Every beekeeper must take on the responsibility of intentionally contributing to the level of resistance to mites and diseases in all colonies. They need to start it this year if they have not already done so, since the sooner we all start this process, the sooner we will be finished. This is not a function of operational size, since a single-colony beekeeper can keep resistant bees just as well, if not easier, than a thousand-colony operator. The change that must occur is in the mind of the beekeeper, with each one of us making the decision to keep bees that do not succumb to varroa mites, American foulbrood, chalk-brood, sacbrood, other viral diseases, Nosema (both species) and more. Like any trip to a new destination, we first must decide what we want to take with us, and for all of us, we must find queens that already possesses some level of natural resistance, and/or we must set up a selection program to develop such resistance.
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