Hi Bill and Everyone,

My small cell hives haven't received any mite treatments. I have stopped
monitoring natural mite fall as the numbers have remained consistently low.
The bees can take care of mites by themselves so they are no longer an issue
for me.

These hives build up faster in the spring. They are great producers at
double the local average. And overwinter better than my large cell hives
did. I haven't lost a single small cell hive yet. Although, I have had to
replace a few queens after the third season which is to be expected.

I established a few colonies on large cell comb to test some ideas
concerning small cell size and seasonal bee size. These hives were in the
same yards as my small cell hives. The natural mite fall increased through
the season in these hives and one of them  began showing symptoms of PMS. I
treated the large cell hives with oxalic acid to avoid contaiminating the comb.

I also built a top bar hive to see what the bees would freely build for
themselves. The results were quite surprising. The broodnest has a definate
location and structure. The comb inside the broodnest tapers in size from
top to bottom with small cell sized comb located where the bees would
concentrate brood rearing during the spring and fall. I have seen this same
structure repeated in three additional top bar hives. You can read about it at:

http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/bee/cells.htm

I now think that the bees do better on small cell because it's a better
match with what they would build for themselves, expecially during the
spring and fall. And also, because they are on clean wax.

But small cell beekeeping has it share of problems mainly related to the
expense of getting enough small cell comb drawn and the great number of
hives lost while regressing.

Small cell size has been promoted as a panacea for all beekeeping problems.
It was based on the idea that bees have been 'artificially' enlarged by the
use of large cell sized foundation. My research indicates that just didn't
happen.

http://wind.prohosting.com/tbhguy/bee/musin.htm

The Lusby's pointed me in the right direction concerning the importance of
the broodnest comb to bee health but for the wrong reason. Most of the
speculation and the methodology attached to small cell beekeeping is based
upon this erroneous premise. But the results of using small cell are real.

Although I still keep six small cell hives, small cell beekeeping is no
longer my primary focus. I am working with natural comb in my top bar hives.

Regards
Dennis

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