Hi Jerry and Everyone,

If I remember correctly, 2-hep, in small amounts, works as an effective bee
repellant also. It's interesting to note that phoretic mites will drop off
of bees when they become agitated.

On another note, I have observed almost all of the touted benefits of using
small cell comb, except mite tolerance, when I've put bees back into clean,
large cell sized hives. Many of the benefits, such as better overwintering,
spring buildup, etc. appear to be as related to the clean wax, as they do
to cell size.

Although, I know top bar hives aren't for everyone, comb can easily and
rapidly be replaced in them. That's been one factor for my experimenting
with them.

While working bees commercially, it was common to find combs that had been
in constant use for 30 to 50 years. It appears that feral hives are
recycled about every 3 years or so. That might be a better lifespan for
comb. And Maybe even less if a person treats bees with pesticides.

Regards
Dennis

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