Hello Pav -

> Ten nucleus colonies have been established using sister queens and varroa
> infested  bees from Auckland.  Until the five different sized foundations are
> fully drawn out and all mosiac frames constructed, the bees will be managed
> with two frames of normal sized brood cells and a feeder.
>
> As each of the full-depth fames, of the different cell sizes, 4.7, 4.8, 5.0,
> 5.1 and 5.4mm has been drawn out they have been removed from the colonies,
> frozen and then cool stored.

The question that comes to mind is, what size are they referring to when
they say "normal sized brood cells"? 5.4mm? If so, I find it hard to believe
that they are getting true cell sizes on the foundation from these bees.
Getting 5.4 size bees to draw 4.7 - 5.1 cells is a BIG size change. They
don't talk of regression in steps at all. Everyone I know that has tried
this says it can't be done in one step. Are they actually measuring the
cells on the drawn foundation to verify that they are true? Seems like an
obvious question but sometimes the obvious gets overlooked.


> Expected Progress
>
> Once all framesare drawn they will be cut into 5cm x 8cm sections and randomly
> inserted in the centre of the newly drawn, normal cell-size frames.  These
> five sections of cell sizes, plus a control (normal cell size) section, will
> replace the normal cells in a 2x3 grid.  Two of these mosiac frames, and a
> frame of bare foundation, will replace the brood frames in each of the 10
> varroa infested nuc colonies.  This limits the queen's egg laying
> space to the constructed frames.  Once she starts to lay, 100 eggs from each
> of the six cell size sections will be marked using map pins.

I'm sorry but this sounds woefully inadequate. Not sure you could come up
with a smaller test than this. Of course they are only concerned about
initial mite count, not concerning themselves with the effect that the bee
would have on the numbers. What happens when the mite levels get high? This
seems a more important question. Maybe I'm off base here but something
doesn't add we're looking at a study without meat to it. My POV.

Regards,
Barry