10/03/2025
While we are not affiliated with this project, we do support beekeeper education and selecting for varroa resistance. What better way to do this than supporting Dr. Melissa Oddie as she writes a beekeeper-friendly book on the topic? For $20, you can help fund her project and reserve your copy of the book!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/resistingvarroa/resisting-varroa/description
Story
Beekeepers have been fighting varroa for decades, but now, the bees themselves are beginning to fight back!
Help us fund a book that will collect scientific and beekeeping knowledge from all over the world so we can understand honeybee resistances, how they work, and use them to overcome one of the most devastating parasites apiculture has ever known.
Why do we need a book?
Varroa destructor (the varroa mite) is one of the worst threats facing European honeybees today. Varroa and the viruses it spreads are responsible for so many colony deaths, and if left unchecked, they can wipe out entire bee yards within a year. Breeding honeybees for resistance to varroa is a complex topic, tangled in the biological and political landscapes of apiculture. Varroa resistance has been well-documented, often in populations of Western honeybee used for commercial industry, but for all the information available, there is no definitive text detailing all the discovered methods of breeding resistant bees that is written specially for beekeepers.
What's in the book?
“Resisting Varroa” will be a book about three things:
One: It will be a catalogue of the experiences of both scientists and beekeepers in their efforts to breed and study European honeybees that have developed resistances to the parasite Varroa destructor. These experiences will be presented in four central case studies, and in other examples detailed throughout the next sections of the book.
Two: It will be a rough step-by-step guide on what to consider when you attempt to breed varroa resistance into your own stock. This section will discuss factors like selection criteria, breeding techniques, and the impacts of the environment around your operation.
Three: This book will spring board your efforts by inspiring collaboration with like-minded beekeepers from all over the world. More and more, beekeepers and scientists are finding evidence that resisting varroa is possible. This book will hopefully help spread the word, and provide a responsible introduction to the practice of breeding varroa-resistant bees.
