Hello Dee,
I have discussed small cell many times with Dennis Murrel( to say our 
discussions have been heated would be an understatement). As far back as 
1999 and also on other lists. 

Also with the late Bob Stevens. Dennis a former commercial beekeeper and 
the late Bob Stevens a longtime commercial beekeeper as well as owner of 
betterbee. The beekeeping industry lost a valuable asset with his death 
this year and I lost a longtime friend. 


Both have done what I am thinking of doing with success.

Here is what Bob Stevens recommends:

"Perhaps the easiest method of regressing bee size is to shake a package 
onto small cell foundation. After a few generations of bees have emerged  
remove the outer two frames. Push the remaining frames to the outside and 
insert two new frames with small cell foundation  into the center.  Repeat 
this until you have a brood nest of drawn comb measuring 4.9mm" ( pg. 19 of 
the 2006 Betterbee catalog). 

The place to get small cell foundation drawn correctly is in the center of 
the brood nest. Dennis, Bob Stevens and myself do not have a doubt.

Shaking a swarm onto a box of foundation as recommended above is asking for 
larger cell  comb. The smallest cells will be in the center and in my 
opinion the five or six outside combs will need remelting. Or at least 
that's what I saw when I tried the method as tought by the small cell group 
in "99".

Also getting a box of small cell comb ( deep box 10 frames) drawn in an 
intense honey flow or heavy feeding is problematic. in my opinion to get 
the correct size using the swarm on foundation method you need to feed only 
as needed otherwise the bees will draw larger cell size to store the 
surplus.

Haste makes waste! 

In my method once the first two small cell foundation are draw you add two 
more in the center. and push the first two to the sides. When you get to 
around six frames you can stop. The four outside frames ( 2 on each side 
can be larger cell) need not be small cell. 

I plan to mark small cell frames and always keep in the center of the brood 
nest unless needing replacement if I like the results of the experiment. I 
place cull frames always on the outside of the broodnest. If I don't like 
the results or see no benifit then the small cell will go to the outside 
and I will continue on as I have been.

Most of my brood nest comb is now 5.1mm which is correct for my latitude. 
Although some measure 5.2. I want to see if 4.9mm will make me see what you 
guys are seeing?

I have given advice to some of the largest beekeepers around. One piece of 
advice I have given since the arrival of varroa is to stop getting brood 
comb drawn as supers above the brood nest. Way too much drone size comb 
when drawn above.

I draw all brood nest comb in the brood nest. The bees make the proper oval 
and draw 5.1mm.

Yes I did buy pierco 5.1mm comb drawn in supers from Bell Honey Farms but
the comb was run through a boganshutz uncapper dry and cut back so the bees 
would draw correctly. Once cut down and drawn in the brood nest a few combs 
at a time the combs are now the correct size.

Those supers cell size was 1-2 mm. larger than the pattern when I measured 
in Florida before running through the boganschutz. 

Tip for the day for those running plastic foundation and have got access to 
a boganshutz.

Running your deadouts through a boganshutz and letting the bees redraw is a 
wonderful way to get rid of contaminated wax in brood nest comb. The 
boganshutz cuts the wax down and leaves the cell about a quarter inch high.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

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