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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
Gavin Ramsay <[log in to unmask]>
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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:30:46 +0000
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Hi John and All

John Horton wrote:
> ...or even a springtime exodus of the varroa to the drone cells
> from the workers..

Yes, another possibility.  Other ways of explaining an apparent decline in infested drone brood as the season progresses could be a switching on of hygienic behaviour through the season, or even a particular bee forage plant affecting Varroa during its season.  Nest dynamics would be the first to check for though.

I have a question for all you bee brains out there.  

- how quickly do bees clean out vacated worker brood?
- what if the cell was opened by VSH* bees prior to the pupa maturing and on a frame without emerging bees - would that cell be left uncleaned for longer, lacking nearby chambermaids?
- can you easily spot the rooms with the 'Please make up the room' tags on the door handles, perhaps due to the unsmoothed rim around the entrance, from the rooms already serviced by chambermaids?!

OK, that's three questions.  I know, I know - I can't count.

Why?  Well, this weekend I'm making a second visit to a beekeeper with a lot of knowledge of (and also some stocks of) long-surviving untreated feral colonies from old buildings and trees in central Scotland.  Last time I visited we saw some colonies that appeared to be cleaning out cells containing pupae, and had dropped pupal parts (eg antennae) on the floor board along with damaged mites.  So now we're going to start assessing his colonies for putative VSH-behaviour.  Number one on our list of things to try is counting freshly opened cells in slabs of sealed brood, and to try to determine the proportion of these cells that have white Varroa faeces in the bottom.

Anyone else tried anything like this?  Any better ideas for determining VSH levels in a relatively non-invasive way?

That's five questions now.  No!  Six.  I'm off to the pub now, and expect to see some answers when I return!

all the best

Gavin

*VSH - Varroa Sensitive Hygiene, but you knew that, didn't you?!

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