Queen reared with deformed wing virus

[B+.]

Next season i will be weighing newly emerged Queens.

The scales have to be accurate to at least 1/1000g and the slightest movement will affect the reading

 

[mbc]

New to this thread, interesting!
Ive never seen varroa in a queen cell and yet they are sealed at a time when there are no other cells being sealed (with the system I use) so would be the only option for any waiting varroa. My monies on disturbing the cells as the delicate wings unfurl.

 

[B+.]

Ive never seen varroa in a queen cell .

That makes sense if you think about it: the varroa mite enters the cell just before it is sealed and lies on its back under the brood food. The amount of food in a queen cell should be much greater and the larva should become a pupa before eating all of the food (thus leaving the mite submerged under the food). It is ony when the larva eats all of the food that the varroa mite is released.
Then, when the queen pupa moults, the mite is entombed against the cell wall.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Apparently there is a chemical that puts varroa off trying to reproduce in queen cells, which i don't think they can anyway, but i have found mites in queen cells on the odd rare occasion.

Varroa mites do avoid queen cells, apparently due to some chemical odor from royal jelly.

http://www.extension.org/pages/65450/varroa-mite-reproductive-biology#.Vf7onpcprYg

And some very old research...https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00890955/document