Hi Waldemar

>>>...I think that the cell size that a bee was raised in has an influence on the cell size that it will draw when it does not have a template.
>
>
> That's what I have been told, too, but I am not convinced just yet ;-).


It is fairly easy to demonstrate, although I can't say that I have
tested it very many times.

You can take bees from a colony of already measured cell size and give
them frames with a bead of wax that has no cell size implication. The
comb that they draw is the same as the parent colony. You can then take
  bees from those colonies and make further colonies, giving them
foundation of a different size (smaller or larger) and they will follow
the shift, providing it is not more than about 0.2 mm jump in size.

What I have not done is to take these altered bees and reverse the the
test or take enlarged bees through the same size and then smaller.

This testing was not complete, but has finished and is unlikely to be
re-started by me.

The tests were done using ten cell (and more) averaging, and does not
take account of the contours of fine gradation in cell size identified
by Dennis. However anyone repeating the tests could compare ranges of
cell sizes rather than averaging, I believe that such ranges would also
be consistent to the findings for averages.

All the cell measurements were taken in the brood area of the comb,
which in UK bees tends to be central and smaller than the brood area
exhibited in Langstroth frames with US bees.


Regards & Best 73s, Dave Cushman, G8MZY
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman or http://www.dave-cushman.net
Short FallBack M/c, Build 6.02/3.1 (stable)

-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and  other info ---