Does anyone know of research done on the incidence of varroa infestation of queen cells produced in varroa infested hives? D. DeJong in Morse and Nowogrodzki 1990 H B Pests Predators and Dis, says "Generally, cells with queen larvae are not entered (by varroa), although varroa have been observed in queen cells in heavily infested colonies." I realize that queen cells, with a development time of about 16 days, represent an environment with no possibility of varroa reproducing, and should therefore be very unattractive to varroa; but does anyone have information about how certain is the absence of varroa in Q cells? The Q cells are quite different from other brood cells and should be easy to avoid, but how often does a varroa make the mistake? Kerry Clark, Apiculture Specialist B.C. Ministry of Agriculture 1201 103 Ave Dawson Creek B.C. V1G 4J2 CANADA Tel (604) 784-2225 fax (604) 784-2299 INTERNET [log in to unmask]