Regarding drone cells and varroa mites.    It may be of interest to point out a bit of the bee/mite biology  interaction in this thread. Varroa mites that surface do so riding on newly born bees. These are the bees capable of producing royal jelly and the ones whose duty is to feed larvae. Normally, we see phoretic mites on nurse bees and ocassionally, on worker bees, especially in heavily infested hives in late summer. Mites do become dislodged from their feeding hold on bees but these mites climb back on their hosts readily. The reason why we may see mites "crawling around" on the surface of the combs may be due to overwhelming populations of mites which excite the bee´s hygienic behavior and cause bees to groom mites off. While it may be possible, I have never seen mites crawl into cells, for mites to enter cells, it is definitely certain that they are transferred around by nurse bees in their multiple feeding visits to developing larvae. The fact that developing larvae exude chemical attractants is valid, however, these attractants may very well be intended for the purpose of attracting nurse bees. In my humbe opinion, the mites just take advantage of the situation on hand. Best regards and God bless.Dr Rodriguez
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