Chris Slade wrote:

> Tom's suggestion of adding a frame of open drone brood to queen rearing
> colonies should solve the problem of Varroa infestation.  However, the drone
> larvae will have to be fed and they will be competing with the queen larvae...
> Perhaps the drone
> brood should be added when it is fully fed and ready for sealing. Chris Slade

Well, ready for sealing drone brood might not offer much of a window for the
mites to enter the cells prior to sealing.  I imagine mites on the bees sealing
the cells would have ample opportunity to enter the drone cells, but I imagine
those mites on bees performing other duties may not find their way into cells
prior to sealing.  However, Harbo has done some impressive experiments showing
how powerful an attractant is drone brood, so perhaps there would be a massive
immigration.

Considering the dynamics of varroa population and cell builder colonies
and time of year when each are "building", I opine that the benefit of drone
brood to capture varroa would outweigh the hinderance of competing for food.
A properly set up cell builder colony should not have much else to do
other than feed cells, whether they're queens or drones.  In a properly set
up cell builder, the "limited supply" of brood food is not that limited.
Furthermore, it was stated that it takes really high levels of varroa to have
them target queen larva.  I imagine that a single cycle of a single frame of
drone brood during the 6-8 weeks of a cell builder colony's usefulness would
be sufficient to keep varroa populations in check.  Competition should be
negligible.

For the record, this is all speculation and opinion not backed up by any data
collection or scientific method, but not without informed consideration.  Might
be on target, might be pure crap!

Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!