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Breeding Resistant Bees

Walking the Walk Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance; 2022 Update, Part 1

Contents Resistance vs. Tolerance or “Survival” 1 Managed apiaries vs. natural evolution. 2 Background. 3 The necessity of Mechanical Agitators 3 The resistant colonies 6 So what’s our progress so far?. 10 A built-in lag inherent in open mating programs 13 Exhibit A: Mite-count tracking for our 2022 breeders 14 Coming. 16 References. 16  ...

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Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance, Part 2; Mite Resistance and Genetic Expression

Contents The Achilles’ heel of varroa. 2 Genotype vs. Individual- or colony-level phenotype. 2 gene regulation. 3 An example of the differential expression of genes in the honey bee. 4 What Is our own bees’ mechanism(s) for Resistance?. 6 Testing for Uncapping behavior 9 Is there a Cost to the colony for resistance?. 10 Our...

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Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance, Part 3; Shifting the Genetics of a Breeding Population

  Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance, Part 3 Shifting the Genetics of a Breeding Population Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com   The alleles necessary for varroa resistance already existed in my stock of bees, so I didn’t need to “create” anything new. What I’m attempting to do via strong selective pressure is to (1) eliminate from our...

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Selective Breeding Progress Report 2023

Selective Breeding Progress Report 2023 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ September 2023 In 2017 I proposed a simplified method for commercial queen breeders to select for varroa-resistant stock, and then undertook a demonstration project to see if it would work. After six years of strong selection, we appear to be making substantial progress!...

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Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance: Part 1

Contents COLONY COLLAPSE REDUX? 1 A SIDE NOTE ON RECENT COLONY COLLAPSES 2 WASTED YEARS 3 NOVEL HOST-PARASITE RELATIONSHIPS 3 BREEDING MAY BE SIMPLE, OR MORE COMPLICATED 4 SELECTING FOR TOLERANCE OR RESISTANCE? 4 HOW DOES VARROA’S NATIVE HOST DEAL WITH THE MITE? 5 SOCIAL APOPTOSIS 6 RE-EVALUATING SELECTIVE BREEDING STRATEGIES 6 PROGRAMS SELECTING FOR...

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Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance Part 3: The Equipment Required

Contents INTRODUCTION – SOME ARTICLES FROM 2017 1 MY OBJECTIVE 2 LET’S PUT TO REST TO A COMMON MISCONCEPTION 3 DEVELOPMENT OF THE MITE WASH TECHNIQUE 3 DEVELOPMENT OF A DEVICE TO DO THOUSANDS OF MITE WASHES 4 A SYSTEM TO AVOID CONFUSION IN THE FIELD 5 DEVELOPMENT OF PORTABLE IN-FIELD AGITATORS 7 NEXT MONTH...

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Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance Part 4: How We Do It

Contents NOTE TO OUR COUNTRY’S QUEEN PRODUCERS 2 IT’S NOT A “ONE AND DONE” 2 HOW WE DO IT 2 PICKING OUR QUEENS TO BREED FROM 3 ELIMINATING UNWANTED ALLELES WHILE MAINTAINING GENETIC DIVERSITY 4 PROPAGATING OUR BREEDERS 4 MANAGING OUR DRONE POOL 5 START THE VARROA RACE! 7 OUR MITE-RESISTANCE ASSAY 8 FOLLOW UP...

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Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance: Part 5–It’s Your Turn

  Contents SUPPLY FOLLOWS DEMAND.. 4 SOME SUGGESTIONS. 4 SO HERE’S A LIST OF SOME OPTIONS: 4 Option #1 (Take your breeders from Nature) 4 Option #2 (Rolling the dice) 5 Option #3 (the one that we took) 5 Option #4 (the easiest) 6 HOW MANY COLONIES DO I NEED?. 6 HOW SHOULD I CONTROL...

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