I've been mulling over obtaining VSH queens and requeening sometime in the not to distant future.
I was hoping for a VSH Carniolan given where I live.
Anyone had any experience with VSH bees? I'm sure it's not the 'silver bullet' Randy Oliver talks about, but perhaps another cog in the wheel to control varroa.
Where is a good place to obtain such a queen?
As far as I know there are no VSH Carniolans. VSH used to be SMR. They were started by Dr. Harbo by taking feral survivors and inbreeding them severely to fix the trait that seemed to suppress mite reproduction (Supressed Mite Reproduction = SMR) when they finally decided that the trait that contributed was hygienic behavior they changed the name to Varroa Sensitive Hygiene. The bees he started with were Italian looking bees (mutts of course). I found them to lack the vigor I needed.