# Thesis documents broad scale adoption of VSH lineage by queen breeders



## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

Interesting. But has VSH adoption led to eliminating use of treatments?


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

It is definitely part of the mix in my bees that have had no or few treatments since 2006.


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## Solomon Parker (Dec 21, 2002)

My base stock, the 2003 batch of Italian and Carniolan queens from Koehnen and Sons was certainly not VSH. And at this point, I cannot trace directly any of my current collection from a VSH queen, though it is unlikely that no official VSH genetics exist in my collection, any VHS trait found in my bees would most likely be sourced from natural development.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

I believe your bees have been interbreeding with the drones from your commercial queen breeder neighbour?


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

Based on observation of my bees VSH (from my friendly local VSH queen breeder) results in healthier bees and is worthwhile even though I do treat because mite loads are generally lower between treatments. My goal is to have productive bees - VSH and treatments are just tools, which can work independently or complimentary.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

The thesis does not list the queen breeders surveyed, but I know of one VSH breeder in Virginia ... I have a daughter of one of his queens, bred uncontrolled at a friend's apiary. Upon combining her nuc with a queenless Carniolan hive, mites started dropping like rain from the combination. VSH behavior? Nobody seems to know. The sugar roll drop rate was low (2) but anybody looking at the weekly drop would faint.

Here's hoping VSH actually does some good.


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

Only anecdotal evidence but I introduced VSH genetics last year and added more queens this year. While I never hesitate to treat, I didn't need to last year and so far this year looks to be a repeat. :shhhh: I'm planning to do an OA dribble this fall just to see if anything actually drops, but all my checks (sugar shakes) have been clear so far. 

VSH looks really good from here! Hopefully more beeks will give it a try.

JMO

Rusty


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

Rusty Hills Farm said:


> VSH looks really good from here! Hopefully more beeks will give it a try.


The VSH I got from Miksa farms in Florida are mostly doing great job. Of course they were free mated, so some variation was expected and can be seen.


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

A bit more anecdotal evidence but I received two packages this spring and split them once they built up. The donor hives retained the Italian queens while the splits received two locally bred VSH queens. Did a sugar roll this weekend, donor hives had 8 and 12 mites per 300 bees and the "splits" (now single deep hives) had 0 and 2 mites. While far from a conclusive field test or evidence, it's enough keep my interest.


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