Hello All Recently, a beekeeper said to me that if there is an abundance of mites and a shortage of brood, that many mites will enter each brood cell to reproduce. That is accepted. But what he said next is what I am puzzled about. He claimed that in this situation that the mites may not breed incestously because of the availability of mites not related as siblings. And because of this non incestuous breeding, the eggs produced would be more viable and thus contribute to a major increase in the number of mites. Is this analysis correct? Sincerely Tom Barrett 49 South Park, Foxrock Dublin 18 Ireland Tel + 353 1 289 5269 Fax + 353 1 289 99