Hi All/Tom/Donald

Tom asked about whether it would be possible to duplicate the Apidae
nuc with a small two frame hive. I do not know the apidae nuc, but
have tried small two frame hives and have encountered the following:

-       energetically bees like brood on both sides of a comb, so they are
not heating blank space
-       bees prefer not to rear brood right up against the side of a hive,
and prefer to have an insulating layer of pollen on either side of
the brood nest.

Hence the two frame hive causes bees to suffer from the two guys
wanting to use two urinals problem - if you have three frames/or
urinals the respective organisms can put yellow compounds in the
outer two, and the middle frame/urinals temperature remains more
constant and the instincts of the respective organism are left
unruffled.  : )  (I have read the urinal theory in an article on
effective public toilet design. I have not read the bee fact though)

Keep well

Garth


Garth Cambray           Camdini Apiaries
15 Park Road
Grahamstown             Apis mellifera capensis
6139 South Africa

Time = Honey