Alden writes:
 If the bees are expending much of their energy and
resources in 
raising brood and throwing it out because of mite
contamination they don't have as much time to be doing
other chores.

Reply:
Actually, chewing out and taking care of varroa is a timed
thing according to the active season with honeybees, with
broodnest turnover time being the actual time, of the
active beekeeping year, when this is done by our honeybees.
So you want to see a large mite drop at broodnest turnover
times as well as mite chewing out scenarios for the first
1-3 brood turn overs with each turnover less and less
varroa seen  for either going into fall, and/or coming out
of winter and firing up for spring. Best time is going into
winter though for cleansing, for the phoretic state during
winter gives the worker bees also time for cleansing by
biting the mites thru personal grooming also.

Other times of the year, the drones, especially with SC
field management take care of the problem, so the workers
can raise brood and get stores of honey and pollen in for
maintenance of the hive, and production for beekeepers.
Then like a living liver, at broodnest turnover time, the
drones are cleansed, then the broodnest is turned over and
cleansed by chewing out of worker/drone cells, to start the
cycle over with less mites to contend with, until
non-detectable levels are reached and/or you don't care
enough to want to sample anymore.

Respectfully submitted,

Dee A. Lusby
Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper
Moyza, Arizona
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/




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