http://www.algonet.se/~beeman/index-f.htmlMakes interesting reading. To some up though....
the result do not indicate that the reproduction of mites was substantially influenced by cell size on worker bee brood.
And from Dave cushmans site...
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/denwood.htmlThough the details as reported at third-hand are confusing, this would seem to suggest an anti-varroa effect of large-sized cells.
So, should we be using large cells to combat varroa? Anyone?
As for me, I'm with Finman, my bee inspector is not recommending this as worthwhile effort, but I attended a IPM (integrated pest management) day run by our bee inspectors, and the likes of shook swarm (every year onto foundation), queen trapping to a single comb (replaced to act as an attractant), monitoring of resistance to chemicals etc were all discussed in detail, with scientific data to back up the results. I'll stick with my standatd sized cells, and use the technques that have stood up to rigorous scientific method. Shook swarm, queen trapping, open mesh floor, chemicals etc.
We are fortunate in the UK to have the Central Science Laboraotry, (who in fact are the employer of the Bee Inspectors), so any information they are recommended, has been tried, tested and approved for results.
http://www.csl.gov.uk/science/organ/environ/bee/I, for one, will wait to see evidence from properly controlled experiments before I commit to either larger, or smaller cell sizes. I'm willing to change, but only on the back of rigorous scientific method.
Adam