I haven't had time to follow this whole thread, so forgive me if this 
has been covered.  I have followed the development of honeybees in an 
observation hive that built comb against the glass so I could see the 
whole life cycle.  The bees were my mongrel survival stock, a little bit 
of everything mixed over 13 years, including some Russian introductions 
every year they've been commercially available.

At least 5 years ago I had time to watch this hive.  Several larvae were 
capped with single varroa mites in the cell, 2 where I could see the 
whole cell.  In one case the larva spun the varroa into the cocoon.  In 
another case the larva pupated and the varroa mite could be seen moving 
around in the top half of the cell.  The bees cut a hole in the capping 
and I thought they would remove the pupa, but instead they would reach 
in and feel around the cell, and the mite could repeatedly be seen 
moving out of the way.  In this case the hole in the capping remained, 
the developing bee looked a little dark around the edges as it formed 
and I could no longer see the mite, tho it may have been hiding still. 
There was no sign of male or larval mites.  Otherwise the bee developed 
and hatched normally, I saw it emerge and it looked and acted normal to 
me. Since then I no longer count open cappings against the queen. I 
asked several experts about this then, they had not seen it but years 
later I've heard it referred to as bald brood and Jennifer Berry, (at 
least last year) was considering it a sign of hygienic behavior.

Carolyn in SC

On 10/23/2010 11:20 PM, Bob Harrison wrote:
> Peter said:
>> I think the idea that Asian bees can remove mites through the hole in the
>> capping is wrong. The reason for the hole is not clear, but they
>> certainly
>> can't gain access to mites through it.
>
> Maybe I can change your mind?
>

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