if you got the time, just to make your own queens and keep going with them. And it would make you feel good about "your" bees.