Hello John & All,

> I have no idea  of any history that may be behind this...I have read this
list >for about a  year only, and kept bees for only slightly longer, but it
seems >really weird  that so few actually try and see.

People with similar interests have a way of meeting.  The world of
beekeeping is very small compared to many other subjects.   My first
interest in cell size came in the early 1980's.   In researching old
beekeeping books I discovered that the *natural cell size* of honey bees had
been enlarged to try and create a larger bee.  One of my favorite books of
the period was "Beekeeping in the Midwest" by Dr. Elbert Jaycox.    Jaycox
spent quite a bit of time researching cell size and found that *old dark
combs* did in FACT create smaller bees.
Old dark combs in those days were valued by beekeepers because it was said
bees did better.   Dee used old dark combs to size down at first with
success.  Proving old dark combs DO produce smaller bees.  Many *old timers*
think our researchers wanting us to recycle comb every five years to be a
waste of time and money and the bees simply to better on old comb.  I am
only saying what their opinion was (and in many cases still is).
One day in the early 1980's I came to the conclusion the worlds foundation
was the wrong size (5.4mm).  It  was not a popular view.  My friends at
Dadant were very patient with me when I approached Dadant in 1985 with my
theory.   They still had the old *900* molds but needed quite a volume order
to fire up the molds. They did in fact fire up the molds several years
later. By then I was going in a different direction so have never tried the
*900* foundation I am sorry to say.  Not being able to justify the volume on
a guess I dropped the idea.  Years later after reading Dee& Ed Lusby's
articles in Bee Culture we made contact by direct email (with help from
Barry Birkey).  I quickly found Dee to know more about cell size than any
person I had ever met.  I was amazed at the amount of work her and Ed had
done to reduce cell size in their operation.
I was also amazed at the claims she made about her bees.  She had just
dropped to the 4.9mm cell size .

 > I'm not saying convert 2000 colonies as a
> 'beleiver' (I'm the original doubting Thomas) but get the 'trained
> professionals' down to Arizona to see...do a mite test, measure the nest
> temperature, put down a commercial migratory pallet in the desert and
> compare...or is repeating forage distance experiments with sonar and pcs
> instead of numbered discs and column graphs REALLY more worthy?

Research funds are in short supply in the U.S..  The large beekeeping assn.
influence the direction the funds are spent. None are pushing for a check of
the Lusby hives at this time.  In Arizona the bee lab already had a
commercial beekeeper it was working with on a project similar to the Lusby's
(without cell size reduction).   In my opinion the researchers which have
looked at the Lusby's ideas have wrote the ideas off as too labor consuming
to be of value to commercial beekeeping and have looked for answers
elsewhere.   Dee told me when she went to get her article printed in Bee
Culture the mag had to let several noted researchers look the article over
and edit the article.   Dee was not pleased with the end result and wanted
the article left as she had written it but went along.   Dee & researchers
do not agree exactly on her conclusions I have been told.   I am only a
beekeeper like Dee and we look at things from a beekeepers point of view.
Researchers seem to disagree with much of cell size conclusions and seem
unwilling to prove one way or the other.   Cell size is hard to study and as
many have said "size varies all through worker cells many times when talking
about 1mm plus or minus.
Hope I have put forth the Lusby's position correctly.  If not please correct
Barry.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Ps. Ed  & Dee Lusby have said I could go to Arizona and look at their bees.
I believe Barry Birkey has. Healthy bees without use of chemicals should be
of interest to all beekeepers. Maybe I will find the time to go one of these
days.