Is it possible for us to discuss these "ics" and "isms" as they relate to beekeeping? I'd like to know the differing viewpoints and the implications to our beekeeping. A post by Adam Finkelstein prompted this thread.
IMHO the question before us is, or at least the question should be, “Are we all adult enough here that we won’t need a virtual sling for our bruised and battered noses once our pet theories and long held cherished beliefs gets refuted in too factual of a way?”Is it possible for us to discuss these "ics" and "isms" as they relate to beekeeping? ...
The funny thing is the sheer number of people who don't even take the time to click the link and discover that it is actually audio. :applause: It's amazing that a text based forum would have such an aversion to reading even when reading is not necessary.didn't bother to read Randy Oliver's epistel
No, always serious as you have been informed. Sorry, I guess you're still mad at me. Just trying to help.:gh:Is this you being funny?
Well, excuse me for not living up to your expectations. Perhaps you should havce mentioned that it was audio.The funny thing is the sheer number of people who don't even take the time to click the link and discover that it is actually audio. :applause: It's amazing that a text based forum would have such an aversion to reading even when reading is not necessary.
No, always serious as you have been informed. Sorry, I guess you're still mad at me. Just trying to help.:gh:
Glad you did.I'm a molecular biologist by training, beekeeper by hobby, and I can't resist chiming in when epigenetics appears in the discussion. Mark
Sounds good. One doesn't have to select in order though--you can select for mite/virus tolerance and good production simultaneously.My take on the breeding criteria is a little different. I would start by selecting for the traits of low mite and virus levels first(survivability), ignoring productivity. Those are the least available and obvious traits. We have many productive lines of bees. My attack would be select for the hard to find traits first. Once you have them crossing and selecting with a productive line is a relatively easy process.
At my place this is pretty much what I do. I keep the bees that survive and accept lower production levels. My goal is to have bees that don't just survive but eventually thrive. First I have to have bees that survive then I can select for production levels.
That's gross selection. If one's population is large and diverse, one can't go wrong with it!I think the same applies to pests and diseases. If we breed from the ones that are thriving and not from the ones that have a particular trait, we will have better results in both the long run and the short run.
I agree with the first sentence. It essentially agrees with my point that culling is your most effective tool. Keep breeding bad anything and all you will have is bad. Cull your bad stock and multiply the good.In other words, breed (or split from) your best colonies. And one way to prevent inbreeding or deterioration of the quality of your bees is to regularly bring in queens from different commercial breeders.
Every time we hive a swarm of bees we are encroaching on Maw Nature's prerogatives. Every time you smoke a hive or pop the lid you are meddling with nature. You are meddling with nature by interrupting the hive's communications when you smoke the bees, and you are even interfering with nature by introducing light into the dark brood nest that bees need to fulfill their ethos. This is true even if you take no further action. Because by the time our eyes can focus on the inner cover, what WAS happening in the hive has changed to what is NOW happening in the hive and that may or may not be what was happening just minutes or even seconds before.I feel most comfortable... to let nature determine the breeding... The problem... is nature is being meddled with by others who don't believe like I do... No matter what I do everyone else is contributing to the local gene pool.
Mark, I hope you get permission to share his reply here on the forum. I'd be interested in his reponse. While I appreciate all he does, his dismissal of those who do not treat yet have success is rather off-putting...or has been to this point anyway.I have sent him a PM asking him about how he accounts for those who do not treat, but say that their bees survive many years. It will be interesting to me to see what he has to say.