>> Dee & Ed now have got hundreds of hives on 4.9mm foundation.
>
>Where can I get foundation with 4.9mm cells?

I am sure that Lusbys would be glad to point you in the right direction.

For those who may not know, Barry has quite a bit of information including
original articles by Dee at his site http://www.beesource.com .  Check
under 'Point of View'.  In case you have not been there, the site is very
much worth a visit for many reasons other than the cell size question.

In my personal opinion -- and I spent several whole days reading, figuring
and trying hard to understand it -- the whole idea of 4.9 cell size seems
to me to be based on a simple misunderstanding of bee literature.

That is not to say the idea does not have merit whether it is based on a
misunderstanding or not.  I simply do not know.  I think it is a very
interesting idea and look forward to see where it winds up.

I don't know about the bees that Lusbys raise, but most of the commercial
honey bees I have been able to learn about from other beekeepers and obtain
seem more comfortable in larger cells.  Cells in the 5.2 to 5.3 mm range
seem to be what they like to build if there are no people around to force
them onto overly large or small foundation cells.

I understand though that 4.9 is a natural cell size for AHB, so I wonder
what size of foundation is used in Africa where the bee originated.

Anyone interested in measuring cells or examining the results of requests
for responses can go to Barry's site (above) or
http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Misc/CellCount.htm

I have discussed my thoughts on the matter in my diary as well.

allen
---
A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Diary/
Package bees, winter loss, fondant, Pierco vs. Permadent vs. dark comb,
unwrapping, splitting, raising queens, AFB, varroa, protein patties, moving
bees, pollination experiences, daily mumblings and more... Thousands
served...