Hygienic Behavior in Bees

 The disappearance of bees called colony collapse disorder has been blamed on all kinds of maladies stretching from pesticides, to global warming, fatigue and mite infestations. The latter problem may be resolved in the not-too-distant future according to Idaho Honey Industry Association Secretary/Treasurer and beekeeper Bill Ahaus. It involves researchers breeding bees for grooming. “They’re trying to develop a bee or breed into bees hygienic behavior where they’ll groom each other and they’ll pick these mites off. Until we get a bee who can do that for itself, it’s always going to be a race to find a chemical that will kill the mites and not kill the bees. The mites…there’s always a couple that survive. They develop a resistance to the chemical, you have to develop a different chemical, or use more of the old one, whereas if you put that instinct into bees, where they groom themselves and contain the mite themselves, it’s not gonna be a problem of chemistry, it’s gonna be a problem of genetics and evolution but we’re putting a lot of research money to help fund some of these research projects. Selective breeding.”

Which is something other ag producers such as in the beef industry have been doing for years.