>Does anyone on this list know of research directed toward the development
>of a pheromonal or other chemical attractant  that might lure those little
>red rascals away from the bees?
 
John,
 
The only research that I am aware of in this line was reported in an
American Bee Journal article (would have to look to locate). It showed that
the Varroa mite was especially attracted to the drone larvae pheremone. That
is why some people are using drone cell traps. You simply let the queen lay
drone eggs (?) in the cells. Then when they are mostly capped over you
discard them.
 
Maybe someday we can get the particular pheremone produced by the drone
larvae (it was named in the article) in a bottle. That would be nice.
 
gh
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