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Well the National Bee Diagnostic Center has been researching Queen failure. They also had Jeff Pettis as a guest speaker. Really interesting data points. The temperature variations during queen shipment were recorded and then the sperm viability of the queens were recorded. Temperatures below ~8 Celcius and above ~40 Celcius were recorded on some shipments. Very short durations below ~8 Celcius (one hour) were found to damage the sperm in the queens. High temperatures above ~40 Celcius were found to damage sperm after 2-3 hours.
Why are queens failing? It turns out that shippers may be partially to blame.
A second takeaway was that acaracides may be affecting sperm in the drones and even within the spermatheca.
Also Shelly Hoover did an update on her hygienic bee research. All I can say is that I would question the quality of the New Zealand stock after her presentation. I would think that requeening would be mandatory for anyone bringing in NZ packages after seeing her findings. Resistance to varroa and AFB is nil verses local stock which in 3 generations she had crossbred and proven could resist succumbing to AFB and Varroa after being inoculated by both. Incredibly fascinating work.
Why are queens failing? It turns out that shippers may be partially to blame.
A second takeaway was that acaracides may be affecting sperm in the drones and even within the spermatheca.
Also Shelly Hoover did an update on her hygienic bee research. All I can say is that I would question the quality of the New Zealand stock after her presentation. I would think that requeening would be mandatory for anyone bringing in NZ packages after seeing her findings. Resistance to varroa and AFB is nil verses local stock which in 3 generations she had crossbred and proven could resist succumbing to AFB and Varroa after being inoculated by both. Incredibly fascinating work.