Breeding for Varroa Resistance – Beginning the Long Journey

The journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step; How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time; How do you build varroa resistance into your honey bees? You have to start looking. That is the philosophy and practice of bee breeder Rae Butler who says the results of several seasons in her breeding programme demonstrates to others how progress can be made.

Real progress will take industry-wide buy-in though and that is why Butler is hosting a series of workshops on selecting for varroa resistant bees this winter, designed for both queen breeders and those who buy in queens. Participants will gain practical insight on how to implement selection for varroa-resistant traits in their stock. That will include details of how Butler has been able to make gains in her Ashburton-based Bee Smart Breeding business using both open and instrumentally inseminated matings of bees to promote the varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH) trait.

“The key message we need beekeepers to understand is VSH can be identified in breeders and sustained in production colonies under open mating,” Butler says.

She undertook a research project over three seasons, starting in 2022-23, first identifying a queen with the VSH allele and then proving that, through open-mating, it could be passed through to the next generation of queens.

Rae Butler at work assessing for varroa resistance. The Ashburton beekeeper is spreading her knowledge with a series of workshops this winter.

“From my observations over seasons one and three, instrumental insemination can accelerate gains in VSH levels, while open mating systems still produce viable progeny that maintain resistance traits,” Butler says.

Selecting for varroa resistance need not come at the expense of other desirable traits. They can all be chosen for alongside one another, but, before all else, beekeepers must start looking for resistance traits so they are not inadvertently eliminated Butler says.

“Beekeepers may unintentionally discard valuable varroa-resistant bee populations if they don’t actively identify and assess for resistant traits.”

The workshop will cover resistant traits, how they are measured and why the Harbo VSH test is the most reliable to assess varroa resistance potential.

Butler has already taken the first steps on the road to building varroa resistance but it will take a whole hikoi of beekeepers to reach the long journey’s end. Now she is spreading her knowledge to speed up the journey for others.

Locations and dates of the workshops will be confirmed once a general level of interest is known. To register your interest, follow this link. For further questions email Rae Butler at runny.honey@extra.co.nz or call 027 430 1106.