# Purdue mite fighters, interesting



## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Yup, a nifty trait, the Purdue Ankle-Biters. One of our local TF breeders is interested in trying to incorporate the trait into his locally-adapted VSH line.

My wife and I have not had the guts to try TF yet, but we are raising decendants of his bees. They already seem to have mite grooming behavior that I've never seen mentioned as part of the original VSH line. We combined a nuc with his bees with some Carniolans, and the drop rate started to skyrocket as the VSH bees took over. Sugar rolls suggested the actual mite load was very low. Evidently they're just really good at getting mites off them and dropping them onto a sticky board. 

Add the ankle-biter trait, and they could cripple the mites without the need for a sticky board to kill the nasty things.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Are those mite biting bees related to the Carpenter mite biting bees?
Curious to know that's all.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

I should have some vsh bees bred to some carpenter drones, keeping my fingers crossed


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## Rww930 (Mar 14, 2016)

I'm getting a nuc of them in about a week. Keeping fingers crossed.


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## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

Some of my bees seem to groom away from the hive. Could this be another trait? Get rid of the mites off hive site? Lots of potential behaviours that in combination could reduce mite loads near 0. 

I'm going to have my bees tested to see if mites dropped are damaged by bees. Looking forward to the results of this.


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## Rww930 (Mar 14, 2016)

I'll be interested to know


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