>>We found that we observed small bees in spring before we began feeding 
>>supplement, but that they became much less common after we made it standard 
>>practice.

>Could it be that the small bees in spring were raised in small cells in the core of the brood nest, but as the brood nest expanded they moved onto areas with bigger cells?  I think Dace Cushman's website may still have some information relating to measurements fo plaster casts I took of cells almost a decade ago.

In our case, I think not since we use standard foundation.  There is some variation in cell size between brands, but the range is amazingly consistent, going back even to some old combs we have with aluminum cored foundation.  After cell sixze became a subject of discussion, I examined many of our old combs, some going back to WW2 or before and found that the cell size was in the same range as current standard foundation.

I have to wonder about bee size, though.  I was out inspecting the other day and all the bees one beekeeper had seemed large to me.  He said they were all from Kona stock.  I went home and my bees look smaller to me and I do have some Kona, too.  

When  I mentioned small bees in the original post, I meant the young bees were short.  I ran out of pollen patties this summer and went without a while.  I notice now that there are short bees in some hives.

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