Tuesday, February 22, 2011

VSH Behavior (Uncapping Pupa and Recapping to remove mites)

VSH bahvior will and can be a whole slew of traits but one most noticed is the removal of deseased larva/pupa. In the case of pupa the bees smell the reproductive pheromone of the adult varroa mite and uncap the pupa (youl see pupa eyed pupa). In some cases the heads will be chewed a bit of the bee pupa and in other cases perfectly fine in which case they will re-cap the cell.

See the attached picture from one of my hives this past year... can you find the partially capped cell i didnt highlight?

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