I'm not going to disagree with any of that Tec. I don't have enough experience in the area to even begin to compete with your background, not that I would because I tend to agree with most of it. My only complaint is that I mentioned that Cordovan was one of the strains used. My insinuation was that I had no knowledge that they were short lived or as Keeper said,
"What breeds of queens are there other than cordovans, that bite the dust early?"
My only goal was to clarify what was meant or find out why they died early.. Insecticides or Fungicides from the pollen fields for instance? Was it a personal observation or one Keeper read somewhere? So I was a little bugged and confused with the statement.
"I am not certain where folks gets these kinds of idea."
When in fact I was thinking at that time that...
" NO BEE is selected to lay them selves into a non-existance."
We agree on more points than we disagree, not that I am claiming my limited knowledge requires vindication. I don't really care when Marla started with the program or anything else about it. I knew she was part of it and in my perusal of multiple dozen articles that is one of the things I had found.. I only know what little I do from reading, and that in itself does not make it proof or fact. At that point all it is, is knowledge waiting to be proven right or wrong in my own mind.
"I don't see a link to this statement that you attribute to Marla Spivak? nor do I totally understand what she might mean when she use the term 'this particular strain'?
As it was just something I read, I can only ASSUME she was talking about the MN Hygienic line.. whichever one she or they were working on when she said it. I doubt it had anything to do with reputation or hostility since she was talking about the bees used in the breeding process. From before her time with the project or During her time I did not seek further.
"I would suggest that neither the minnesota hygienic nor the russians nor the cordovans are a 'race' of bees. they are either a combination (essentially a mutt) or a subset of some 'race' of bees."
Agreed.
"not so surprisingly I see no mention of ANYONE purposefully breeding bees for a short life span."
Nope, me either, which is why I was curious.
I do know a beek with MN Hygienic bees, IF, they are what he claims. they are not hostile, and they are not short lived as far as I know. This beek that has them is my point of reference and why I mentioned them at all, as he claims they are from Cordovans, which were the topic of discussion.
As far as the welfare bees.. they wouldn't live long here once the feeding stops and the supers go on.
So I also agree that Hostility and dependance on a feeder are NOT in the interest of the bees nor are those traits in the long term interest of the beekeeper.
SO... I guess it all comes down to understanding what it was that set off the statement about not knowing where we get those ideas? It sort of caught me off guard when none of the ideas you were talking about were insinuated by what I said? Still confused, even after all that.
