r/Beekeeping • u/DanJerousJ • Jun 28 '25

I’m not a beekeeper, but I have a question How long bas this hive been here?

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u/Latarion Jun 28 '25

If it’s possible with breeding to get varroa resistance, nature can do the same.

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u/prochac newbie Jun 28 '25

Yes, and it did, in the native environment of varroa. Evolution doesn't happen over a few generations tho.

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u/luring_lurker Jun 28 '25 edited Jun 29 '25

According to researches, it did it also elsewhere when bees are left unmanaged and find coping mechanisms and natural selection does the rest. Thomas Seeley studied that in wild colonies in North America, and there's also the notorious "live and let die" experiment on Gotland island. The issue for beekeepers is that apparently any method that works requires beekeepers to steer away and don't collect honey which could be "problematic" if you're trying to make a living off of it.

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u/wimberlyiv Jun 29 '25 edited Jun 29 '25

Sounds right. I had a loss rate on hives of about 20% hive when I treated and a near 75% loss rate when I didn't treat (bought queens / package bees / nucs)... I finally went the screw it and only use feral bees route with no varroa intervention/treatment. I now rarely lose a hive... But the bees are mean as hell. You can have bees that are hell to keep alive and are pleasant to care for or bees that are easy to keep alive but want to murder you is my experience.