>     It would be very labour intensive and I would imagine that the hive
> > would make queen cells with the result that you would be looking for a
> > virgin queen if you made the break more than 2 weeks.
>
>     I dont understand the reasoning here.  If the queen was caged more
than
> 6 days and queen cells had not been started, there would be no viable
larvae
> to produce a queen.
> Some food for thought.

I guess this is aimed at me.

If you cage a queen and leave her in the hive, in most instances the bees
will start queen cells, despite the queen's presence.  I have seen a hive
with banked queens raise cells, the resultant queen go out to mate and
return, lay eggs whilst maintaining the banked queens.

So if you wish to use the caging of the queen as a varroa control, if the
queen was caged for more than 2 weeks, you will most likely have a virgin
queen in the hive to find before you release the old caged queen.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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