Hello Dennis & All,
Beekeepers which have tried small cell have got different levels of success
all over the charts which is the problem.

Dennis said:
 Bees in my small cell hives have been able to tolerate varroa
mites without treatment.

For how long ( years)? Would you consider placing a frame of drone brood in
one small cell hive for the entire season and reporting back? Feel free to
remove the drone brood if you see the small cell bees can not handle the
extra varroa load as no since in killing the hive.

What type of varroa load do you see in late fall before brood rearing shuts
down in natural fall or eyther roll?

Dennis said:
 But when these same bees are placed on large cell
comb, the varroa population increases.

By what numbers  when tested as above around the same time?

Dennis said:
And some of these hives will display
such symptoms as DWV or MWV by the end of the first season.

If you are seeing DWV or MWV I would say these hives are approaching
threshold and the bees you are using have not got any varroa tolerance at
all and should be removed from your program.
These are not bees you received from Dee you have put on large cell are
they?
I imagine you are also seeing varroa on bees in the above hive.

Dennis said:
These same large cell hives would be dead by the end of the second season
without treatment.

You describe most commercial production queens. Two years without treatment
is about the maximum.
We have actually seen commercial production queens (sold in U.S.) bought in
spring and started in nucs so varroa infested by fall they could not be
saved by treatment of any kind.
Very few  queen breeders are selecting for varroa tolerance.
If they were I would not be having to take part in the search for a varroa
tolerant bee.

Dennis said:
It may be interesting to note that I have seen some of the characteristics
attributed to small cell size in large cell colonies on clean wax. Getting
the pesticides out is a major factor to colony health.

 I agree! pesticide contaminated comb from both coumaphos & fluvalinate is
real.

Dennis said:
But it is the bees ability to detect and remove mite infected pupa that is
related to cell size somehow. That cleansing just doesn't occur when bees
are on the larger sized comb.

Interesting but does not follow what we know about hygienic behavior. Have
you ever tested your bees for hygienic behavior by freezing a section of
comb (to kill brood) and seeing the amount of time needed to remove the dead
brood (24 or 48 hours)?

Did the small cell bees remove all dead brood in 24 or 48 hours?

Bob

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