hi - after a long time away!

[mimitabby]

I know an organic bee farmer in Arkansas who swears by small cell Italian honey bees. It seems that they don't need to fight the mites as hard.

google bush bees and read all about it.

[jobob]

Hi Bee !

Just the other day I came across that group photo of all of us when you visited San Francisco, and I was wondering how you were doing. Nice to hear from you!

- Jo.

[DrBee]

Hey there Jo - I have that photo as part of my screen saver slide show on my computer at work. Every time I think of that trip and the lemondrops and Snap's shrimp - I laugh!

Mimi - I'll look it up. We work with Russian and some italian bees - ones we've bred with mite grooming characteristics (called VSH).

[Tuckervill]

I know an organic bee farmer in Arkansas who swears by small cell Italian honey bees. It seems that they don't need to fight the mites as hard.

google bush bees and read all about it.

What part of Arkansas? I'm thinking must be down south somewhere.

Karen

[snapdragen]

Hey there Jo - I have that photo as part of my screen saver slide show on my computer at work. Every time I think of that trip and the lemondrops and Snap's shrimp - I laugh!

Mimi - I'll look it up. We work with Russian and some italian bees - ones we've bred with mite grooming characteristics (called VSH).

I wonder if I still have that shrimp picture. There did seem to be a theme running that night....

Mite grooming? Does that mean they groom the mites off and aren't affected? That would be a good thing, right?

[mimitabby]

Hey there Jo - I have that photo as part of my screen saver slide show on my computer at work. Every time I think of that trip and the lemondrops and Snap's shrimp - I laugh!

Mimi - I'll look it up. We work with Russian and some italian bees - ones we've bred with mite grooming characteristics (called VSH).

oh, I see, you're working on super groomers. Good idea!

[DrBee]

Good guess Snap! Yup - they remove mites from the pupa. The mites ride around on the adults then jump into an open cell containing a pupa and feed away. Some bees somehow detect the mites and remove them. We have other lines that are resistant to mites for other reasons, too. I'm trying to find the genes associated with the mite removal behavior and others. Fun stuff! I just got in a new piece of equipment yesterday (I've been waiting for it for 9 months). This will make things progress much faster!

Mimi - you wouldn't believe how many definitions of "grooming" there are! It's crazy!