Varroa Resistant Bees Project

Co-ordinator: David Haynes
Contact email: varroa-resistance@stalbansbees.org

If you would like to participate in this study please contact David.

Introduction

You may be aware that several associations have undertaken projects over the last 8 years to selectively breed for Varroa resistance in their colonies. In particular, Steve Riley, who came to lecture to us recently, has had marked success in creating an association where Varroa treatments have now been completely dispensed with and overwintering losses are lower than the national average.

This page attempts to summarise the benefits, the process to be followed and the commitments required from all participants. It also outlines any restrictions on the management of the colonies involved in the project.

The Benefits

The benefits of creating Varroa resistant bees are as follows:

• Eradication of the use of miticides on colonies with the concomitant benefits of less colony disturbance, no super removal in the late summer and more robust locally adapted bees.
• Lower colony losses due to Varroa, once resistance is established.
• The process to be followed enables you to gain a better understanding of the colonies under your care.

The Process

The process reflects the experience gained by other beekeepers in their transition to having Varroa resistant bees. It comprises 3 main stages, data acquisition, colony analysis and genetic propagation.

Data Acquisition

The foundation of the approach is to identify which colonies are exhibiting good Varroa resistant traits by monitoring the dead Varroa on the Varroa board. Only Varroa that have died of old age, i.e. dead females that have completed their lifecycle will appear on the Varroa board. All participants will need to count the Varroa loads on a regular basis and pass the results to a coordinator. Every colony will be given a unique identifier and the status of the colony at start is recorded, including the following information:

• If treated for varroa:
  1. Date when last treated for Varroa.
  2. What Treatment was Used.
• If never treated for Varroa
  1. how long has the colony existed.
  2. how old is the current queen.
• Location of colony – what 3 words would be ideal.
• Productivity of the colony, supers extracted last year.
• Gentleness/aggression of the colony.
• Frugality of the colony, how much fondant consumed over last winter.

Each participant will need to monitor their colonies Varroa count on a weekly basis throughout the season and pass the following information to the coordinator.

1. The date of sample
2. The number of dead Varroa seen on the board
3. If there are bee exoskeleton parts on the Varroa board. This indicates that hygienic behaviour is occurring.

Colony Analysis

Analysis of the data will allow us to establish which colonies manage Varroa the best and which need to be re-queened.

Data Security

Each colony will be given a unique identifier and a monthly report will be sent to all participants so that they can see how well their colony/colonies are performing. The report will be blind cc’d to all participants and they alone will be able to see how their colonies are performing relative to others.

The following information will be stored for analysis and reporting:

1. Email address of the participant
2. The unique colony identifier
3. Location of hive/s
4. Number of hive/s
5. Details of each colony managed by the participant as described earlier
6. The Varroa count per colony

All reported data will be anonymised and the email address of the participant will be kept securely and not used for any other purpose than reporting on the study and for direct information requests from the coordinator for the purpose of managing the queen rearing and dissemination programme.

Genetic Propagation

It is posited that the attributes enabling a colony to be Varroa resistance are predominantly held by the genetic makeup of the queen. Therefore, by creating new queens from the best performing colonies and dispersing them throughout the group we should selectively breed for that Varroa resistant gene.

It is hoped that by obtaining data as soon as possible we can identify and raise new queens from the best performing colonies later this season and create strong colonies that have improved Varroa resistance.

The Commitment

The route to Varroa resistant bees is not a quick fix, but requires some effort on the part of all participants. I have outlined the process earlier in terms of initial reporting and weekly Varroa count. There are a few further commitments required of all participants.

• All colonies in your chosen apiary to be included in the project
• No queens are to be brought in from outside the area
• You must be prepared to create new queens from your colonies for free donation to other participants if the data suggests that the colony has good Varroa resistance
• You must be prepared to requeen your colony with a free queen from the programme if provided
• Not treat for Varroa unless you are in an association Apiary, in which case the rules of the Apiary take absolute precedence
• Queens from colonies in Association Apiaries will not be used to improve the genetics, as treatment will distort the Varroa count
• Colonies in Association Apiaries will not be eligible for requeening until the group has established at least 3 seasons of stable untreated Varroa resistant bees. At which time the Association may decide that the teaching Apiaries can join the full programme. Any such decision will be made by the Committee.