you say he has regressed bees, and you tried them out, but you weren't satisfied with temper. now correct me if i'm wrong but i think that temper has little to do with mite resistance. so eventually if they were selected, they'd be ok? or what you wanted to say is that italians are resistanc, but you don't want them?
big bee, more honey? i thought this was a joke? are you sure?
hey, the fact is Ed and Dee Lusby spent decades to find a way to fight mites, lost houndreds of bee colonyes, and finally figured out that SC is the key, and are succesfully beekeeping for how long? more than decade i think. now, it's not scientific, but it's a FACT.
scientist also say CO2 makes global warming, but the FACT is it doesn't. scientist are no better than politics, give them the money and tell them what to say. soled out soles!!
finsky, very few members of this forum MIX natural beekeeping with big honey production, non the less it is a hobbyist forum.
no, last year it was varoa for sure, for example my menthor said that when he opened the hives in spring there was an inch thick varoa carpet on the bottom. so actually last year we got "rid of" of varoa non-tolerant gene pool. but by no chance i meant this is the solution, i just mentioned the gene pool just got a bit varoa hardier.
honey dew...that's why all beeks feed sugar, simply can't let the honeydew honey in. drought also isn't a problem, at least not around here, last year it was really dry, close to two months without a single drop of rain, yet honey yield was EXCEPTIONAL, one in..40 years.
2-3 years you say...i doubt my hives would withstand that long. plus, a friend of mine is observing the natural cycle of varoa, so far he estimated that varoa strikes really hard every 4 years, but i don't know how true that is, i'd just say that varoa is/are like pirates or something, they multiply and multiply and multiply until they go down with their hosts. of course a few hosts survive and the story is at it's beggining.multiply, multiply...
i know that my experience count very little/nothing, that's why i almost always say, that i've read that, i've heard that...now i'll make sure i say that, IF i'll give any advice, but hey, i usually just say it would be good to use starter strips, which actually is, they build them just perfectly! it don't hurt one bit.
finsky you didn't offend me, really, i'm glad i have at least one that tells me "to calm down", hehe.
you know what, no beekeeping forum can't trully live in all diversity, why? because almost every beek thinks HIS way of doing is THE ONLY right way to do a thing, period! i know, i mean just when i look at our (Slovenian) forum..
SC prevailed on this forum.