Hi Rip.

To add to what Allen has said.

Our bees have less then 1-2% foul brood, meaning this year
I found maybe two hives I had to pull frames from and bring
home to melt down to rework the wax out of about 900
colonies +/-.

But we are now on small cell 4.9mm top tolerance comb with
all our colonies and this makes a big difference.

It makes a big difference because by changing the size of
the combs back to a natural sizing in the center of the
natural sizing range you change the environment the bees
are working in, which then in turn changes many things
relative to their health and breeding.

But since health is the big factor here, by reducing the
size of the bees back down, you regain again the forage
that was lost to them in going bigger, and that here means
more smaller plants that are medicinal. This then means if
you are what you eat:.....better health. It also means with
the bees working the smaller medicinal plants and taking
the resin off the bloom buds prior to blooming as so plant
can bloom except a bee work it first to do this, then the
resin from the buds worked, and also elsewhere on the
smalker plants now being worked is again used in their
making of propolis, which then changes the consistancy of
the propolis, making it more viable for health purposes and
in this case it means again taking care of foul and other
diseases that were getting away from the bees as propolis
got weaker as the bees got bigger, by losing the medicinal
properties of the smaller herbals. Key here being the bees
shellac the broodcells before an egg can be laid to
sterilize it for young larva.

I could probably say more, but this should answer your
question for now.

Regards,

Dee A. Lusby
Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper
Moyza, Arizona
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/




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