>
> It's interesting to note that the same error is made
> by both large and small
> cell proponents.
[...]
> Yet, both camps are stuck on a single cell size and
> fail to see the
> importance of the broodnest structure. Sticking to a
> single size has
> negative consequences whether large or small sized
> foundations are used. It
> just doesn't match what the bee do when left to
> themselves.
I appreciated your observations too. I have a look to
your web site times to times. I may give you a
reference that support your point. It seems this
debate is old and has been discussed for long in the
beekeepers community. I read recently some very
interesting things in "Traité de Biologie de
l'Abeille" of Rémy Chauvin. In this book (written in
the 60's), R. Darchen wrote a chapter deeling with wax
constructions in the hive as part of the complexe
social regulations in the hive. He submitted bees to
numerous experiences to draw wax cells, far too
numerous to be described here. His work really worth
to be read. Some points I kept from the reading:
- There is no standard cell size. Cells size varies in
the hive from brood to supers, from center to edges,
but also geographically from one region to another
according to Alber's study in italy on lingustica
- cells are not exactly hexagonal. "Lateral angles are
more than 120 Deg., while up and down angles are
smaller." (my free translation)
- so-called parallel sides of cells are not exactly
parallel but converge slowly to the hive's top
- Cells deep also varies greatly but is more uniform
in the brood area
- cells are constantly modified depending on the
colony needs. Namely cells wax is taken, recycled,
added, remolded to enlarge or reduce cells walls,
adjust intercombs space, etc..
- in natural construction, combs are not straight. The
space between combs is maintained but combs are more
or less curved with a general ellipsoid shape when an
horizontal cut is considered. I verified this point by
letting bees drawing comb in an empty box above the
nest. So there are concave zones and convexe zones.
- naturally, several groups of bees can began combs
construction in different points of the hive
simultaneously. When the work is more advanced, they
adjust the different contructions to make them
consistent with bee space between combs. that is the
reason why, in natural conditions, combs are not all
parallel. Once a combs is built, adjacent combs
direction is driven by the existing one, resulting in
a relativ parallelism.
A lot more in his work...
Hervé
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