> > Research showed that varroa don't parasitize queens at the pupal
> > stage. Only one cell was infected out of few hundreds-one thousand of
> > queen cells. Even that single mite which entered the cell, did not lay eggs.
>
> Thanks for the reassurance, the cause of my concern was that Bernhard
> Mobus says, in my copy of The New Varroa Handbook, on page 26/27
> under 'Damage to Queens':
>
> <begin quote>
> Damage to Queens
> Queen cells also can occasionally be invaded when, by early summer
> and especially around swarming time, the varroa population is too
> large for all female mites to find 'single accommodation' in a
> shrinking brood nest. In commercial queen rearing the storter
> colonies often have very little open brood. They are then given large
> numbers of grafted queen cells to accept and/or finish. Mature varroa
> mites then have little choice and will enter queen cells under these
> conditions. Of course, due to the short period of development and
> pupation, no varroa nymph will mature in a queen cell, but the damage
> done by the adult mite and its immature brood is sufficient to render
> the queen larva a runt and incapable of ever performing as a queen.
> It is a pity that the work cited above did not examine the number of
> ovarioles of damaged gueens; just as in drones, the hidden damage is
> affecting the queen's quality, not its looks. Infestation by several
> mites killed queens in sealed cella and up to 50% of cells did not
> emerge at all. It is a comforting thought that varroa mites ' rarely
> enter queen cells under natural circumstances.
> <end quote>
>
> I realise that this may be old information and your sources may be
> newer, but that was what inspired my question.
>
> I must admit that this discussion is making me work -- and think.  Thanks all
>
> allen
>
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