> I'll just go get some pertified drawn combs awaiting
> melting!
>
> I shall see JUST FOR ALLEN what happens!

Well, you may have noted in several recent posts that -- after talking to
you and thinking about it -- I have come to the conclusion that such a test
is not as good an idea as I once thought.  I doubt that it will prove
anything conclusively, although it will be entertaining and is bound to
cause much debate and speculation.

As our experience with varroa progresses, we are finding many incongruous
things, and exceptions to what we have come to expect from varroa and bees.

As with any invasion, the first wave has been the worst, and after that
things have tended to revert.  Just as you have hives that are surviving
nicely, I am finding varroa levels are not what we expected here, and for
that matter, I have a 'toolbox' hive that has survived two winters now with
no mite treatments of any sort -- or any other human intervention for that
matter.

I just picked it up at a neighbours last spring after it came through
winter there and got to be a nuisance.  It swarmed last year and is hanging
out a bit these days.  I don't examine the brood, but keep looking for
phoretic mites on the outside bees and never see any.  Well, actually I did
see one mite on a bee when I first brought the box home last year.

What I am saying is that unless someone designs an experiment and does
careful monitoring and analysis of the results, little will likely be
learned.  I doubt we will see significant die-off in the first year or two
at any rate.

allen
http://www.internode.net/honeybee/diary/