Interesting article by Prof Seeley in ABJ on going treatment free for varroa.
Over three years he has recorded a 30% annual loss of colonies due to varroa loads.....so I doubt I shall even think of following in his footsteps.
He also describes a 1 year study on wild local/ Webster Russian queens ( treatment free line of Russian queens) and VSH Italian queens, the VSH Italian hives had the highest varroa load, although he doesn't describe whether they were badly affected by them or not....The lowest mire loads were in the local and Russian hives but too early in his studies to draw any firm conclusions.
Over three years he has recorded a 30% annual loss of colonies due to varroa loads.....so I doubt I shall even think of following in his footsteps.
He also describes a 1 year study on wild local/ Webster Russian queens ( treatment free line of Russian queens) and VSH Italian queens, the VSH Italian hives had the highest varroa load, although he doesn't describe whether they were badly affected by them or not....The lowest mire loads were in the local and Russian hives but too early in his studies to draw any firm conclusions.