The bee year 2022

The 2022 beekeeping year was a very good honey year. However, the nectar flow ended by mid-June. From a work perspective, it was therefore very convenient to again select the young colonies from 2021 for varroa resistance. I had prepared 30 colonies for selection. The selection process was carried out exactly as described in previous posts.

The result of the selection:

Of the 30 test colonies, 15 made it to the shortlist. This group demonstrated an average Varroa resistance index of 12 points. I was particularly surprised that almost 50% of the colonies achieved this very good index. The range of scores varied from 7.7 to 15.33 points.

I would like to show a group of siblings the measured values:

My evaluation

The Ø daily mite waste before demiting with Ø 58 mites is relatively high. The high mite waste comes from the fact that almost all mites were killed by the bees. The decisive factor in the evaluation is that the daily mite waste and the actual infestation after the AS treatment are already relatively close, documented in the VRI with 13.18 points.

A review of the selection work since 2017

The results of the measured values in the individual years:

My next breeding goal:

For the first time, therefore, in the bee year 2024, I can only multiply from breeding peoples who are in class 1, i.e. in the index scale of 1-10.

The new breeding goal is now a stabilization of the breeding peoples in class 1. Any improvement in the scale 1 index always means a certain improvement in varroa resistance in our breeding peoples.