What a freakin joke.....

[BjornBee]

to think they needed a study to show that bees from Australia have NO mite resistance.

http://www.apinews.com/en/component/k2/item/19060

I have harped for years, about the tens of thousands of packages flooding the U.S. and making their way into the package industry, and weakening the genetic pool here in the U.S.  Thank goodness this stopped a couple years ago. The same can be said of buying tens of thousands of queens from Hawaii, with no mite resistance.

I heard many beekeepers, commercial guys in particular, say folks were harping on nothing. That these bees were perfectly suited and good for beekeepers. And when I wanted to do an article with information of huge numbers of hives after almond pollination making their way into the package industry, nobody wanted to step on the big guys toes.

Now, a study shows that Australian bees have NO mite resistance. Sorry to all those crying about stopping the importation of Australian stock. I remember reading articles in the bee mags and their complaining how anyone would not want bees from Australia.

Just another example to me, that commonsense, was way ahead of those seeking profit and supporting this stuff.

I laugh when some suggest that a queen is a queen, is a queen. That they are all the same.  :roll:

[FRAMEshift]

Right.  Obviously Australian bees are not going to be useful in a mite infested country.  But I do think the study is valuable because it gives a data point about how far our bees have come in developing resistance as an evolutionary response to a new pest. 

[AllenF]

This months rant for the web site?    :-D

[BeeMaster2]

Bjorn,
Thanks for the post. Last month someone was raving about Hawaiian queens and was planning on ordering them. I tried to explain to them how important it was to use local queens. there answer was that "so and so was using them so they must be good". Problem is they still have not over wintered them.
Jim

[Johnny253]

You had me worried when you said that Australian bees have NO mite resistance, but fortunately this is not what the article said at all. The article said ALMOST NO resistance, which indicates that some resistance is present. Without any selection pressure from mites, it is not suprising that the level of resistance to mites is low. Even so, MORE THAN 50% of the colonies survived mite infestation. I don't think this is a bad outcome as this indicates that there is some resistance present in Australian bees and obviously, the proportion of colonies with resistance will increase if and when varroa enter our country.

American-Italian honeybees are susceptible to mites too. It would be interesting to know the comparison between these and Australian honeybees.

I think queen selection and genetic diversity is important no matter where you are from and I don't blame you for not wanting Australian queens which probably don't have the level of mite resistance you are looking for.

[BjornBee]

This months rant for the web site?    :-D

I mentioned the Australian/package industry connection, and some of these issues back in August 2010. Scan down to that date.
http://www.bjornapiaries.com/beekramblings200910.html

Of course, I was sent a bunch of hate mail (I love it) in the past telling me that this was all for nothing. That I was just "self-promoting" my own stock. That Australian bees were certified "Mite Free" with other justification of why beekeepers should not be worried about weak genetics. They stated that it made little difference where one purchases queens.

The rationale continues to this date. To have anyone even suggest that 50% "survived", is a joke! Yes, they "survived" a whole 4 months with ONLY 50% mortality rates. Compared to 4% for Russians. So 50% died without even a full season, void of a full cycle of a season's buildup and going through a full winter. What a joke.

I remember a couple years back when packages were dying the first year without even getting into cold weather. Half were dead prior to fall. And to mention that it was possibly due to Australian genetics, was dismissed. And the major bee magazines refused to do a story on the hives after almonds being sold to package producers on the east coast, even though everyone knew this was happening. Simply put..."You don't write articles exposing the very same people who take out full page advertisements in your paper" was what I was told.

I've said the same thing about Australian bees, Hawaii queens, and queens produced from some mega-producers with little regards to selection and resistance. And I didn't need a study to tell me what commonsense and my own eyes already did.

Johnny...I stand corrected. The study said "Almost No" resistance. I guess every hive would of had to been killed for you to buy into "NO" resistance. The article said "almost" and for practical terms, I state my opinion, "no resistance". I've said that for years. Slice and dice as you will.

Frameshift...I agree. Too bad that profit, ego, greed, and other factors will always come into play, minimizing any real long-term solutions. Or at least slowing any faster progress. The big boys, are the ones that many listen too. They sell and fill the majority of the demand for bees. And it was many of them that openly commented that there was nothing wrong with importing weak genetic bees. There is a pure profit reason why producers in the south almost all use Italians. But that is another topic.

Long before CCD, some folks talked about comb rotation even while commercial bragged about 30-40 year old comb. Some talked of keeping chemicals out of the hives while this was the message of most industry leaders, and breeding resistant bees while some claimed there were no difference between different queen lines, and even questioned why we were breeding out traits like propolis production. Many looked at this group as "fringe" and just not within the box that all beekeepers should be. But looking back...who was right all the while? Those not wanting to place chemicals strips in the hives. Those understanding that comb rotation is a good thing. And those out there trying to breed better bees, while knowing that some would just as rather bring in weak genetics from abroad. I would not take this so personal if not for the fact I have been attacked repeatedly for stating the obvious.

What kills me is that a study like this should of been done PRIOR to any mass influx of bees from Australia. But we as an industry are reactive, and not proactive. But I am sure that some even today, with new information, would just rather keep importing them if they could, while not caring about the overall bee industry. Thank goodness this was stopped.