From: "Helmut E. Garz" <hommes@olympus.net>
Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 15:59:18 -0700
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: Hygienic behavior

Peter!
You are correct with your theory of bees detecting varroa even without pin
pricking. The pricking method is a means to an end to establish hygienic
behavior without the freezing feature normally applied.
I hereby retract my previous opinion.
I just talked to a breeder which is conducting breeding for hygienic
behavior and he tests with the same method. The liquid nitrogen method is
of course also valid but the material is not readily available.(Boondocks)
The result. His bees do have this behavior. It does NOT mean that one is
over the hump, so to speak. Suddenly he finds a Varroa onslaught in his
drone yard. As an interim way of reducing the amount of mites I suggested a
application of P sugar. The objection to this is: Labor intensive and for
a one man operation not enough time in the day. Since he does not apply "Hard Chemicals" he will apply FGMO to get a handle on it.
Happy beeing
Helmut