On 20 Oct 99, at 9:24, Allen Dick wrote:

> > shrinking brood nest. In commercial queen rearing the starter
> > 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>

This was my thinking and the reason for instigating FGMO for all our
hives during the summer, in an attempt to keep Varroa down to
manageable amounts to prevent queen damage.
        Does anyone have experience of this problem?

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