Hi all:
I sincerely hope the moderators post this email for me for
I believe it needs to be in the archives of the BEE-L list
here.

Especially as discussion of Nosema causes relative to
bigger combs and bigger spacing are in progress, besides
worsening of parasitic mites and accompanying secondary
diseases.

This was posted today by me in reply on the
Organicbeekeepers 29 Sep 06.

Regards,

Dee A. Lusby
----------------------

My my Predarg, this is interesting reading and most
certainly different from that found in old archive
writings, some of which are posted here for reading thru. 

http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/celldata.htm


It seems like Russia then kept going forward then from the
Apimondia XX International Beekeeping Jubilee Congress held
in Bucharest, Romania in 1965, and further and further away
from natural smaller cells workers build brood in. I also
see the authors you quote below also say like Polish
professors did back in 1965 "Statistical analysis showed
that in the range of both types of bees there is a regular
increase in the size of the honeybees from South to the
North for every degree of latitiude - 0,010 mm for type 1
and 0,096 mm for type II. The correlationfiltered=0.589."
Of course the Polish professors went on with more detailed
changes of the bees from south to north also. and we also
know that these changes also relate to changes in altitude.

But it seems that with bigger comes problems of interaction
with a natural environment and it's pests, predators and
diseases too.......of which mites is a major player today,
both for the damage it causes in itself in shortening the
longevity of our honeybees, and secondary diseases they
vector into bees as they eat.

It shall be intersting to see in coming years as to where
things go for our world wide industry for those that then
follow Russia, and hopefully those that follow going back
to more natural SC for clearing up problems.

I am very glad you zeroed in and posted this Predarg
....... If gives some insite into what has been happening
and what is going on, and should/will go on in the future
years to come!

Regards,

Dee

Predarg writes:
Dee wrote:
>Okay, now this brings up the question: Why did Russia just
go to 5.6mm sizing 
>which is bigger then industry average of 5.4mm in USA
which would now mean 
>wider spacing and bigger bees?

>When did Russia turn around from natural sizing?........
and also, if there 
>was endless discussion it was in Europe then, and not the
USA, if one flips 
>thru USA magazines like Bee Culture and American Bee
Journal, as in the 1960s it 
>was when foundation was sized up over here to 5.4mm after
trials in 
>Europe.........

Dee and All

Maybe it could be interesting for you:

1) An information from Russian beekeeping journal
"Pchelovodstvo" 2005/8

Russia changed their GOST standard for wax from January 1st
2006.
A paragraph about foundations for regions in Siberia had
been added: 5.6mm. There are not information about
foundations for other regions - I can suppose it wasn't
changed.

2) Here are some quotes from the book:
"Poluchenie i ispolzovanie produktov pcelovodstva" ("The
Production and Use of Bee Products" - my free translation)
N.I.Krivcov and V.I.Lebedev, Moskva, 1993. 

The authors say that wild bees build worker cells 5.12 -
5.66mm diameter, depending on the race.
For North Russian bees, that are the largest ones, their
average worker cells are 5.56 and drone cells 6.98
Smaller gray mountain Caucasian bees - their worker cells
are 5.46, drone ones 6.69

N.M.Glushkov (1956) has measured worker and drone cells
throughout the Russia and the results were:

Siberia 5.55 (worker cell), (6.63)? (drone cell) (? - my
remark)
Central European part of Russia 5.43 (6.99)
Far East area 5.43 (6.76)
Ural 5.39 (6.99)
Southern Russia 5.25 (6.93)

The authors make a conclusion that a diameter of worker
cells increases when we go from the South to the North and
say that it is not valid for drone cells.

On the basic of those data, Glushkov recommended three
types of foundation:

for Siberia and Northern areas: 5.55 - 5.60
for Central areas, Ural and Far East: 5.45 - 5.50
for Southern areas: 5.37 - 5.45

In this book the authors also say: However nowadays for all
areas the same dimensions: 5.30 - 5.45 are in use.

Maybe their knowledge/accesible information about
situations in other countries (at that time when Russian
beekeepers use 5.30-5.45) could be interesting:
USA: 5.28, France, Yugoslavia: 5.30, Czechoslovakia: 5.35,
Poland: 5.3-5.6, Germany: 5.4, Romania: 5.41, UK: 5.4 for
frames in hive boxes and 5.7 for supers.

Regards
Predarg 



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